President Donald Trump announced Sunday, May 4, that he has ordered the reopening of Alcatraz, the island prison in San Francisco Bay that was shut down in 1963. According to his Truth Social post, the measure is intended to imprison the “most ruthless and violent” criminals in the United States—as it once did.
The president said he has directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and other federal agencies to reopen and “expand” the prison, often referred to as the “prison of hell” due to its severe conditions and notorious history.
“We will no longer be held hostage to criminals, thugs, and Judges that are afraid to do their job and allow us to remove criminals, who came into our Country illegally,” the president said in his Truth Social address. “The reopening of ALCATRAZ will serve as a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE. We will make America great again!”
The order comes as Trump has been publicly clashing with the courts as his administration sought to send accused gang members to prison in El Salvador.
Alcatraz Island was included as part of the National Park Service in 1972 when Congress created the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
The prison, infamously inescapable due to the strong tidal currents and cold Pacific waters surrounding it, was known as “The Rock” and housed some of the country’s most notorious criminals, including gangster Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly.
It has long been part of the cultural imagination and has been the subject of numerous films, including “The Rock,” starring Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage.
In the 29 years it was open, 36 men attempted to escape 14 times, according to the FBI. Nearly all were captured or did not survive the attempt.
The closure of the federal prison in 1963 was attributed to crumbling infrastructure and the high costs of repairing and supplying the island’s facilities, as everything from fuel to food had to be brought in by ship. At the time of its closure, it was estimated that more than $5 million was needed to restore and maintain the prison.
“That figure does not include daily operating costs: Alcatraz was nearly three times more expensive to operate than any other federal prison,” according to the office’s website.
In 1959, the daily per capita cost at Alcatraz was $10.10, according to the federal agency.
The island receives more than 1 million visitors a year, according to the office.
A Bureau of Prisons spokesperson said in a statement that the agency “will comply with all presidential orders.” The spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press about the feasibility and viability of reopening Alcatraz or the agency’s role in the future of the former prison, given the National Park Service’s control of the island.
The island is a true time machine that transports us to a bygone era of the prison system. Today, the Bureau of Prisons has 16 prisons that perform the same high-security functions as Alcatraz, including the maximum-security facility in Florence, Colorado, and the Terre Haute Penitentiary, Indiana, which houses the federal death chamber.
Since the announcement, Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco, has called the measure a “crusade to sabotage the rule of law.”
“Trump’s edict that Alcatraz, a museum, will be reopened as a prison is absurd on its face,” Wiener said. “This major tourist attraction generates significant revenue for the federal government and supports many jobs.
He specifically points to the judges who don’t allow him to deport anyone he wants without due process as justification for this stunt. If Trump is serious about doing this, it’s just one more step in his dismantling of democracy: a domestic gulag in the middle of the San Francisco Bay.”
House Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi took to social media and questioned the announcement. The president’s announcement “was not serious,” she wrote on X.
Alcatraz closed as a federal penitentiary more than sixty years ago. It is now a very popular national park and major tourist attraction. The President’s proposal is not a serious one. https://t.co/ALKXZLWlzO
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) May 5, 2025Governor Gavin Newsom’s office also said the measure appeared to be “another day of distraction in Washington, D.C.”