John Richard Bayless v. United States

The appellant was convicted in the United States District Court on two counts of an indictment, the details of which will be recited hereinafter. He has appealed, asserting that in the proceedings leading to his conviction many errors were committed.

On April 28, 1952, the appellant was convicted in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California of armed bank robbery, and of interstate transportation of stolen property. He was sentenced to an aggregate term of 35 years in prison. He was committed to the custody of the Attorney General and on May 6, 1952, was delivered by the United States Marshal to the federal penitentiary at McNeil Island, in the State of Washington. On July 10, 1952, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, acting for the Attorney General, transferred the appellant to the federal penitentiary at Alcatraz, California. On January 11, 1963, the same agency transferred him back to the McNeil Island penitentiary.

All of McNeil Island is owned by the federal government, which makes no use of it except as the site of the prison. Only the area where the main prison institution stands, and which is enclosed by a fence, is guarded. Three buildings in…