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- Donald Trump said he wants to turn Alcatraz Island back into a prison.
- The island off San Francisco housed famous criminals, including Al Capone, in the mid-20th century.
- Now a National Historic Landmark, it’s a tourist attraction with over a million annual visitors.
San Francisco could be losing an iconic tourist spot.
Donald Trump said on social media on Sunday that he’d ordered federal agencies to reopen Alcatraz, the former maximum-security prison that held notorious prisoners for decades.
“I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders,” he wrote on Truth Social. He did not provide further details about how the plan would be funded or executed.
From 1934 to 1963, Alcatraz Island housed criminals, including mobster Al Capone and Robert Stroud, known as the Birdman of Alcatraz.
Nicknamed The Rock, the prison gained a reputation for being inescapable before it closed.
Congress created the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in 1972, placing Alcatraz Island under the control of the National Park Service. More than 1 million people visit the island every year, according to the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy.
Take a look at what it’s like to visit Alcatraz Island.
Alcatraz Island sits in California’s San Francisco Bay, about 1.5 miles off the coast.
San Franciscans can see the island from another famous tourist spot, Fisherman’s Wharf.
Today, Alcatraz is open to visitors every day except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day.
Ferries from a private company, Alcatraz City Cruises, are the only way to access the island. Tickets for adults start at $47.95. Sometimes they sell out as much as a month in advance.
Spanish navigator Lieutenant Juan Manuel de Ayala mapped the island in 1775, when it was a seabird habitat.
He called it Isla de los Alcatraces, named for the strange birds, likely pelicans, found there. The name was later anglicized to Alcatraz Island, according to the National Park Service.
The US took control of the island from Mexico after the Mexican-American War in 1848.
In 1850, the same year California became a state, President Millard Fillmore signed an order reserving the island for military use. Army engineers built a fortress and placed cannons around the island to protect it from foreign attack.
The US military used the island during the Civil War.
The government seized a ship belonging to Confederate sympathizers who wanted to capture San Francisco Bay. The US Navy brought the ship and the plot’s orchestrators to Alcatraz.
The island was designated a US military prison in 1907.
In 1912, the 600-cell holding complex was completed by the military prisoners. A dining hall and hospital were also constructed. In 1933, the facility was transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
What’s now known as “the dungeon” is actually remnants of the original fort.
The cell house was built in 1912 on top of the citadel fortress, which was leveled in 1909.
When visitors reach Alcatraz, they’re greeted by the guard tower.
It’s where guards would sound the alarm that went out to the whole island if they witnessed anything out of the ordinary, per NPS.
Visitors can see where correctional officers and staff entered Alcatraz prison through the doors of the administration building.
The sign is on the cell house, the island’s main building.
An audio tour is included with the ticket price.
The recording includes interviews with former prisoners, correctional officers, and family members to depict the experience of living on the island.
Alcatraz housed inmates who were considered violent or escape risks.
The island’s rugged terrain made it difficult to flee. The tiny cells meant only a single person could stay in them, reducing the opportunity for clashes between prisoners.
The cells were about the size of a pool table, 9 by 5 feet.
The prison had enough space for 336 prisoners, but the population typically averaged around 260 to 275, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
D-Block cells were used for solitary confinement.
This area held the most dangerous inmates, according to NPS. Those who broke the rules could be punished with hard labor or solitary confinement, where they’d only be given bread and water.
The dining hall was considered a dangerous place.
It was nicknamed “the gas chamber” because of the 14 tear-gas dispensers mounted on the ceiling, according to NPS.
Guards took precautions at meal times to make sure food couldn’t be turned into weapons.
Sharp bones were removed, and the coffee wasn’t hot enough to scald.
Correctional officers supervised as prisoners working in the kitchens made three meals a day.
Alcatraz’s food was considered better than most other prisons’.
Public Health Service nutritionists helped create meals for the people inside the prison.
For dinner, the incarcerated men would eat soup, salad or vegetables, a starch like rice or pasta, meat, and dessert.
The prison had strict hygiene standards.
Prisoners showered regularly and wore clean clothes, making Alcatraz “probably the cleanest institution of its kind,” according to one prison official from the 1930s.
Once prisoners had shown they could follow Alcatraz’s rules, they were allowed to have visits from family members.
Every person incarcerated on the island received food, clothing, and medical care, but privileges like visitors, art supplies, and a job had to be earned.
Prisoners with good conduct records would complete chores at the Warden’s House.
The wardens and their families lived in a 15-room mansion next to the cell blocks. All that’s left of the building is its concrete frame following a fire in 1970.
Prisoners also took jobs in the laundry or factory building.
The men made furniture and canvas gloves, earning 7 cents an hour, Alcatraz Ranger John Cantwell said at a presentation to the San Francisco Public Library in 2017.
Alcatraz had education and recreation programs for the incarcerated men.
During their free time, the incarcerated men would play instruments, write letters, or watch movies, per NPS.
There was also a library stocked with 15,000 books.
Softball and bridge were other popular pastimes.
There were a total of 14 escape attempts from Alcatraz by over 30 prisoners over the years.
Five of those prisoners were never found and are presumed to have drowned.
The most famous attempt was in June 1962, when Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin escaped.
The men climbed through a chiseled cell air vent and escaped the island using a raft made from raincoats.
Nobody knows what happened to them, although the FBI says it is unlikely they survived the journey to shore. Clint Eastwood portrayed Morris in the 1979 movie “Escape from Alcatraz.”
Attorney General Robert Kennedy closed Alcatraz Prison on March 21, 1963.
It had become too pricey to run, costing three times as much as other prisons to operate. Over its 29 years as a federal penitentiary, it held 1,576 inmates.
On November 20, 1969, dozens of Native American activists occupied the island to bring attention to their treatment by the US government.
The activists requested the deed to the island, hoping to open a university and museum there. Almost two years later, on June 11, 1971, President Nixon sent federal troops to clear the island, ending the occupation.
The prison and its grounds became part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in 1972.
It opened to the public the following year.
Volunteers maintain the gardens that flourished when Alcatraz was a military and federal prison.
The gardens deteriorated after the prison closed but have since been restored.
Alcatraz Island is now a designated National Historic Landmark.
Some areas are off-limits to visitors because they’re deteriorating.
Trying to reopen the site as a prison would take an enormous amount of work, Hugh Hurwitz, former acting director of the Bureau of Prisons, told the BBC.
“It’s not realistic to think you can repair it,” he said. “You’d have to tear it up and start over.”
