President Trump mentioned Sunday that he was ordering the FBI to reopen the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, the historic jail on an island off of San Francisco that has been closed since 1963.
“REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ!” he wrote in a submit on Reality Social. “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,” Trump wrote in a submit on Reality Social.
As soon as fortified with the aim of changing into the world’s most safe prisons, the federal government closed Alcatraz as a result of it was too costly to run — costing 3 times as a lot as most different federal prisons.
Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi in an announcement posted Sunday to social media mentioned that Trump’s proposal “is not a serious one.”
“Alcatraz closed as a federal penitentiary more than sixty years ago,” she wrote. “It is now a very popular national park and major tourist attraction.”
Inmates included infamous gangsters Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly, who had a historical past of prior escapes from jail.
In 1962, three of Alcatraz’s prisoners escaped — John Anglin, his brother Clarence, and Frank Morris, who planted dummies of their beds, climbed out by way of rooftop ventilators, and launched a raft with the goals of crossing the Bay. They had been by no means discovered, and plenty of imagine they didn’t survive.
Who controls Alcatraz?
As of 1972, Alcatraz has been owned by the Nationwide Park Service. The Golden Gate Nationwide Recreation Space, which manages the island, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
What’s on the island now?
Since 1973, it has been open to the general public, working as a vacationer vacation spot and a museum trying again at its time as a federal penitentiary.
The annual Escape from Alcatraz Island is hosted on the island annually, which requires a 1.5-mile swim by means of the Bay’s uneven waters to the San Francisco shore.
The island can also be widespread with birdwatchers — it hosts over 20,000 birds, together with murres, grebes and geese.
Initially Printed: Could 4, 2025 at 7:20 PM PDT
