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Officials from the Federal Bureau of Prisons visited Alcatraz this week to assess the feasibility of reopening the island prison in the San Francisco Bay after being ordered to do so by President Donald Trump.
“I have been in discussion with folks from the Bureau of Prisons,” David Smith, superintendent of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area GGNRA, told a meeting of the Presidio Trust board on Thursday, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.
“They have been out here, they’ll be coming out again to do assessments of the structure.”
The president announced the project earlier this month in a post on TruthSocial in which he declared: “REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ! For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat Criminal Offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than Misery and Suffering.
“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. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.”
Smith was doubtful about the prospect of the historic maximum-security penitentiary ever reopening, however, telling those in attendance at the meeting, “I don’t think this is likely in our future.”
He noted the “amount of money that would be necessary” and the “amount of legal hurdles that will stand in the way” and concluded the island was “just not well-situated” for the purpose.
The visit follows FBP Director William Marshall telling Lara Trump on Fox News that “we’ve got engineering teams out there now” reviewing the site and that he would soon make an inspection himself, calling the venture “exciting.”
“When you think of Alcatraz, you think of Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Lambeau Field, those types of facilities – you get that kind of feeling about Alcatraz when you think of those historical venues,” he said.
“And so yeah – we absolutely think we can get it done.”
Alcatraz was opened in 1934 and quickly gained notoriety until it was closed by then-U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy in 1963. It was found to be three times more expensive to run than other jails and too costly to maintain, not least because of the extreme weather it was exposed to from the Pacific.
The facility has since enjoyed a lucrative second act as a tourist attraction, with visitors drawn by the lurid reputation it acquired during its 29 years of service, when it housed such legendary criminals as Al Capone, George “Machine Gun” Kelly, “Creepy” Alvin Karpis, and Robert Stroud, a psychopathic amateur ornithologist known as “the Birdman of Alcatraz.
Asked to elaborate on his Truth Social post, Trump told reporters that the idea had originated with his frustration at “radicalized judges” slowing down his effort to deport undocumented migrants by insisting that due process be followed.
Florida Democrat Rep. Jared Moskowitz suggested a different source of inspiration, wondering during a House committee hearing whether the president had been taking in reruns of old movies on late-night television.
“Perhaps he was watching Escape from Alcatraz,” Moskowitz speculated, referring to Don Siegel’s 1979 film starring Clint Eastwood.
“The funny part about that is that it was actually on television in South Florida. It was on PBS South Florida over the weekend when Trump was at Mar-a-Lago. In fact, he made his announcement just hours after it aired.”
The congressman’s reference to the scheduling proved correct.
Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, a local resident, has dismissed Trump’s plan, as did a tourist interviewed by ABC News who described it as “one of the stupidest ideas I’ve ever heard in my life.”
Also skeptical was Charlie Hopkins, one of the last living inmates to have served time at the institution in its heyday, who said he did not believe the president was serious and was just “trying to draw attention to the crime rate.”
“When I was on Alcatraz, a rat couldn’t survive,” Hopkins added.
English (US) ·