Trump calls for reopening of Alcatraz to house 'most ruthless and violent offenders'
The US president said a "substantially enlarged and rebuilt" Alcatraz would "serve as a symbol of law, order, and justice".
Monday 5 May 2025 05:50, UK
US President Donald Trump has called for the reopening of notorious prison Alcatraz.
In a post on his social media site Truth Social, Mr Trump said America had been "plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat criminal offenders".
He added that when the United States was "a more serious nation" it "did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals".
"That is why, today, I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt Alcatraz, to house America's most ruthless and violent offenders," he wrote.
Mr Trump said the reopening of the San Francisco prison would "serve as a symbol of law, order, and justice".
The US president's latest policy announcement comes after he fired national security adviser Mike Waltz last week in the first major change to his administration.
Alcatraz was infamously inescapable and in the 29 years it was open, 36 men attempted 14 separate escapes, according to the FBI.
Nearly all of them were caught or did not survive the attempt at escaping.
The prison housed some of America's most notorious criminals, including Al Capone and George Kelly.
It has also been the subject of a number of films, including The Rock, starring Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage.
Alcatraz Island, which is surrounded by strong ocean currents and cold Pacific waters, is now a major tourist site, operated by the National Park Service.
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The prison's closure in 1963 was attributed to crumbling infrastructure and high repair costs.
A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons said it would "comply with all presidential orders".
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The Bureau of Prisons currently has 16 high-security prisons, including its maximum-security facility in Florence, Colorado, and a facility in Terre Haute, Indiana, which is home to the federal death chamber.
The United States' federal law enforcement agency has been the subject of increased scrutiny in recent years after Jeffrey Epstein's suicide at a federal jail in New York City in 2019.