President Donald Trump on Sunday said that he would order the government to rebuild and reopen Alcatraz, a former prison on a small island of the same name off the coast of San Francisco that once housed some of the most dangerous criminals in the country, including Al Capone, George “Machine Gun” Kelly and James “Whitey” Bulger.
The prison, which closed 60 years ago due to its crumbling infrastructure and high maintenance costs, “will serve as a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social Sunday, later telling reporters it was “just an idea” he had as federal judges pushed to ensure deported migrants had due process.
Now a major historical landmark and tourist destination, Alcatraz was once one of the most heavily fortified military sites on the West Coast before it transformed into a notorious federal penitentiary in 1934.
As a maximum-security prison surrounded by the Pacific’s strong, cold currents, Alcatraz had a
reputation for being a “last resort” facility where the most dangerous and most unruly in other
prisons were sent. It was virtually impossible to escape, despite numerous storied attempts.
