{"id":10920,"date":"2025-05-06T10:58:47","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T02:58:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=10920"},"modified":"2025-05-06T10:58:51","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T02:58:51","slug":"trump-wants-to-reopen-one-of-americas-most-notorious-prisons-heres-how-alcatraz-earned-its-reputation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=10920","title":{"rendered":"Trump wants to reopen one of America\u2019s most notorious prisons. Here\u2019s how Alcatraz earned its reputation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

President Donald Trump on Sunday said he would order the government to\u00a0rebuild and reopen Alcatraz<\/a>, a former prison on a small island of the same name off the coast of San Francisco that once housed some of the most dangerous criminals in the country, including Al Capone, George \u201cMachine Gun\u201d Kelly and James \u201cWhitey\u201d Bulger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prison, which closed 60 years ago due to its crumbling infrastructure and high maintenance costs, \u201cwill serve as a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE,\u201d Trump said in a post on Truth Social<\/a> Sunday, later telling reporters it was \u201cjust an idea\u201d he had as federal judges pushed to ensure deported migrants had due process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, the US Bureau of Prisons Director William K. Marshall III said his agency will \u201cpursue all avenues\u201d to implement Trump\u2019s plans for reopening Alcatraz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have ordered an immediate assessment to determine our needs and the next steps. USP Alcatraz has a rich history. We look forward to restoring this powerful symbol of law, order, and justice. We will be actively working with our law enforcement and other federal partners to reinstate this very important mission,\u201d Marshall said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department of the Interior referred CNN to Trump\u2019s statement, saying the department and the National Park Service had \u201cnothing to add at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now a major historical landmark and tourist destination, Alcatraz was once one of the most heavily fortified military sites on the West Coast before it transformed into a notorious federal penitentiary in 1934.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a maximum-security prison surrounded by the Pacific\u2019s strong, cold currents, Alcatraz had a reputation for being a \u201clast resort\u201d facility where the most dangerous and most unruly in other prisons were sent. It was virtually impossible to escape, despite numerous storied attempts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s what else to know about its colorful history:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Maximum-security, minimum-privilege\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The island of Alcatraz\u2019s strategic location at the entrance to San Francisco Bay made it ideal for defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US Army built a fort there in the 1850s and equipped it with artillery needed to protect the bay from foreign invasion amid growing US interests in the Pacific. It was also used to protect San Francisco from Confederate raiders during the Civil War. Soon after it evolved into a military prison, which it remained into the 20th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1933 the US military turned Alcatraz over to the Department of Justice, beginning the island\u2019s nearly three decades as a federal prison. With its isolated location and barebones amenities, \u201cThe Rock,\u201d as it came to be known, was meant to deliver a message to criminals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Federal Government had decided to open a maximum-security, minimum-privilege penitentiary to deal with the most incorrigible inmates in Federal prisons, and to show the law-abiding public that the Federal Government was serious about stopping the rampant crime of the 1920s and 1930s,\u201d according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prisoners at Alcatraz had four rights: food, clothing, shelter, and medical care \u2013\u2013 all other privileges, including visits from family or access to books, art supplies and music, had to be earned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For all of its infamy, Alcatraz averaged a prison population of about 260 to 275 prisoners at any given time \u2013 less than 1% of the total federal jail population. Most of the prison\u2019s inmates were among those who refused to conform to rules at other federal jails or who were deemed \u201cescape risks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A view of Alcatraz island and penitentiary in San Francisco Bay from the 1930s. – AFP\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The 1962 escape that defined the prison\u2019s notoriety<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Alcatraz saw 14 separate escape attempts involving 36 men over its 29 years as a federal prison. Officially, no one ever succeeded in reaching the mainland alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most successful \u2013 and elaborate \u2013 escape attempt came in 1962, when Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin vanished from their cells and were never seen again. The escape was dramatized in the 1979 Clint Eastwood film \u201cEscape from Alcatraz.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FBI\u2019s investigation<\/a> of the escape uncovered an \u201cingenious\u201d plan devised over several months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using spoons and homemade tools \u2013 including a drill made from a vacuum cleaner motor \u2013 the inmates dug through ventilation ducts behind their cells, which they used to establish a makeshift workshop on top of their cellblock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They created fake heads of themselves from plaster \u2013 complete with real human hair. The men secretly assembled a makeshift raft and life vests out of more than 50 stolen raincoats, using heat from steam pipes to seal the materials, investigators found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the night of their escape, they used their dummy heads to fool the night guards while they slipped out of their cells. They then crawled through a ventilator shaft on the prison\u2019s roof that they had previously cut open and left temporarily secured with a bolt made from soap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A prison guard kneels by a hole in Frank Morris’ prison cell through which he, John and Clarence Anglin escaped. Prison officials reported that the hole was dug with broken spoons. – The Denver Post\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It is believed that the group never made it to land and disappeared into the cold waters of San Francisco Bay. The FBI concluded they likely drowned, but no bodies were ever recovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Occasional sightings and leads have kept the case open for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u2018Birdman of Alcatraz\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Among the most well-known prisoners of Alcatraz was Robert Stroud, nicknamed the \u201cBirdman of Alcatraz\u201d for his later interest in ornithology \u2013\u2013 the study of birds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally imprisoned for manslaughter in 1909, Stroud later killed a prison guard and was sentenced to life in solitary confinement at Leavenworth Penitentiary in Kansas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While in prison, Stroud began raising canaries and conducted research on birds, later publishing respected books on bird diseases. Though he was allowed to conduct his studies in his cell, prison authorities later found that equipment Stroud had requested for his experiments were used to construct a still for \u201chome-brew,\u201d according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stroud was then transferred to Alcatraz in 1942 where he was not allowed to keep birds. He left Alcatraz for another facility in 1959 and died four years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

High costs and deteriorating conditions forced the prison to close<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

By the time Alcatraz prison closed, its building walls were corroded from the salty sea air. Authorities estimated it would take roughly $3 million to $5 million to restore and maintain the facility \u2013\u2013 excluding daily operational costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlcatraz was nearly three times more expensive to operate than any other Federal prison,\u201d according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After it closed, the island sat mostly unused until 1969, when a group of Native American activists occupied it for 19 months in protest<\/a>, claiming it under the Treaty of Fort Laramie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Alcatraz is operated by the National Park Service as a tourist destination, welcoming approximately 1.2 million visitors a year<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1986, but such a designation \u201ccan be considered for withdrawal either at the request of the owner or on the initiative of the Secretary of the Interior,\u201d according to the National Park Service.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Tourists are seen at Alcatraz Island in August 2023. – Tayfun Coskun\/Anadolu Agency\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There are certain conditions that make a landmark eligible for losing the designation, such as ceasing \u201cto meet criteria for designation; the qualities for which it was originally designated have been lost or destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat whose district includes Alcatraz, pushed back on the president\u2019s proposal, calling it \u201cnot a serious one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlcatraz closed as a federal penitentiary more than sixty years ago. It is now a very popular national park and major tourist attraction. The President\u2019s proposal is not a serious one,\u201d the congresswoman wrote Sunday on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump on Sunday said he would order the government to\u00a0rebuild and reopen Alcatraz, a former prison on a small island of the same name off the coast of San Francisco that once housed some of the most dangerous criminals in the country, including Al Capone, George \u201cMachine Gun\u201d Kelly and James \u201cWhitey\u201d Bulger. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":10922,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[3296,3295,1724],"class_list":["post-10920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-usa","tag-most","tag-reopen","tag-trump"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump wants to reopen one of America\u2019s most notorious prisons. 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