Latest news with #BirdmanofAlcatraz
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
From 'Public Enemy No. 1' to 'Birdman,' these 5 Alcatraz inmates had Kansas ties
"Public Enemy No. 1" Alvin Karpis grew up in Topeka. George "Machine Gun" Kelly committed his best-known crime in Oklahoma and died in Kansas. Robert Stroud, the 'Birdman of Alcatraz," started on his way to becoming a respected ornithologist when he picked up three baby birds that had fallen from their nest at a Kansas prison where he was an inmate. Karpis, Kelly and Stroud are among men with Kansas connections who served time at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, which was considered escape-proof as it housed inmates from 1934 to 1963 on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay. Alcatraz was back in the news this month when President Donald Trump said on X that he was directing the Federal Bureau of Prisons to rebuild and reopen a prison to house hardened criminals on that island. "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 said. Following are five men with Kansas connections who were each imprisoned on "The Rock." Alvin Karpis was designated by the FBI in 1934 as "Public Enemy No. 1." After being captured in 1936, he spent about 25 years at Alcatraz. Karpis was born in 1907 in Canada, and moved with his family to Topeka as a small child. He attended the former Branner School in a building that still stands at SE 3rd and Branner Street. Karpis at one time was the marbles champion of Topeka, according to The Topeka Daily Capital. He was known by the nickname of "Creepy," according to which said he was "the brains" of the 1930s Barker-Karpis gang of criminals. The gang robbed banks and trains, and brought in large ransoms from the separate kidnappings in 1933 of Milwaukee brewer William Hamm and in 1934 of St. Paul, Minnesota, banker Edward Bremer, whose father was a friend of President Franklin Roosevelt. The FBI linked the gang to the killings of 10 people, the New York Times reported. Law enforcement officers shot and killed three members of the gang in January 1935, a month in which Karpis narrowly escaped after a shootout in Atlantic City, N.J. Federal agents then captured Karpis in May 1936 in New Orleans. He was sentenced to life in prison for Bremer's kidnapping. Karpis served time from August 1936 to April 1962 at Alcatraz, except for six months spent in 1958 at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, according to Karpis then served in the penitentiary at McNeil Island, Washington, where he taught guitar lessons to a young Charles Manson, said the FBI's Facebook page. Karpis was paroled in 1969, with one condition of his parole being his deportation to Canada, the New York Times reported. He moved in 1973 to Spain, where he died in 1979. Probably Alcatraz's most famous inmate was Robert Stroud, the so-called "Birdman of Alcatraz," according to the federal Bureau of Prisons website. Stroud actually became a respected ornithologist while serving as an inmate at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in Kansas, and wasn't allowed to keep any birds at Alcatraz after he was transferred there in 1942, that site said. It said Stroud "was not the grandfatherly person" portrayed by actor Burt Lancaster in "The Birdman of Alcatraz," a largely fictionalized biographical film about Stroud put out in 1962. Stroud was born in 1890 in Seattle and went to prison for manslaughter linked to a gunshot homicide committed in 1909 in Juneau, Alaska. He was initially sent to the federal penitentiary at McNeil Island, Washington, then transferred in 1915 to Leavenworth, said the website of the Alaska Historical Society. "In 1916, he murdered a Leavenworth guard, was convicted of first-degree murder, and received a death sentence," said the federal Bureau of Prisons website. "His mother pleaded for his life, and in 1920, President Woodrow Wilson commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment." Stroud found three baby sparrows that had fallen out of a nest as he was walking in the prison exercise yard at Leavenworth and took them back to his cell to care for them, said the Missouri State University website. "He was then allowed to raise and study other birds, mainly canaries, to learn about their diseases, remedies, breeding, and care," that site said. "Though he only had a grade school education, he began taking university extension courses, learned to use a microscope and a microteme, and read Spanish and German scientific journals." In the early 1930s, Stroud wrote a treatise on canary diseases, which was smuggled out of the prison and published in 1933, the Missouri State University website said. "He also wrote a book titled 'Stroud's Digest on the Diseases of Birds,' which was published in 1943," it said. But contraband items were often found hidden in Stroud's bird cages, and prison officials discovered that equipment he had requested for scientific studies had actually been used to construct a still to make "home brew," the Bureau of Prisons website said. Stroud was consequently transferred in 1942 to Alcatraz, where he