Reopening Alcatraz Is an Expensive, Unnecessary Pipe Dream
President Donald Trump announced Sunday that he’s ordered the federal government to rebuild and reopen the infamous Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. However, that plan will likely require a massive investment in a dysfunctional federal prison system that can barely staff the prisons it currently operates.
“REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
“The reopening of ALCATRAZ will serve as a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE,” the president continued later in the post.
BREAKING
President Trump says he has ordered Alcatraz, the former prison on Alcatraz Island just over one mile off San Francisco’s shore, to be re-opened.
Alcatraz is controlled by the National Park Service, but given that it’s been a museum for many decades, I would imagine… pic.twitter.com/1Gi30uMgW3
— Yashar Ali ???? (@yashar) May 4, 2025
The federal penitentiary on San Francisco Bay’s Alcatraz Island opened in 1934 as a last stop for the federal prison system’s most troublesome and violent inmates. But it lasted less than three decades due to the exorbitant costs of operating an island prison. It closed in 1963.
“The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) will vigorously pursue all avenues to support and implement the President’s agenda,” BOP Director William Marshall says. “I have ordered an immediate assessment to determine our needs and the next steps. USP Alcatraz has a rich history. We look forward to restoring this powerful symbol of law, order, and justice. We will be actively working with our law enforcement and other federal partners to reinstate this very important mission.”
Reopening Alcatraz would likely take years of construction and a huge influx o
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