SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco visitors weighed in on President Trump’s weekend idea to turn Alcatraz Island – now a tourist attraction – back into a federal prison, saying the idea was nonsensical and expensive.
What they’re saying:
“I don’t think it makes sense at all,” Sophia Morales said. “I don’t think it makes sense why he is doing it right now with all the people he’s sending to El Salvador as well. I think it’s really wrong and I won’t agree with that.”
Pavel Tkachenko also questioned the feasibility of the plan.
“It’s absolutely not technically ready,” he said. “It would require a lot of taxpayers to invest their money to do a proper facility.”
The other side:
The tourists were responding to a Trump post on Truth Social Sunday, where he wrote that 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.”
That’s why, he continued, he was directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders.”
Turning Alcatraz back into a federal prison would indeed be tricky and costly.
The backstory:
The prison – which sits atop an island in the San Francisco Bay – was closed in 1963 due to crumbling infrastructure and the high costs of repairing and supplying the island facility, because everything from fuel to food had to be brought by boat.
Alcatraz Island is now a major tourist site that is operated by the National Park Service and is a designated National Historic Landmark.
A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons said in a statement that the agency “will comply with all Presidential Orders” but would say nothing more.
Officials in California had a lot to say.
A spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said the move “looks like a distraction day again in Washington, D.C.”
State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) said reopening Alcatraz is “absurd.”
“This major tourist attraction generates significant revenue for the federal government and supports many jobs. But apart from Trump’s continuing unhinged behavior, this action is part of Trump’s ongoing crusade to sabotage the rule of law…If Trump is serious about doing this, it’s just one more step in his dismantling of democracy — a domestic gulag right in the middle of San Francisco Bay,” Wiener said.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie’s office did not immediately respond.
What’s next:
On Monday, Oliver Palmer said he was worried that his tour to the island would be canceled because of what Trump said.
“Our first thoughts were, ‘Oh God,’ is it going to be shut today?” he said. “Absolutely crazy if you believe it.”
And tourist Aimee Sifer said she was really glad she booked a tour to the island now.
“Because we may not get to see it in the future,” she said.