was not allowed to keep birds. Stroud successfully sought to protect other inmates during a deadly 1946 escape attempt known as the "Battle of Alcatraz," in which a group of inmates — which didn't include Stroud — took guards hostage and tried to gain control of a cellhouse. Stroud was transferred in 1959 from Alcatraz to the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, where he died on Nov. 21, 1963. Theodore Cole and fellow inmate Ralph Roe on a foggy day in December 1937 filed through the flat iron bars of a window of the building where they worked at Alcatraz, then broke the window glass and slipped out. They made their way to San Francisco Bay with plans to swim for freedom. Their bodies were never found. "This attempt occurred during a bad storm and the Bay's currents were especially fast and strong," said the federal Bureau of Prisons website. "Most people believe Roe and Cole were swept out to sea. Officially, they are listed missing and presumed dead." Cole was born in 1913 in Pittsburg, Kansas, according to the Alcatraz Island History Facebook page. "Originally incarcerated in Oklahoma for bank robbery and kidnapping, Cole was known as a high escape risk, leading to his transfer first to Leavenworth Penitentiary and eventually to Alcatraz Island in 1935," it said. Roe and Cole are among five Alcatraz inmates listed as missing and presumed drowned. The others are Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin, who made a well-known escape attempt in June 1962. Wichita native John R. Bayless tried to escape alone from Alcatraz in September 1941 while serving on garbage detail. "He gave up shortly after entering the cold water of San Francisco Bay," said the Federal Bureau of Prisons website. Bayless, born in 1915 in Wichita, became an inmate at Alcatraz in 1938 after being convicted of bank robbery, according to the website for Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. About a year after his 1941 escape attempt, Bayless leaped a railing and dashed for a door while appearing at a federal hearing in a San Francisco courtroom, said "A deputy marshal grabbed him and foiled his second attempt," it said. The website for Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy said Bayless subsequently: Was transferred in 1950 to Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, then paroled in 1951. Robbed another bank, was convicted and was returned in 1952 to Alcatraz, where he remained until it closed in 1963. Was transferred in 1963 to the penitentiary at McNeill Island, Washington, where he tried unsuccessfully to escape. Was paroled in 1973 and spent the rest of his life in and out of prison until he died while on parole in 1981. George R. Kelly was an inmate for 17 years at Alcatraz before he was transferred to Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in Kansas, where he died of a heart attack. Kelly was born in 1897 in Tennessee, according to which said he attended public schools before working as a salesman and then a bootlegger. His year of birth is given as 1895 at and Kelly in 1927 married Kathryn Thorne, who bought him a machine gun and gave him the nickname "Machine Gun," according to He subsequently robbed some banks, that site said. George Kelly — carrying his trademark Tommy gun — and a man with a pistol in July 1933 abducted oil tycoon Charles Urschel, one of the wealthiest men in Oklahoma, for ransom from his Oklahoma City mansion. They blindfolded him and took him to a rural Texas ranch. Urschel was held for nine days before the ransom was paid and he was released. Urschel gave investigators a detailed statement sharing information about "every movement and action taken by himself, the kidnappers, and those with whom they came in contact during his period of captivity," said Investigators identified the ranch and those involved in the kidnapping plot. George and Kathryn Kelly were among several people captured and convicted of crimes linked to the abduction. The Kellys were sentenced in October 1933 to life imprisonment. George Kelly initially was imprisoned at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, according to "Kelly was arrogant towards prison officials, and bragged to the press that he would escape, break out his wife and they would spend Christmas together," it said. "It was decided that these threats should be taken seriously and in August of 1934, Kelly along with his accomplices Albert Bates and Harvey Bailey, were transferred from Leavenworth by train to Alcatraz. Arriving on Sept. 4, 1934, they would be among the first groups of prisoners." Kelly remained until 1951 at Alcatraz, then was transferred back to Leavenworth, where he died in 1954. Kathryn Kelly was imprisoned at Cincinnati, Ohio, where she served until she was released in 1958. She died in 1985, according to Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@ or 785-213-5934. This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: These 5 men with Kansas connections were inmates at Alcatraz
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump wants to reopen Alcatraz. What about WA's federal island prison?
