Today, a key tourist destination, California Federal Prisons have been closed for over 60 years.
President Donald Trump says he ordered officials to rebuild and reopen Alcatraz, an infamous federal prison based on a small California island that has been closed for over 60 years.
In a post on his Truth Social Sites Sunday, Trump wrote that he “will oversee the Prison Bureau, along with the prisons, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, to reopen the much-expanded, rebuilt Alcatraz and house the “most ruthless and violent criminals” of the United States.”
The directive was the latest move by Republicans to overhaul how and where federal prisoners and immigrant detainees are trapped.
It comes as his administration was in conflict with the judiciary after calling 18th century laws previously only used during the war.
Trump has also repeatedly raised the legally suspicious idea of sending US citizens convicted of violent crimes to El Salvador’s biggest security prison known as CECOT.
Speaking to reporters when he returned to the White House after a weekend in Florida, Trump said reopening Alcatraz was “just an idea I had” amid a complaint with a “radical judge” who claimed that deported people would receive a legitimate process.
“It’s a symbol of law and order,” he said.
The comments followed an interview airing in which the president said he “don’t know” whether Americans are entitled to grant due process rights guaranteed by the country’s constitution.
The fifth amendment to the Constitution provides a “legal process of law.” In other words, a person has certain rights when it comes to being prosecuted for a crime. The 14th Amendment also states that “equal protection of the law cannot be denied to anyone within their jurisdiction.”
“Not serious” suggestion
Alcatraz was billed as the safest prison in the United States given its island location, frigid waters and strong currents.
The five-year prisoner was listed as “presumably drowned missing,” but there was no officially recorded successful escape from Alcatraz in the 29 years that opened in 29 years. Overall, 36 men attempted 14 separate escapes.
The prisons covered by several films were closed in 1963 due to collapsed infrastructure and high repairs and supply costs.
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) website, it cost three times more than any other federal prison.
Introducing facilities to modern standards requires large investments at a time when BOP was closing prisons due to similar infrastructure issues.
Alcatraz Island is currently an important tourist destination and is a designated national historic landmark operated by the National Park Service.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, questioned the possibility that districts, including the island, could reopen prisons for years.
“It is now a very popular national park and a major tourist attraction. The president’s proposal is not serious,” she writes in X.