Former President Donald Trump on Sunday said he is directing federal officials to rebuild and reopen Alcatraz, the infamous island prison in San Francisco Bay, to house what he called “America’s most ruthless and violent offenders.”
“REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ!” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform. “When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm.”
Trump said he instructed the Federal Bureau of Prisons, in coordination with the Justice Department, FBI and Department of Homeland Security, to undertake a “substantially enlarged and rebuilt” version of the former penitentiary.
Speaking to reporters upon returning to the White House from Florida, Trump described the initiative as “just an idea I’ve had” that he decided to move forward with. “It’s a symbol of law and order,” he said.
Alcatraz, which housed some of the country’s most notorious inmates, including Al Capone, was closed in 1963 due to high operating costs. According to the Bureau of Prisons, the island facility was nearly three times more expensive to operate than other federal prisons. It is now a national park and one of San Francisco’s top tourist attractions.
No confirmed escapes were ever recorded during its time as a prison, with five inmates listed as “missing and presumed drowned.”
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., dismissed the plan.
“Alcatraz closed as a federal penitentiary more than 60 years ago. It is now a very popular national park and major tourist attraction. The president’s proposal is not a serious one,” Pelosi said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.