President Trump recently floated the idea of reopening San Francisco's Alcatraz federal penitentiary. Could he reopen Washington's abandoned island prison? In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump said he was directing the Bureau of Prisons, Department of Justice, FBI, and Department of Homeland Security to reopen, enlarge and rebuild the former federal penitentiary on Alcatraz Island, which closed in 1963 and is now a tourist attraction managed by the National Park Service. Questioned about the decision by reporters on Monday, Trump said Alcatraz is a symbol of law and order, according to PBS News footage. Located west of Steilacoom in Puget Sound, Pierce County's McNeil Island measures about seven square miles; its 27-acre prison opened as a federal penitentiary in 1875, 14 years before Washington became a state, according to the Washington State Department of Corrections website. Chris Wright, communications director at the Washington State Department of Corrections, told The News Tribune via email that McNeil Island was officially deeded to Washington state in 1984. In 1981, the facility became the state-operated, minimum to medium security McNeil Island Corrections Center (MICC) and remained as the oldest prison in the Northwest and the last U.S. island-based prison until it closed in April 2011, according to the state DOC website. Asked if the federal government could reopen the facility, Wright said in a follow-up email that it's not out of the question, though it hasn't been proposed. Wright told The News Tribune that the original deed requires the state of Washington to have an operational prison on the island, meaning the state has technically been in violation of the deed for the last 14 years since MICC closed. 'In theory, the feds could take the island back,' he said in the email. The ferry Neil Henly makes the 2.8 mile crossing from McNeil Island to Steilacoom carrying corrections staff and visitors on March 23, 2011. The DOC website states that the DOC's Industries program is responsible for general island maintenance for Washington state to stay in compliance with the federal deed. Despite this program, however, Wright said via email, the fact that the prison has closed is enough for federal authority to cite noncompliance with the deed. According to the state DOC website, the prison was declared an official United States prison in 1904, but had served as a federal penitentiary for over 100 years before it was leased to the state of Washington in 1981. Wright told The News Tribune on the phone Tuesday that the McNeil Island Penitentiary held notorious inmates, including some who also spent time in Alcatraz, such as cult leader Charles Manson and the infamous 'Birdman of Alcatraz' Robert Stroud. MICC's 2011 closure was brought on by financial struggles following the 2008 recession, Wright said. Although other U.S. island prisons like Rikers Island and Terminal Island remain operational, bridges now connect them to the mainland; MICC was the last island prison that could truly only be reached by plane or ferry, he added. Maintaining an island facility makes everything — from transporting food and medicine to maintaining infrastructure — much more expensive, he said. 'Inherent costs that come with running an island facility are very high,' he said. '... The state decided to shut it down in the wake of the financial challenges and it's been mothballed ever since.' Today, McNeil Island also holds the state's Special Commitment Center, a separate facility run by the state Department of Social and Health Services that serves as a place to civilly commit sex offenders that the state has identified as 'sexually violent predators' after the completion of their prison sentences. The McNeil Island prison, shown here on March 23, 2011, was closed in 2011. The prison is currently unmaintained, closed to the public and there are no plans to reopen it, Wright said. He said the facility has fallen into disrepair since it closed in 2011, and unlike Alcatraz — which hosts frequent tours — safety concerns, including unstable infrastructure and asbestos, keep visitors limited to those associated with the state DOC, Coast Guard patrols or state DSHS operations. 'I can't imagine that the state would consider opening it again,' Wright said.
