US President Donald Trump is seeking $152m (£115m) to reopen the infamous Alcatraz prison as part of his proposed budget for the 2027 fiscal year. Located near San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, the site, also known as The Rock, was once regarded as one of America’s most notorious prisons, but has served as a tourist attraction in recent years.
The budget request is seeking money “to rebuild Alcatraz as a state-of-the-art secure prison facility”, with funds covering the first year of costs.
The plan has been met with scepticism by a number of politicians in California, with questions raised about the final cost of the project and the challenges of running Alcatraz as an active prison.
The maximum security facility was closed in 1963. As a tourist site, it is currently run by the National Park Service.
Former speaker for the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, said the budget proposal from the Trump administration was “absurd on its face and should be rejected outright”.
“Rebuilding Alcatraz into a modern prison is a stupid notion that would be nothing more than a waste of taxpayer dollars and an insult to the intelligence of the American people.”
The request will need to be approved by the US Congress.
Previous criticism of Trump’s plan has pointed to the lack of running water and sewage on the island, and the fact all supplies are required to be brought in by boat.
By the time Alcatraz closed, it was three times more expensive to operate than any other federal prison, according to the US Bureau of Prisons.
Pelosi also raised a concern echoed by other San Francisco politicians, that turning Alcatraz back into a functioning prison would mean the loss of an iconic landmark.
According to the National Park Service, the facility currently brings in $60m (£45m) in revenue as an attraction.
Money being sought to reopen the prison as an active facility is part of a $1.7bn (£1.3bn) investment into the Bureau of Prisons.
Announcing his plans on Truth Social last year, Trump said was directing “the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ”.
The prison would “house America’s most ruthless and violent offenders”.
Alcatraz was originally a naval defence fort, before being converted first to a military prison and then to a federal prison in the 1930s after being taken over by the Department of Justice.
Some of its most notable inmates have included notorious gangsters Al Capone, Mickey Cohen and George “Machine Gun” Kelly.
Alcatraz has served as a location in a number of films, notably 1962’s Birdman of Alcatraz, starring Burt Lancaster, 1979’s Escape from Alcatraz, starring Clint Eastwood, and 1996 film The Rock, starring Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage.
By BBC News
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