President Donald Trump’s surprise call to reopen Alcatraz as a maximum-security prison may have come more from prime-time television than policy briefings.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Trump’s announcement came just hours after a local PBS station aired “Escape From Alcatraz,” the 1979 Clint Eastwood film about a real-life prison break from the island.
The film reportedly aired multiple times over the weekend on WLRN, the Palm Beach-area network that broadcasts Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
On Sunday morning, May 4, Trump posted on Truth Social that he was directing the Bureau of Prisons, along with the Department of Justice, FBI and Homeland Security, to “reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ” to detain “vicious, violent and repeat Criminal Offenders.” He describes such individuals as “the dregs of society” who bring “Misery and Suffering.”
The plan drew swift criticism and skepticism from historians, favored officials and corrections experts. Alcatraz operated as a federal prison from 1934 to 1963 and housed infamous inmates such as Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly. But the prison closed due to high operating costs and structural decay. It has since been managed by the National Park Service, drawing more than a million visitors via guided tours annually.
Experts warn that reopening the prison would be a costly and complex endeavor, requiring extensive seismic retrofitting, new plumbing and power systems and barge-based construction in an earthquake-prone zone.
“This is not a serious proposal,” said San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie. Supervisor Danny Sauter, whose district includes the ferry terminal to Alcatraz, dismissed the plan as financially reckless. “There’s nothing more expensive than an idea like this,” he said. The National Park Service declined to comment. When pressed by reporters about his plan to reopen Alcatraz prison on Monday, May 5, Trump gave an unexpected response.
“Well, I guess I was supposed to be a movie maker,” Trump said. “It represents something very strong, very powerful in terms of law and order… Alcatraz is, I would say, the ultimate. Sing Sing and Alcatraz, right? The movies.”