Robert Stroud was a killer who found a sense of purpose in his life in prison. The real Robert Stroud, on whom the movie character was based, was a violent and emotionally disturbed man, but also something of a savant, perhaps even a genius in certain ways. Early in the century, he killed a man in Alaska who had beaten his girlfriend. His situation became worse when he began lashing out at orderlies, guards, and inmates, ultimately killing a guard while in prison at Leavenworth, Kansas. For this crime, he was sentenced to death by hanging, which was commuted to life imprisonment, but his warden insisted that this entire sentence be carried out in solitary.While at Leavenworth, Stroud found injured sparrows in the prison yard and kept them. He started to occupy his time raising and caring for his birds, soon switching from sparrows to canaries, which he could sell for supplies and to help support his mother. Soon thereafter, Leavenworths administration changed and the prison was then directed by a new warden. Impressed with the possibility of presenting Leavenworth as a progressive rehabilitation penitentiary, the new warden furnished Stroud with cages, chemicals, and stationery to conduct his ornithological activities. Visitors were shown Stroud's aviary and many purchased his canaries. Over the years, he raised nearly 300 canaries in his cells and wrote two books, Diseases of Canaries and Stroud's Digest on the Diseases of Birds. He made several important contributions to avian pathology, most notably a cure for the hemorrhagic septicemia family of diseases. He gained respect and also some level of sympathy in the bird-loving field.Soon Strouds activities created problems for the prison management. According to regulations, each letter sent or received at the prison had to be read, copied and approved. Stroud was so involved in his business that this alone required a full-time prison secretary. Additionally, most of the time his birds were permitted to fly freely within his cells. Due to the great number of birds he kept, his cell was dirty and Strouds personal hygiene was reported to be gruesome. In 1931, an attempt to force Stroud to discontinue his business and get rid of his birds failed after Stroud and a female friend, Della Mae Jones, made his story known to newspapers and magazines and undertook a massive letter- and petition-writing campaign that climaxed in a 50,000-signature petition being sent to the President. The public complaints resulted in Stroud being permitted to keep his birds he was even given a second cell to house them but his letter-writing privileges were greatly curtailed.In 1933, Stroud advertised in a publication to publicize the fact that he had not received any royalties from the sales of Diseases of Canaries. In retaliation, the publisher complained to the warden and, as a result, proceedings were initiated to transfer Stroud to Alcatraz, where he would not be permitted to keep his birds. Stroud, however, discovered a legal clause according to which he would be allowed to remain in Kansas if he were married there. He then married his friend Della Jones in 1933, which infuriated not only prison officials, who would not allow him to correspond with his wife, but also his mother, who refused any further contact with him (and died four years later in 1937). However, Stroud was able to keep his birds and his canary-selling business until it was discovered, several years later, that some of the equipment Stroud had requested for his lab was in fact being used as a home-made still to distill alcohol.Stroud was transferred to Alcatraz on December 19, 1942. While there, he wrote two manuscripts: Bobbie, an autobiography, and Looking Outward: A History of the U.S. Prison System from Colonial Times to the Formation of the Bureau of Prisons. A judge ruled that Stroud had the right to write and keep such manuscripts, but upheld the wardens decision of banning publication. After Stroud's death the transcripts were delivered to his last attorney, Richard M. English of California.In 1943, he was assessed by psychiatrist Romney M. Ritchey, who diagnosed him as a psychopath, with an I.Q. of 134.Stroud spent six years in segregation and another 11 confined to the hospital wing. He was allowed access to the prison library and began studying law. Stroud began petitioning the government that his long prison term amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. In 1959, with his health failing, Stroud was transferred to the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri. However, his attempts to be released were unsuccessful. On November 21, 1963, the day before the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Robert Franklin Stroud died at the Springfield Center at the age of 73, after 54 years of incarceration, of which 42 were in segregation. He had been studying French near the end of his life.Robert Stroud is buried in Metropolis, Illinois (Massac County).As portrayed by Burt Lancaster, Stroud appears as a heroic figure who rose above the grim surroundings of the US Prison system. Although the movie does not completely ignore his violent tendencies, especially at the beginning, it does portray his life as a progression toward almost Christ-like enlightenment and love of life. Show less «