Robert Stroud
Criminal
The Birdman of Alcatraz who raised over 300 canaries during his 54 year prison sentence, 42 years of which he spent in solitary confinement.
Imprisoned for stabbing a man to death, he proved himself time and again a violent killer and a threat to everyone around him, as a result of which he was locked up alone in Leavenworth maximum security prison.
After finding an injured bird in the prison exercise yard, he nursed it back to health and began raising and caring for others; he authored several books about his findings, though the warden refused to let him publish them.
He was born in Seattle, Washington, running away from home at 13 to escape his abusive alcoholic father.
Burt Lancaster played him in the the 1962 film, Birdman of Alcatraz, based on a book by the same name; Stroud was never allowed to see it.