“SAN QUENTIN: Behind Its Bars 4600 Men Live,Work And Sometimes Reform.” 70 years ago this week in the October 27, 1947 issue, and LIFE ran this photo essay shot by photographer Charles E. Steinheimer. According to LIFE,“On San Francisco Bay, only 18 miles from the city, and lies a grim cluster of masonry with towers and buttressed walls. Behind the walls lies a city of tall steel bars and endlessly turning locks—a city which,at any given moment, some 4600 men call domestic…Among them are burglars, and thieves,forgers, murderers and rapists.” This photo ran in the photo essay with the following caption: “Weight lifters meet at night in gym and on Sundays in prison yard, or often practice between-times with any heavy object they can find.” (Charles E. Steinheimer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images) #thisweekinLIFE #1940s
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