Alcatraz warden's notebook page for Volney Davis, No. 271
Bureau of Prisons notebook page with the identification photograph of Volney Davis, No. 271, received at Alcatraz from Leavenworth on 26 October 1935 under a life sentence for conspiracy to transport a kidnapped person (Minnesota, St. Paul); stamped transferred to Leavenworth on 30 March 1947. A copy is stored here.
- Date
- 1935-10-26
- Kind
- photograph
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-12
- NAID
- 236735104
- Rights
- A Bureau of Prisons record, public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. Series "Warden's Notebook Pages" (NAID 296686), Records of the Bureau of Prisons (Record Group 129), National Archives at San Francisco. The National Archives catalog marks the item "Use Restriction: Unrestricted." The series note says that some information on the pages is incorrect when compared with the fuller inmate files, and that clippings in the series may be copyrighted; this page is a prison form. The copy stored here is a downsample of the first digitized image.
The National Archives catalog titles this page “DAVIS, VOLNEY EVERETT - Alcatraz Number 271 - Warden’s Notebook.” It is a Bureau of Prisons notebook form with an identification photograph at the upper right; the placard in the photograph reads “U.S. Penitentiary Alcatraz 271”. It belongs to the series Warden’s Notebook Pages (NAID 296686).
The typed entries, as printed: name “Davis, Volney,” No. 271, received 10-26-35 from Leavenworth, age 33, date of birth 1-29-02. Offense “Consp. to transport Kidnap.Person,” dated 6-7-35; sentence “Life”; district sentenced “Minn. St. Paul.” A stamp at the top reads “TRANSFERRED MAR 30 1947” with a handwritten “Leav.” A detainer is listed from the warden of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester. A staff note records the prisoner’s own account of earlier events; it is not repeated. The “Reason for Transfer” box is staff opinion and is not repeated.
Catalog data, labelled as such: offense “CONSPIRACY TO TRANSPORT KIDNAPPED PERSON INTERSTAT” (truncated in the catalog); received at Alcatraz 10/26/1935 from US Penitentiary, Leavenworth; transferred 03/30/1947 to US Penitentiary, Leavenworth; remark “BARKER-KARPIS GANG; CA DEATH INDEX”; birth date 01/29/1902; death date 07/20/1979, place blank. The National Park Service says Davis pitched for amateur and league softball teams on Alcatraz in 1938; see its page on inmate recreation.
