Bondi, Burgum tour Alcatraz as Trump wants to ‘renovate and reopen' notorious island prison
'Alcatraz is the brand known around the world for being effective at housing people that are in incarceration,' Burgum said of the island facility, which is currently a popular tourist destination run by the National Park Service.
'It's a federal property. Its original use was a prison,' the interior secretary said of 'The Rock' in an interview with Fox News. 'And so part of this would be to test the feasibility [of] returning it back to its original use.'
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3 The Trump administration is looking to use Alcatraz to house dangerous criminals and illegal migrants.
Secretary Doug Burgum
Burgum added that his department and the DOJ are taking the lead as 'work to renovate and reopen the site to house the most dangerous criminals and illegals' begins.
In May, Trump directed his administration to explore getting Alcatraz back up and running to lock away 'vicious, violent, and repeat' criminal offenders.
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The president said in a Truth Social post he envisioned a 'substantially enlarged and rebuilt' prison that would 'serve as a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE.'
Alcatraz operated as a major federal detention center between 1934 and 1963 and enjoyed the reputation of being nearly inescapable due to the strong currents and ice-cold temperatures of the nearby bay.
Gangsters Al Capone and George 'Machine Gun' Kelly were among the institution's most notorious inmates.
3 Alcatraz, located about 1.5 miles off the coast of San Francisco, was the most expensive federal prison to run when it was operational.
AG Pam Bondi
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The prison closed in 1963 after it was deemed too expensive to continue operating.
At the time, an estimated $3-5 million ($31 million- $52 million in today's money) was needed for restoration and maintenance work vital to keeping the facility running, according to the Bureau of Prisons (BOP).
That figure didn't include daily operating costs, which were the highest in the federal prison system at the time because all food, water, supplies and other necessities had to be delivered by boat.
At the time of its closure, Alcatraz was nearly three times more expensive to operate than any other federal prison, according to BOP.
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3 Bondi acknowledged the facility 'needs a lot of work' before it can once again operate as a prison.
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'It could hold middle-class violent prisoners, it could hold illegal aliens. It could hold anything,' Bondi told Fox News after touring the site.
'This is a terrific facility,' the attorney general added. 'It needs a lot of work, but no one has been known to escape from Alcatraz and survive.'
During Alcatraz's 29 years as a prison, 36 men made a bid for freedom — with nearly all of them dying or getting captured by guards.
Brothers John and Clarence Anglin and fellow inmate Frank Morris successfully made it off the island in a daring escape attempt in 1962, but are presumed to have drowned in the bay.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who represents San Francisco in Congress, slammed the idea of refurbishing Alcatraz to house inmates as 'the stupidest initiative put forth' by the Trump administration.
'Being tough on crime is not turning Alcatraz, which won't even be a prison for a long time to come — I don't think it'll ever happen,' Pelosi said in an interview on MSNBC's 'Chris Jansing Reports' Thursday.
'This is not about being tough on crime,' she added. 'It's being frivolous about money and silly about the choices they have made.'
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