Overview
- President Trump has ordered federal agencies to explore reopening Alcatraz as a maximum-security prison, framing it as a symbol of law and order.
- The Bureau of Prisons has committed to studying the feasibility of the plan, but no budget, timeline, or concrete steps have been finalized.
- Experts and lawmakers from both parties have criticized the proposal as impractical and prohibitively expensive due to Alcatraz’s deteriorated infrastructure and high operational costs.
- Alcatraz currently operates as a lucrative tourist attraction, drawing 1.6 million visitors annually and generating $60 million in revenue, complicating its potential conversion back into a prison.
- Speculation has emerged that Trump’s idea may have been influenced by a recent PBS broadcast of the 1979 film 'Escape From Alcatraz,' which aired near his Mar-a-Lago residence.