Latest news with #CharlieHopkins
Daily Mail
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Alcatraz's last living inmate and MAGA fan gives shock take on Trump's plan to re-open notorious prison
A former inmate of Alcatraz who once swept the floors of America's most infamous prison is brushing aside Donald Trump 's bombshell plan to bring the facility back to life. Charlie Hopkins, 93, is the last known living man to have worn the steel-gray uniform of Alcatraz, but even as a fervent Trump supporter he believes the president's plan to reopen The Rock is just a bluff. 'He don't really want to open that place,' Hopkins said speaking to the BBC from his home in Florida. 'He's just trying to get a point across to the public.' When Trump declared he had 'directed the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt Alcatraz ', his words ignited a flurry online - particularly among critics. The prison was shut down in 1963 and has been crumbling into San Francisco Bay ever since. But Trump wrote last Sunday that he envisioned the notorious lockup would once again house 'America's most ruthless and violent offenders.' Hopkins, who served time on the island from 1955 to 1958 for kidnapping and robbery, says he supports Trump but laughs off the idea of reviving a prison he calls 'deader than the convicts it held.' 'It would be so expensive,' he said. 'Back then, the sewage system went into the ocean. They'd have to come up with another way of handling that. 'You can't go back in time,' Hopkins added. 'That place belongs to the past.' The plan was rolled out by Trump earlier this month standing behind a podium draped in American flags. He declared how ' Alcatraz represents something very strong, very powerful - law and order.' But experts, historians, and even some members of Trump's inner circle have admitted that the proposal is less about incarceration and more about imagination. 'I have two words: water and sewage,' said Jolene Babyak, an author and Alcatraz historian who lived on the island as a child while her father served as prison administrator. Others are even more blunt. 'To be frank, at first I thought it was a joke,' said Hugh Hurwitz, former acting director of the Bureau of Prisons. 'You'd have to tear it up and start over.' The island's buildings are literally falling apart with no fencing, updated plumbing, or any real way to house prisoners in compliance with modern federal standards. 'You can't run a prison in a historic ruin,' Hurwitz said. In a post shared to TruthSocial on Sunday night, Trump vowed 'the reopening of ALCATRAZ will serve as a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE' But for Trump, who has already begun to send gang members and has even proposed sending American criminals to foreign prisons like the one in El Salvador, symbolism is what matters most. 'It sort of represents something that is both horrible and beautiful and strong and miserable,' he told reporters. Democrats do not appear to be amused. Nancy Pelosi, whose district includes Alcatraz, dismissed the idea as unserious. State Senator Scott Wiener called it 'deeply unhinged' and 'an attack on the rule of law.' For Charlie Hopkins, the controversy has stirred memories buried deep in the bedrock of Alcatraz Island. He remembers the sound of ship whistles echoing across the bay - 'a lonely sound,' he said, that reminded him of the Hank Williams song 'I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry.' Hopkins landed on Alcatraz in 1955 after causing trouble at other prisons. He had been part of a violent gang that used hostages to blow through police roadblocks and steal cars across Florida. On the Rock, he scrubbed floors 'until they shined,' did push-ups in his tiny cell, and spent six months in D Block - solitary confinement - after helping smuggle hacksaw blades for a failed prison break. 'There was nothing to do. You could walk back and forth in your cell or do push-ups,' Hopkins recalled. The ringleader of that escape, bank robber Forrest Tucker, would later stab himself with a pencil during a hospital visit to slip out of his restraints. He was caught hours later in a cornfield wearing a hospital gown. 'When I left there in 1958, the security was so tight you couldn't breathe,' Hopkins recalled. He left Alcatraz five years before it closed and was transferred to a prison in Missouri, where he received psychiatric treatment. After his release in 1963, he returned to Florida and led a quieter life, eventually writing a 1,000-page memoir. 'You wouldn't believe the trouble I caused them when I was there,' he said. 'I can see now, looking back, that I had problems.' More than 1.4 million people visit Alcatraz each year, walking its cellblocks, peering into rusted toilets, and snapping selfies beside the legendary steel bars. The island museum generates roughly $60 million annually for the National Park Service. But for Trump, the prison is a symbol worth resurrecting even despite turning it back into a prison would require billions. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Alcatraz was nearly three times as expensive to operate as other facilities when it shut down - and that was before a half-century of saltwater decay set in. 'You'd need water, electricity, heat, sanitation,' said historian John Martini, who worked for years as a ranger on the island. 'It's basically a shell.'
