Alcatraz prison restoration plan gets cold reception from tourists.

The Star

18-05-2025

Alcatraz Island, on which the prison is located, welcomes more than a million tourists each year. — Photos: Reuters
United States president Donald Trump's plan to turn Alcatraz back into a federal prison was summarily rejected earlier this week by some visitors to the tourist site in San Francisco Bay, California.
Trump revealed a plan recently to rebuild and expand the notorious island prison, a historic landmark known as 'The Rock' and operated by the US government's National Park Service.
It's '... just an idea I've had', he said.
'We need law and order in this country. So we're going to look at it,' he added on May 5.
Once nearly impossible to leave, the island can be difficult to get to because of competition for tickets. Alcatraz prison held fewer than 300 inmates at a time before it was closed in 1963 and draws roughly 1.2 million tourists a year.
US Bureau of Prisons director William Marshall said he would vigorously pursue the president's agenda and was looking at next steps.
'It's a waste of money,' said visitor Ben Stripe from Santa Ana, California. 'After walking around and seeing this place and the condition it's in, it is just way too expensive to refurbish,' he said.
'It's not feasible to have somebody still live here,' agreed Cindy Lacomb from Phoenix, Arizona, who imagined replacing all the metal in the cells and rebuilding the crumbling concrete.
The sprawling site is in disrepair, with peeling paint and rusting locks and cell bars. Signs reading 'Area closed for your safety' block off access to many parts of the grounds. Chemical toilets sit next to permanent restrooms closed off for repair.
The former home of notorious gangster Al Capone and other notable inmates was known for tough treatment, including pitch-black isolation cells. It was billed as the US' most secure prison given the island location, frigid waters and strong currents.
It was closed because of high operating costs. The island also was claimed by Native American activists in 1969, an act of civil disobedience acknowledged by the National Park Service.
Alcatraz opened to the public in 1973 under the US National Parks.
Mike Forbes, visiting from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, said it should remain a part of history. 'I'm a former prison guard and rehabilitation is real. Punishment is best left in the past,' Forbes said.
No successful escapes were ever officially recorded from Alcatraz, though five prisoners were listed as 'missing and presumed drowned'.
Today a 'Supermax' facility located in Florence, Colorado, about 185km south of Denver, is nicknamed the 'Alcatraz of the Rockies'. No one has ever escaped from that 375-inmate facility since it opened in 1994.
US Congress in fiscal year 2024 cut the Bureau of Prisons infrastructure budget by 38% and prison officials have previously reported a US$3bil (RM12.7bil) maintenance backlog. The bureau last year said it would close ageing prisons, as it struggled with funding cuts. – FRED GREAVES/Reuters