New York Post
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Wild escape attempts, famous mobsters and no running water: Inside America's most notorious prison as Trump vows to reopen Alcatraz
It's the comeback no one expected. President Trump made a surprising request Sunday evening when he posted on Truth Social, 'Rebuild, and open Alcatraz!' — adding that he has directed the DOJ, FBI, Homeland Security and the Bureau of Prisons to 'reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt' prison on San Francisco's Alcatraz Island to 'house America's most ruthless and violent Offenders.' Known in its heyday as one of the scariest prisons in America — surrounded by rough water and loaded with even rougher characters — Alcatraz still looms large despite having shut down in 1963. 13 Shark-infested waters helped to make escaping from Alcatraz a particularly dicey proposition. Olga – Advertisement That's in large part because of movies like 'The Rock,' 'Escape From Alcatraz' and 'Birdman of Alcatraz' that have helped burnish its legacy. But it's also a major tourist attraction. According to the National Park Service, 'Alcatraz Island welcomes approximately 1.2 million visitors a year' and generates around $60 million in annual revenue. (Most of that money goes to financing various projects for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which the island is part of.) That said, it's far from inhabitable. Advertisement 13 The legacy of Alcatraz was burnished via movies like 'Escape From Alcatraz' starring Clint Eastwood. ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection 13 Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage filmed 'The Rock' at Alcatraz. ©Buena Vista Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection 'The building closed because the infrastructure was almost shot 63 years ago, and it hasn't cured itself,' John Martini, an Alcatraz historian, told The Post. 'There's no sanitation, no heat, no running water. There is very minimal electricity. You'd have to rebuild it from the ground up … Alcatraz would be a tear down. And you'd have to get heavy machinery out there, rent barges, bring in materials. It would take years to do and right now the goal is so undefined.' Trump later told reporters his plan was 'just an idea I've had' as Alcatraz is 'a symbol of law and order,' he said. 'It's got quite a history, frankly.' Advertisement The island prison known as The Rock began housing inmates in 1934. Built to hold 336 prisoners, there were usually 260 to 275 men behind its imposing walls. 13 The most brazen escape in the prison's history used homemade dummy heads to make guards believe that the cons were still in bed. 13 The heads, made with real human hair, resting on pillows looked real enough to fool the guards. Bill Baker, the last surviving former Alcatraz prisoner, wrote, 'It wasn't much of a life. We walked the yard, talking about robbing banks when we got out; we bet on ball games; and made a little home brew once in a while and got drunk. We were some bad boys … and we were properly punished.' Advertisement Situated up on craggy rocks and surrounded by water, the prison offered enhanced security — but the remoteness made it three times costlier to maintain than other federal lockups. It also made it an incredibly dangerous place to try to escape. 13 Mugshots of Frank Morris, Clarence Anglin and John Anglin,. The three of them pulled off the most brazen escape in the prison's history. REUTERS 13 A guard sits next to a removed air vent made by the three men, allowing them to esacape. Everett/Shutterstock Nobody is definitively known to have successfully broken out, though 36 tried (including two who attempted it twice). Twenty-three were caught and returned, seven got fatally shot, three drowned in the surrounding shark-infested waters, and five were never heard from again. It is unclear whether they died or successfully slipped into anonymity. The most notorious is a 1962 attempt by Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin. After coming across some old saw blades on the premises, the trio and another inmate, Allen West, crafted crude tools — including a homemade drill made from the motor of a broken vacuum cleaner —to loosen air vents at the back of their cells. According to the FBI's