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Yahoo
He may be Alcatraz's last living inmate. Here's what he thinks of Trump's plan to reopen prison
When Charlie Hopkins thinks back to the three years he spent in one of America's most famous prisons, he remembers the "deathly quiet" the most. In 1955, Hopkins was sent to Alcatraz - a prison on an isolated island off the coast of San Francisco - after causing trouble at other prisons to serve a 17-year sentence for kidnapping and robbery. Falling asleep at night in his cell on the remote island, he said, the only sound was the whistle of ships passing. "That's a lonely sound," Hopkins said. "It reminds you of Hank Williams singing that song, 'I'm so lonesome I could cry.'" Now 93 and living in Florida, Hopkins said the San Francisco National Archives informed him that he is likely the last surviving former Alcatraz inmate. The BBC could not independently verify this. In an interview with the BBC this week, Hopkins described life at Alcatraz, where he made friends with gangsters and once helped plan an unsuccessful escape. Although it closed decades ago, President Donald Trump claimed recently that he wants to re-open it as a federal prison. When Hopkins was transferred to the high-security prison in 1955 from an Atlanta facility, he remembers it being clean, but barren. And there were few distractions - no radio at the time, and few books, he said. "There was nothing to do," he said. "You could walk back and forth in your cell or do push-ups." Hopkins kept busy part of the time with his job cleaning Alcatraz, sweeping the floors and buffing them "until they shined", he said. He was sent to prison in 1952 in Jacksonville, Florida, for his role in a series of robberies and kidnappings. He was part of a group that took hostages to get through roadblocks and steal cars, he said. 'The cleverest escape in the prison's 30 years': The men who broke out of Alcatraz with a spoon At Alcatraz, Hopkins had some infamous neighbours. The facility housed many violent criminals over its 30 years - Al Capone; Robert Stroud, a murderer known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz"; and crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger - making it the subject of a host of films and television shows. A 22-acre island, 1.25 miles (2 kilometres) off San Francisco and surrounded by freezing waters with strong currents, Alcatraz was originally a naval defence force. It was rebuilt in the early 20th century as a military prison. The Justice Department took it over in the 1930s, transforming the facility into a federal prison to address rampant organised crime at the time. Even in the high-security prison, Hopkins said he still managed to get into trouble and spent many days in the facility's "D Block" - solitary confinement where inmates who misbehaved were held and rarely let out of their cells. His longest stint there - six months - came after he tried to help several other prisoners, including notorious bank robber Forrest Tucker, escape Alcatraz, Hopkins said. He helped steal hacksaw blades from the prison's electric shop to cut the prison bars in the basement kitchen. The plan didn't work - prison guards discovered the blades in other inmates' cells, Hopkins said. "A few days after they locked them up, they locked me up," he said. But that did not stop one of the inmates. In 1956, when Tucker was taken to a hospital for a kidney operation, he stabbed his ankle with a pencil so prison guards would have to remove his leg irons, Tucker told the New Yorker. Then, as he was taken to get an X-ray, he overpowered hospital orderlies and ran away, he said. He was captured in a hospital gown in a cornfield hours later. As more prisoners attempted to escape Alcatraz over the years, officials ramped up security, Hopkins said. "When I left there in 1958, the security was so tight you couldn't breathe," he said. All told, there were 14 separate attempts over the years involving 36 inmates, according to the National Park Service. One of the most famous involved Frank Morris, and brothers Clarence and John Anglin, who escaped in June 1962 by placing papier-mâché heads in their beds and breaking out through ventilation ducts. They were never found, but the Federal Bureau of Investigation concluded they drowned in the cold waters surrounding the island. A year later, the prison shut down after the government determined it would be more cost-effective to build new prisons than to keep the remote island facility in operation. Now it's a publicly run museum visited by millions each year that generates about $60m year in revenue for park partners. The building is decrepit, with peeling paint, rusted pipes, and crumbling toilets in each cramped cell. Construction on the main prison facility began in 1907, and more than a century of exposure to the elements has rendered the place all but uninhabitable. Trump said this week, however, that he wants his government to re-open and expand the island prison for the country's "most ruthless and violent offenders". Alcatraz "represents something very strong, very powerful" - law and order, Trump said. But experts and historians said Trump's proposal to re-establish the prison is far-fetched, as it would cost billions to repair and bring up to date with other federal facilities. Hopkins agrees. "It would be so expensive," he said. "Back then, the sewage system went into the ocean," he added. "They'd have to come up with another way of handling that." Hopkins left Alcatraz five years before it closed its doors for good. He had been transferred to a prison in Springfield, Missouri and given psychiatric medication that improved his behaviour and helped him heal psychological issues, he said. But the avid Trump supporter said he does not believe the president's proposal is serious. "He don't really want to open that place," Hopkins said, adding that Trump was trying to "get a point across to the public" about punishing criminals and those who enter the US illegally. Hopkins was released in 1963, working first at a truck stop before taking on other jobs. He went back to his home state of Florida, where now he has a daughter and grandson. After several decades reflecting on his crimes and life in Alcatraz, he wrote a 1,000-page memoir, with nearly half of the book detailing his troubled behaviour, he said. "You wouldn't believe the trouble I caused them when I was there," he said. "I can see now, looking back, that I had problems." Trump orders reopening of notorious Alcatraz prison Trump wants to reopen Alcatraz as a prison - could it happen?
