NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump said he is directing his administration to reopen and expand Alcatraz, a notorious former prison on the infamous California island that has been closed for more than 60 years.
Trump wrote in an article on his Truth Social Network Sunday night: “For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent and repetitive criminals, the gravel of society, who will never contribute anything other than pain and pain.
“That's why I directed the Bureau of Prisons, as well as the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, to reopen the massively expanded and rebuilt Alcatraz to accommodate the most brutal and violent criminals in the United States,” he wrote.
Prison – Notorious for ocean currents and the surrounding cold Pacific waters, it is known as “rocks” and houses some of the most notorious criminals in the United States, including the gangster Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly.
It has long been part of cultural imagination and has been the subject of many films, including “Rock” starring Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage.
The FBI said that 36 men tried 14 separate escapes in the 29 years that were still open in 29 years. Almost everyone was arrested or not survived.
The fate of three specific prisoners – John Anglin, his brothers Clarence and Frank Morris – dramatized in the 1979 film Escape ofercatraz starring Clinton Eastwood.
Alcatraz is now a major tourist destination operated by the National Park Services Corporation and is a designated national historic landmark.
In 1963, the federal prison closure was attributed to the collapse of infrastructure and the high cost of repairing and supplying island facilities, as everything from fuel to food had to be brought by the ship.
A spokesman for the Prison Bureau said in a statement that the agency “will comply with all presidential orders.” A spokesperson did not immediately answer the Associated Press question, given the National Park Service’s control over the island, the practicality and feasibility of reopening Alcatraz or the role of the agency in the future of the former prison.
The island is a veritable time machine of the correction era. Currently, the Bureau of Prisons has 16 prisons with high security that are the same as demonic features, including its highest security facilities in Florence, Colorado and the U.S. prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, which is home to the federal death room.
The order comes as Trump attempted to send alleged gang members to the notorious prison in El Salvador without due process when he clashed with the court. Trump also directed a detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to open up to 30,000 people who label him as the “most serious criminal foreigner.”
The Prison Bureau has faced numerous crises in recent years, and has been under scrutiny after Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide in a federal prison in New York City in 2019. One AP investigation found deep, previously unreported flaws within the prison bureau. The Associated Press report has revealed widespread criminal activity among employees, dozens of escapes, protracted violence, deaths and severe shortages, which hindered responses to emergencies, including assaults and suicides.
The Associated Press investigation also exposed rampant sexual abuse in federal women's prisons in Dublin, California. Last year, President Joe Biden signed a law to strengthen oversight of the agency, after AP reported many of its flaws.
___ Sisak covered Philadelphia. Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani of West Palm Beach, Florida and Michael Balsamo of Washington contributed to the report.
