Trump says he will reopen 'enlarged and rebuilt' Alcatraz prison

President Donald Trump said Sunday he will direct several federal agencies to "reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt Alcatraz," a facility that for decades was a federal prison and is now a national park.

President Donald Trump said Sunday he will direct several federal agencies to "reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt Alcatraz," a facility that for decades was a federal prison and is now a national park.

"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," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

"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 added.

An aerial view shows Alcatraz island in San Francisco, California, on May 16, 2024.Josh Edelson / AFP / Getty Images fileAlcatraz Island, a former military fortress and prison in San Francisco Bay, was turned into a federal penitentiary in 1934 and over the course of 29 years housed more than 1,500 people "deemed difficult to incarcerate elsewhere in the federal prison system," according to the National Park Service.

According to a National Park Service study, it was initially deemed unfit to serve as a federal institution because of its small size, isolated location and lack of fresh water. However, Sanford Bates, the director of the Bureau of Prisons in 1933, later found it "an ideal place of confinement for about 200 of the most desperate or irredeemable types." It was formally opened as a federal penitentiary the next year.