Send them to Alcatraz!
President Donald J. Trump announced his intention to direct the Bureau of Prisons, in coordination with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen and expand the historic Alcatraz prison to house what he called “America’s most ruthless and violent offenders.”
The announcement came via Trump’s Truth Social account, where he posted a message calling for the facility to be “substantially enlarged and rebuilt.”
Trump said the decision is a response to a rise in violent crime and what he described as a failure of the judicial system to incarcerate repeat and dangerous criminals.
“We will no longer be held hostage to criminals, thugs, and Judges that are afraid to do their job,” Trump wrote.
The post also referred to serial offenders as “the dregs of society” and pledged a return to “a more serious Nation” with harsher criminal penalties and increased incarceration.
Trump emphasized that the proposed reopening of Alcatraz would symbolize a renewed commitment to “Law, Order, and JUSTICE.” The former president included undocumented immigrants among those he would seek to incarcerate under the proposed changes, stating that the facility would help remove criminals “who came into our Country illegally.”
Alcatraz, a maximum-security federal prison that operated until 1963 on an island in San Francisco Bay, is currently a national park and tourist destination managed by the National Park Service.
There is no current federal plan in place to repurpose the facility for incarceration.
Trump’s proposal aligns with his broader campaign messaging focused on law enforcement and immigration.
He has repeatedly criticized what he calls leniency in the criminal justice system and vowed to implement stricter policies if reelected.