BBC News
11-05-2025
- BBC News
Alcatraz's last living inmate on Trump's plan to reopen prison
When Charlie Hopkins thinks back to the three years he spent in one of America's most famous prisons, he remembers the "deathly quiet" the 1955, Hopkins was sent to Alcatraz - a prison on an isolated island off the coast of San Francisco - after causing trouble at other prisons to serve a 17-year sentence for kidnapping and asleep at night in his cell on the remote island, he said, the only sound was the whistle of ships passing."That's a lonely sound," Hopkins said. "It reminds you of Hank Williams singing that song, 'I'm so lonesome I could cry.'"Now 93 and living in Florida, Hopkins said the San Francisco National Archives informed him that he is likely the last surviving former Alcatraz inmate. The BBC could not independently verify this. In an interview with the BBC this week, Hopkins described life at Alcatraz, where he made friends with gangsters and once helped plan an unsuccessful escape. Although it closed decades ago, President Donald Trump claimed recently that he wants to re-open it as a federal prison. When Hopkins was transferred to the high-security prison in 1955 from an Atlanta facility, he remembers it being clean, but barren. And there were few distractions - no radio at the time, and few books, he said."There was nothing to do," he said. "You could walk back and forth in your cell or do push-ups."Hopkins kept busy part of the time with his job cleaning Alcatraz, sweeping the floors and buffing them "until they shined", he was sent to prison in 1952 in Jacksonville, Florida, for his role in a series of robberies and kidnappings. He was part of a group that took hostages to get through roadblocks and steal cars, he said. 'The cleverest escape in the prison's 30 years': The men who broke out of Alcatraz with a spoon At Alcatraz, Hopkins had some infamous neighbours. The facility housed many violent criminals over its 30 years - Al Capone; Robert Stroud, a murderer known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz"; and crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger - making it the subject of a host of films and television shows.A 22-acre island, 1.25 miles (2 kilometres) off San Francisco and surrounded by freezing waters with strong currents, Alcatraz was originally a naval defence force. It was rebuilt in the early 20th century as a military prison. The Justice Department took it over in the 1930s, transforming the facility into a federal prison to address rampant organised crime at the in the high-security prison, Hopkins said he still managed to get into trouble and spent many days in the facility's "D Block" - solitary confinement where inmates who misbehaved were held and rarely let out of their cells. His longest stint there - six months - came after he tried to help several other prisoners, including notorious bank robber Forrest Tucker, escape Alcatraz, Hopkins said. He helped steal hacksaw blades from the prison's electric shop to cut the prison bars in the basement plan didn't work - prison guards discovered the blades in other inmates' cells, Hopkins said. "A few days after they locked them up, they locked me up," he that did not stop one of the 1956, when Tucker was taken to a hospital for a kidney operation, he stabbed his ankle with a pencil so prison guards would have to remove his leg irons, Tucker told the New Yorker. Then, as he was taken to get an X-ray, he overpowered hospital orderlies and ran away, he said. He was captured in a hospital gown in a cornfield hours later. As more prisoners attempted to escape Alcatraz over the years, officials ramped up security, Hopkins said. "When I left there in 1958, the security was so tight you couldn't breathe," he told, there were 14 separate attempts over the years involving 36 inmates, according to the National Park Service. One of the most famous involved Frank Morris, and brothers Clarence and John Anglin, who escaped in June 1962 by placing papier-mâché heads in their beds and breaking out through ventilation ducts. They were never found, but the Federal Bureau of Investigation concluded they drowned in the cold waters surrounding the island. A year later, the prison shut down after the government determined it would be more cost-effective to build new prisons than to keep the remote island facility in operation. Now it's a publicly run museum visited by millions each year that generates about $60m year in revenue for park building is decrepit, with peeling paint, rusted pipes, and crumbling toilets in each cramped cell. Construction on the main prison facility began in 1907, and more than a century of exposure to the elements has rendered the place all but said this week, however, that he wants his government to re-open and expand the island prison for the country's "most ruthless and violent offenders". Alcatraz "represents something very strong, very powerful" - law and order, Trump experts and historians said Trump's proposal to re-establish the prison is far-fetched, as it would cost billions to repair and bring up to date with other federal agrees. "It would be so expensive," he said. "Back then, the sewage system went into the ocean," he