website, they hid their progress with a suitcase, cardboard and anything else they could find. 13 Burt Lancaster starred in 'Birdman of Alcatraz.' The prisoner on whom his character was based got the meet Lancaster but never saw the movie. Bettmann Archive Advertisement 13 Robert Stroud was the real 'Birdman of Alcatraz.' Setting up a secret workshop on the roof, accessed by an unguarded utility corridor, they fashioned into life preservers and a six-by-14-foot raft from some 50 raincoats they stole from within the prison, 'vulcanizing' the seams by using hot steam pipes — an idea gleaned from a magazine allowed in the cells. They also crafted wooden paddles and even converted a musical instrument into an air pump. On the night of June 11, they slipped out the vent spaces, shimmied down from the roof unseen and boarded the raft, disappearing into the night. Guards didn't initially realize they were missing the next morning because the three had left behind dummy heads — made with plaster and human hair — on their pillows. West later revealed the plans to authorities. Advertisement The Anglin family still believes that John and Clarence made it out alive and went on to have new lives as farmers in Brazil. 13 Al Capon was a celebrity prisoner, supposedly brought in to bring attention to the newly opened Alcatraz. AP 13 Whitey Bulger was one of Alcatraz's last big-name prisoners, though he was a small-time crook at the time. AP Either way, their story inspired another famous criminal. Advertisement Future mob boss Jimmy 'Whitey' Bulger was also serving time for bank robbery at Alcatraz — having been transferred there after repeatedly trying to break out of the United States Penitentiary in Atlanta — when the three fled. 'The morning of the escape,' Bulger would later say, 'was one of the happiest moments of my life.' In fact, he maintained that the trio's ingenuity inspired him to avoid being captured during his own 16 years on the lam, from 1994-2011. 13 Today, some 1.2 million tourists visit Alcatraz a year. AP Advertisement Another of the prison's most famous inmates arrived early on. Al Capone, serving time on income tax evasion, landed at Alcatraz in 1939. According to Jonathan Eig, author of 'Get Capone: The Secret Plot that Captured America's Most Wanted Gangster,' the gangster was sent to Alcatraz — which cost $250,000 (about $5.7 million in today's economy) — to 'show off the new prison and justify its cost.' Residing in one of the prison's standard nine-by-five-foot cells, he mopped floors and did laundry. 'Al Capone gets no more privileges than the rest, except he does not get beaten or thrown into the dungeon. He has too much political influence for that,' a former inmate once told reporters. 13 Trump posted on Truth Social: 'Rebuild, and open Alcatraz!' AP Other celebrity prisoners included Robert 'Birdman of Alcatraz' Stroud. A convicted murderer, he earned his nickname in Leavenworth, where he saved the lives of three injured sparrows found in the prison yard. From there he became obsessed with birds, raised them and sold them to other prisoners. But when he got transferred to Alcatraz in1942, he had to leave behind his beloved pets. Though Burt Lancaster stopped by and interviewed Stroud before playing him in 'Birdman of Alcatraz,' Stroud never got to see the movie. In 1946, a violent but failed escape attempt — set off with guns and riot clubs that a group of cons managed to obtain — led to a two-day-long riot that became known as the Battle of Alcatraz. Before things simmered down, two correction officers and three inmates were killed. The prison and island are currently in the middle of a $48.6 million multi-year construction project, due to be done in 2027, that will address issues related to weather and aging. But that is a far cry from the level of renovation required to turn Alcatraz into the kind of prison that Trump appears to be envisioning. Still, a public affairs specialist at the Department of the Interior and the National Parks Service told The Post, 'The president's statement speaks for itself.' And Martini warns never say never: 'With enough funding and political pressure, anything is possible.'
Boston Globe
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Alcatraz as a prison? Tourists say Trump is on his own island.
