President Donald Trump wants to reopen Alcatraz.
The notorious former “last resort prison” on Alcatraz Island off the coast of San Francisco shuttered in 1963 due to infrastructure issues and high operation costs. The former penitentiary was turned into a museum and opened to the public in 1973.
“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,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday night. “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.”
He added: “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, to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders.”
His announcement to reopen Alcatraz comes on the heels of his clash with courts, including the Supreme Court, as his administration refuses to bring back Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was illegally deported from Maryland to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador in March in violation of a “protection from removal” order barring his deportation to the Central American country. Trump has gone so far as to espouse that he would “love” to send American criminals to the El Salvador prison along with alleged gang members and immigration detainees.
His post on Sunday night went on to chastise the American judicial system for following the principles of due process. “We will no longer be held hostage to criminals, thugs, and Judges that are afraid to do their job and allow us to remove criminals, who came into our Country illegally,” he wrote. “The reopening of ALCATRAZ will serve as a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE. We will, MAKE AMERICA Great Again!”
Trump told reporters on Sunday night that “radicalized judges” who are holding firm that deportees be given due process prompted his idea to reopen Alcatraz, which he said, via the Associated Press, is a “symbol of law and order. You know, it’s got quite a history.”
A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons said in a statement to AP that the agency “will comply with all Presidential Orders.”