added. "They'd have to come up with another way of handling that."Hopkins left Alcatraz five years before it closed its doors for good. He had been transferred to a prison in Springfield, Missouri and given psychiatric medication that improved his behaviour and helped him heal psychological issues, he said. But the avid Trump supporter said he does not believe the president's proposal is serious. "He don't really want to open that place," Hopkins said, adding that Trump was trying to "get a point across to the public" about punishing criminals and those who enter the US was released in 1963, working first at a truck stop before taking on other jobs. He went back to his home state of Florida, where now he has a daughter and grandson. After several decades reflecting on his crimes and life in Alcatraz, he wrote a 1,000-page memoir, with nearly half of the book detailing his troubled behaviour, he said. "You wouldn't believe the trouble I caused them when I was there," he said. "I can see now, looking back, that I had problems."
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
One of Alcatraz's last living inmates speaks out on Trump's plan to reopen prison
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways Charlie Hopkins, one of the last living to have served time in Alcatraz, San Francisco's notorious island prison, has dismissed President Donald Trump's order that the jail be reopened. 'I don't think he wants to reopen it, he's trying to draw attention to the crime rate,' Hopkins, now in his 90s, told ABC7 New York. 'When I was on Alcatraz, a rat couldn't survive.' Hopkins, a native of Jacksonville, Florida, who was hailed in his youth as a Golden Gloves boxer, was sentenced to 17 years behind bars in 1952 for his part in a robbery ring responsible for a string of carjackings. He served 11 years in jail – three of which were spent at Alcatraz, where he was known as Inmate #1186 – before reforming and finding work as a carpet fitter and then as a hospital security guard. Former Alcatraz inmate Charlie Hopkins was sentenced to 17 years behind bars in 1952 for his part in a robbery ring responsible for a string of carjackings (Asocial Media/YouTube) Later in life, Hopkins became a pen pal of the infamous Boston gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger, another Alcatraz veteran, a story he shared in his memoir Hard Time (2019) and in the TV series Alcatraz: The Last Survivor (2020). Despite Hopkins' scepticism, the president appeared to be in deadly earnest when he posted on Truth Social over the weekend: 'REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ! '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.' He added that he would be directing the Bureau of Prisons, the Department of Justice, the FBI and Homeland Security 'to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America's most ruthless and violent Offenders.' The former Alcatraz penitentiary seen in the San Franscio Bay (AP) The California maximum security penitentiary was opened in 1934 but closed again in 1963 after it was found to be three times more expensive to run than other jails and too costly to maintain, not least because of the extreme weather it was exposed to from the Pacific. The facility has since enjoyed a second act as a lucrative tourist attraction, with visitors drawn by its reputation acquired during its three decades of service, when it housed legendary criminals such as Al Capone, George 'Machine Gun' Kelly, 'Creepy' Alvin Karpis, and Robert Stroud, a psychopathic amateur ornithologist known as 'the Birdman of Alcatraz.' One of the first to reject Trump's suggestion was former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, a San Francisco resident, who wrote on X: 'The president's proposal is not a serious one.' Chicago mob boss Al Capone, arguably Alcatraz's most famous inmate (Getty) On Tuesday, Florida Democrat Rep. Jared Moskowitz ridiculed Trump in the House by calling the plan 'just another distraction to divert attention away from the tariffs, rising prices, or the struggle on Main Street.' Moskowitz went on to suggest that the president had gotten the idea from watching reruns of old movies on late-night television. 'Perhaps he was watching Escape from Alcatraz,' he suggested, referring to Don Siegel's 1979 Clint Eastwood hit. 'The funny part about that is that it was actually on television in South Florida. It was on PBS South Florida over the weekend when Trump was at Mar-a-Lago. In fact, he made his announcement just hours after it aired.' The congressman's reference to the scheduling is correct. Alcatraz has enjoyed a revival as a tourist attraction since its closure in 1963 (AP) A number of tourists visiting the prison this week sounded out by ABC were equally withering, with one commenting: 'I think it's one of the stupidest ideas I've ever heard in my life. 'It would cost billions to refit this building. It's not even earthquake proof.' But U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, for one, has defended the idea, telling Larry Kudlow on Fox Business the venture would yield 'cost savings', without explaining how, and insisting it would serve as a powerful deterrent to would-be criminals.