The morning tour groups were full of international travelers, and many of them had received phone alerts about Trump's plan or read news reports over breakfast. Some wondered if they might actually be among the last visitors allowed to wander the island. But nobody seemed to think the idea was nearly as brilliant as Trump thought it was. Advertisement 'I thought it was a joke,' said Philipp Neumann, who was visiting from Germany. 'It's a ruin, isn't it, more or less?' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up A ruin, yes, with some buildings deteriorating so badly they no longer have roofs or complete walls. The cells have broken toilets, if they have any at all, with no running water or sewage system. The exterior walls of the cellblocks are so weak that they are reinforced with netting to prevent chunks of concrete from crumbling onto tourists' heads. Bird deposits coat much of the island. All supplies from food to fuel must be brought in by boat. Alcatraz has been practically frozen in time since the day that the storied prison saw its last inmate 62 years ago. When the federal government closed the facility, officials had deemed it a deteriorated relic that was insufficient for housing inmates. Advertisement Since then, Alcatraz has had more success in fiction than as a functioning penitentiary. The 1962 film 'Birdman of Alcatraz' landed Burt Lancaster an Academy Award nomination for best actor. 'Escape From Alcatraz,' starring Clint Eastwood, was a 1979 hit that dramatized a famous attempt to flee the island. And 'The Rock' was a 1996 Hollywood blockbuster that introduced Alcatraz to a younger generation of moviegoers. It is possible that Trump had 'Escape From Alcatraz' on his mind when he declared on social media Sunday that he had directed federal agencies to rebuild and reopen Alcatraz to serve as 'a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE.' When he was asked Monday how he came up with the idea, he said that he should have been a 'moviemaker,' and he praised the island's top-notch security. 'Nobody ever escaped,' he said, not quite accurately. 'One person almost got there, but they -- as you know the story -- they found his clothing rather badly ripped up. It was a lot of shark bites, a lot of problems.' In 'Escape From Alcatraz,' shreds of the material of a raincoat are found floating in the bay. Several years after federal officials closed Alcatraz as a prison, Native American activists occupied the island for 19 months from 1969 to 1971 and sought the title to the land in the middle of San Francisco Bay. The occupation ended when armed federal agents took back the island. Alcatraz opened to the public in 1973 and remains a park, museum and bird sanctuary operated by the National Park Service. Alcatraz Island was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1986 and hosts 1.4 million visitors a year. Advertisement On Monday Trump called Alcatraz 'a big hulk that's sitting there rusting and rotting.' 'It sort of represents something that's both horrible and beautiful and strong and miserable, weak,' he said. 'It's got a lot of qualities that are interesting.' Alcatraz closed in part because it was far more expensive to run a prison on an island than on the mainland since everything had to be shipped in. The small number of prisoners made the extra expense even more questionable. In its years as a federal penitentiary from 1934 to 1963, Alcatraz processed a total of 1,576 inmates -- and 336 could be held there at any given time. By contrast, there are about 156,000 incarcerated people in federal prisons nationwide. The prison was also deemed too vulnerable to escapes. John Martini, an Alcatraz historian who has volunteered on the island for 25 years, said that dozens of people escaped the island when the U.S. Army operated it as a military prison, and at least five disappeared while Alcatraz was operated as a federal prison. Those include two people who made it to the mainland and were captured, he said, plus the three people who were dramatized in 'Escape from Alcatraz.' That trio dug out of the prison's crumbling walls with spoons, left the island on a raft and were never seen again. That escape attempt prompted George Christopher, who was San Francisco mayor at the time, to call for the prison to be shuttered. He said that, in addition to the lack of security, the buildings had deteriorated so badly, millions of dollars of repairs were needed. Robert F. Kennedy, who was attorney general, ordered Alcatraz closed soon after. Advertisement Tourism is one of San Francisco's top industries and, for decades, visiting Alcatraz has ranked alongside walking across the Golden Gate Bridge or riding on a cable car as a must-do activity. The city can little afford to lose tourism dollars, as it faces a potential $1 billion budget hole over the next two years. Mayor Daniel Lurie said Monday that Trump's idea is 'not a serious proposal.' Rafael Mandelman, president of the Board of Supervisors, was more blunt, calling it 'typically absurd.' Trump has set his sights on San Francisco already this year. In February, the president ordered the federal government to dramatically scale back the functions of the Presidio Trust, which was established by Rep. Nancy Pelosi and oversees a popular expanse with stunning views of the Golden Gate Bridge. The Trump administration indicated Monday that it was following through on the president's announcement. William K. Marshall III, director of the Bureau of Prisons, said he had ordered an immediate assessment of Alcatraz. 