SAN FRANCISCO – President Trump is now getting the wheels in motion on his plan to rebuild and reopen Alcatraz as a maximum-security prison.
What we know:
Several top leaders of the Bureau of Prisons, including engineers, visited the island in the middle of the San Francisco Bay last week.
And the director of the agency, William Marshall, told Fox News that he is fully confident the “Rock’ can reopen as a prison once again, more than 60 years after it closed.
“When you think of Alcatraz, you think of Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Lambeau Field, those types of facilities, you just get that kind of feeling about Alcatraz when you think of those historical venues,” Marshall told Fox News’s My View with Lara Trump, Trump’s daughter-in-law. “And so yeah, we absolutely think we can get it done. We’ve got engineering teams out there now that are doing some assessments, and so I’m just really excited about the opportunity and possibilities.”
What we don’t know:
Marshall didn’t know exactly when this could happen, and he needed to visit Alcatraz to take “a look at the landscape.”
Estimates to make the necessary repairs to reopen it as a prison are close to $1 billion, plus another $40- to $100-million a year in maintenance.
The BOP shared the interview on X late last week.
Earlier this month, Trump called for Alcatraz to be reopened to house America’s most “ruthless and violent offenders.”
“For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat Criminal Offenders…That is why, today, I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ,” Trump said on his social media website, Truth Social.
The backstory:
The notorious, maximum-security prison shut down in 1963 after running for 29 years because of its high costs.
Nearly 10 years after it ceased official operations, it reopened as part of a National Park Service unit, and tours can be scheduled to visit the island, providing a huge economic boost as a tourist attraction and a national park.
What they’re saying:
Trump’s idea garnered some support in Congress from Republicans, but many officials in California said the idea is preposterous.
State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) said reopening Alcatraz is “absurd.”
And San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said he agrees with Rep. Nancy Pelosi: “This is not a serious proposal.”