The Independent
07-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
One of Alcatraz's last living inmates speaks out on Trump's plan to reopen prison
Charlie Hopkins, one of the last living to have served time in Alcatraz San Francisco 's notorious island prison, has dismissed President Donald Trump 's order that the jail be reopened. 'I don't think he wants to reopen it, he's trying to draw attention to the crime rate,' Hopkins, now in his 90s, told ABC7 New York. 'When I was on Alcatraz, a rat couldn't survive.' Hopkins, a native of Jacksonville, Florida, who was hailed in his youth as a Golden Gloves boxer, was sentenced to 17 years behind bars in 1952 for his part in a robbery ring responsible for a string of carjackings. He served 11 years in jail – three of which were spent at Alcatraz, where he was known as Inmate #1186 – before reforming and finding work as a carpet fitter and then as a hospital security guard. Later in life, Hopkins became a pen pal of the infamous Boston gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger, another Alcatraz veteran, a story he shared in his memoir Hard Time (2019) and in the TV series Alcatraz: The Last Survivor (2020). Despite Hopkins' scepticism, the president appeared to be in deadly earnest when he posted on Truth Social over the weekend: 'REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ! '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.' He added that he would be directing the Bureau of Prisons, the Department of Justice, the FBI and Homeland Security 'to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America's most ruthless and violent Offenders.' The California maximum security penitentiary was opened in 1934 but closed again in 1963 after it was found to be three times more expensive to run than other jails and too costly to maintain, not least because of the extreme weather it was exposed to from the Pacific. The facility has since enjoyed a second act as a lucrative tourist attraction, with visitors drawn by its reputation acquired during its three decades of service, when it housed legendary criminals such as Al Capone, George 'Machine Gun' Kelly, 'Creepy' Alvin Karpis, and Robert Stroud, a psychopathic amateur ornithologist known as 'the Birdman of Alcatraz.' One of the first to reject Trump's suggestion was former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, a San Francisco resident, who wrote on X: 'The president's proposal is not a serious one.' On Tuesday, Florida Democrat Rep. Jared Moskowitz ridiculed Trump in the House by calling the plan 'just another distraction to divert attention away from the tariffs, rising prices, or the struggle on Main Street.' Moskowitz went on to suggest that the president had gotten the idea from watching reruns of old movies on late-night television. 'Perhaps he was watching Escape from Alcatraz,' he suggested, referring to Don Siegel's 1979 Clint Eastwood hit. 'The funny part about that is that it was actually on television in South Florida. It was on PBS South Florida over the weekend when Trump was at Mar-a-Lago. In fact, he made his announcement just hours after it aired.' The congressman's reference to the scheduling is correct. A number of tourists visiting the prison this week sounded out by ABC were equally withering, with one commenting: 'I think it's one of the stupidest ideas I've ever heard in my life. 'It would cost billions to refit this building. It's not even earthquake proof.' But U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, for one, has defended the idea, telling Larry Kudlow on Fox Business the venture would yield 'cost savings', without explaining how, and insisting it would serve as a powerful deterrent to would-be criminals.