'We look forward to restoring this powerful symbol of law, order, and justice,' he said in a statement. 'We will be actively working with our law enforcement and other federal partners to reinstate this very important mission.' Federal officials referred to the island as 'USP Alcatraz,' short for United States Penitentiary Alcatraz, a phrase that has not been used in decades and exists as a historical topic on the Alcatraz Island park's website. Few visitors Monday seemed convinced that the idea would actually come to fruition. John and Jorien LaPierre, visitors from the Netherlands, said they were fans of Trump until his tariffs jeopardized the economy of the European Union. Still, John LaPierre, sporting a San Diego beanie, sounded interested in the idea of converting Alcatraz back into a functioning prison. Advertisement 'But you'd have to tear it down and build it up again, which is bad from a historical standpoint,' he continued. 'When we came in here, it was like, Whoa, it looks like a movie.' Tony and Deb Vickery, visiting from England, disembarked from a cruise ship to spend the day on Alcatraz. They said they had felt their journey was hitting all of the Trump hot spots. They had just sailed through the Panama Canal, which Trump wants the U.S. to control, and are headed for Canada, which he has suggested the U.S. should seize as the 51st state. 'We think he's mad,' Deb Vickery said. 'He's lost his marbles.' This article originally appeared in
New York Times
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Alcatraz as a Prison? Tourists Say Trump Is on His Own Island.
Boatloads of tourists traipsed around Alcatraz Island on Monday morning and peered into tiny prison cells, learning about the most notorious inmates who stayed there — and the ones who tried to escape. The tour was standard at the revered San Francisco attraction, save for one topic that simply could not be avoided in the conversations echoing off the old cellblock walls. Can you believe that President Trump wants to convert Alcatraz back into a federal prison? The morning tour groups were full of international travelers, and many of them had received phone alerts about Trump's plan or read news reports over breakfast. Some wondered if they might actually be among the last visitors allowed to wander the island. But nobody seemed to think the idea was nearly as brilliant as Mr. Trump thought it was. 'I thought it was a joke,' said Philipp Neumann, who was visiting from Germany. 'It's a ruin, isn't it, more or less?' A ruin, yes, with some buildings deteriorating so badly they no longer have roofs or complete walls. The cells have broken toilets, if they have any at all, with no running water or sewage system. The exterior walls of the cellblocks are so weak that they are reinforced with netting to prevent chunks of concrete from crumbling onto tourists' heads. Bird deposits coat much of the island. All supplies from food to fuel must be brought in by boat. Alcatraz has been practically frozen in time since the day that the storied prison saw its last inmate 62 years ago. When the federal government closed the facility, officials had deemed it a deteriorated relic that was insufficient for housing inmates. Since then, Alcatraz has had more success in fiction than as a functioning penitentiary. The 1962 film 'Birdman of Alcatraz' landed Burt Lancaster an Academy Award nomination for best actor. 'Escape From Alcatraz,' starring Clint Eastwood, was a 1979 hit that dramatized a famous attempt to flee the island. And 'The Rock' was a 1996 Hollywood blockbuster that introduced Alcatraz to a younger generation of moviegoers. It is possible that Mr. Trump had 'Escape From Alcatraz' on his mind when he declared on social media on Sunday that he had directed federal agencies to rebuild and reopen Alcatraz to serve as 'a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE.' When he was asked on Monday how he came up with the idea, he said that he should have been a 'moviemaker,' and he praised the island's top-notch security. 'Nobody ever escaped,' he said, not quite accurately. 