Trump Orders Famed Alcatraz Prison Be “Enlarged And Rebuilt”
on May 05, 2025
Alcatraz To Be Reopened For Nation’s “Most Ruthless Violent Offenders”
It’s been over 60 years since the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary housed prisoners, but that’s soon going to change.
In a post to Truth Social on Sunday, May 4, President Donald Trump announced the infamous prison was going to be reopened.
Trump wrote:
“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 prefaced this announcement by writing, “When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.”
Writing on the kind of criminals Alcatraz will be intended for, Trump wrote:
“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 … No longer will we tolerate these Serial Offenders who spread filth, bloodshed, and mayhem on our streets.”
Related: President Trump Hints At Future Self-Deportation Program
A Tourist Attraction No More
Located 1.25 miles off the coast of San Francisco, California, Alcatraz Island became a federal prison in 1934 with a capacity of 336 inmates.
Only in use for 29 years, the prison housed some notable criminals, including the likes of Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly.
It also housed political prisoners, like Rafael Cancel Miranda, a Puerto Rican Nationalist who was involved in the 1954 attack on the United States House of Representatives.
Nearly a decade after its closure in 1963, Alcatraz became part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, giving it new life as a tourist attraction.
Adding to the prison’s place in the American subconscious, Alcatraz has been the centerpiece of countless films, ranging from the Lee Marvin thriller Point Blank (1967) to Michael Bay’s The Rock (1996).
As of presstime on Monday, May 5, the National Park Services and its official concessioner for tours of Alcatraz, Alcatraz City Cruises, have not yet disclosed how tourist trips to Alcatraz will be affected.
Critics of Trump, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, posted on X, formerly Twitter, that reopening Alcatraz was “not a serious” proposal.
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, 2025
Guantanamo Bay
The announcement to reopen Alcatraz follows a presidential memorandum, signed by Trump on January 29, to “expand the Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay.”
Ordering that Guantanamo be prepared to be at “full capacity,” this memorandum states it was being expanded “to provide additional detention space for high-priority criminal aliens unlawfully present in the United States, and to address attendant immigration enforcement needs identified by the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security.”
Trump added, “This memorandum is issued in order to halt the border invasion, dismantle criminal cartels, and restore national sovereignty.”
Guantanamo Bay has been held by the United States since the Spanish-American War in 1898. In the months following the 9/11 terror attacks, President George W. Bush had Guantanamo Bay established as a detention center to house suspected terrorists.
The facility received scrutiny for its treatment of detainees, with the White House noting in February 2002 that “the Geneva Convention applies to the Taliban detainees, but not to the al-Qaida detainees.”
Prior to Trump’s 2025 announcement, there were 15 inmates still being held at Guantanamo Bay.
Presently, it is unclear how many detainees are held at the facility.