'One person almost got there, but they — as you know the story — they found his clothing rather badly ripped up. It was a lot of shark bites, a lot of problems.' In 'Escape From Alcatraz,' shreds of the material of a raincoat are found floating in the bay. Several years after federal officials closed Alcatraz as a prison, Native American activists occupied the island for 19 months from 1969 to 1971 and sought the title to the land in the middle of San Francisco Bay. The occupation ended when armed federal agents took back the island. Alcatraz opened to the public in 1973 and remains a park, museum and bird sanctuary operated by the National Park Service. Alcatraz Island was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1986 and hosts 1.4 million visitors a year. On Monday Mr. Trump called Alcatraz 'a big hulk that's sitting there rusting and rotting.' 'It sort of represents something that's both horrible and beautiful and strong and miserable, weak,' he said. 'It's got a lot of qualities that are interesting.' Alcatraz closed in part because it was far more expensive to run a prison on an island than on the mainland since everything had to be shipped in. The small number of prisoners made the extra expense even more questionable. In its years as a federal penitentiary from 1934 to 1963, Alcatraz processed a total of 1,576 inmates — and 336 could be held there at any given time. By contrast, there are about 156,000 incarcerated people in federal prisons nationwide. The prison was also deemed too vulnerable to attempted escapes. John Martini, an Alcatraz historian who has volunteered on the island for 25 years, said that dozens of people escaped the island when the U.S. Army operated it as a military prison, and at least five disappeared while Alcatraz was operated as a federal prison. Those includes two people who made it to the mainland and were captured, he said, plus the three people who were dramatized in 'Escape from Alcatraz.' That trio dug out of the prison's crumbling walls with spoons, left the island on a raft and were never seen again. That escape attempt prompted George Christopher, who was the San Francisco mayor at the time, to call for the prison to be shuttered. He said that, in addition to the lack of security, the buildings had deteriorated so badly, millions of dollars of repairs were needed. Robert F. Kennedy, who was attorney general, ordered Alcatraz closed soon after. Tourism is one of San Francisco's top industries and, for decades, visiting Alcatraz has ranked alongside walking across the Golden Gate Bridge or riding on a cable car as a must-do activity. The city can little afford to lose tourism dollars, as it faces a potential $1 billion budget hole over the next two years. Mayor Daniel Lurie on Monday said that Mr. Trump's idea is 'not a serious proposal.' Rafael Mandelman, president of the Board of Supervisors, was more blunt, calling it 'typically absurd.' Mr. Trump has set his sights on San Francisco already this year. In February, the president ordered the federal government to dramatically scale back the functions of the Presidio Trust, which was established by Representative Nancy Pelosi and oversees a popular expanse with stunning views of the Golden Gate Bridge. The Trump administration indicated Monday that it was following through on the president's announcement. William K. Marshall III, director of the Bureau of Prisons, said he had ordered an immediate assessment of Alcatraz. 'We look forward to restoring this powerful symbol of law, order, and justice,' he said in a statement. 'We will be actively working with our law enforcement and other federal partners to reinstate this very important mission.' Federal officials referred to the island as 'USP Alcatraz,' short for United States Penitentiary Alcatraz, a phrase that has not been used in decades and exists as a historical topic on the Alcatraz Island park's website. Few visitors on Monday seemed convinced that the idea would actually come to fruition. John and Jorien LaPierre, visitors from the Netherlands, said they were fans of Mr. Trump until his tariffs jeopardized the economy of the European Union. Still, Mr. LaPierre, sporting a San Diego beanie souvenir, sounded interested in the idea of converting Alcatraz back into a functioning prison. 'But you'd have to tear it down and build it up again, which is bad from a historical standpoint,' he continued. 'When we came in here, it was like, Whoa, it looks like a movie.' Tony and Deb Vickery, visiting from England, disembarked a cruise ship to spend the day on Alcatraz. They said that they had felt their journey was hitting all of the Trump hot spots. They had just sailed through the Panama Canal, which Mr. Trump wants the U.S. to control, and are headed for Canada, which he has suggested the U.S. should seize as the 51st state. 'We think he's mad,' Ms. Vickery said. 'He's lost his marbles.'
