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The White House on Friday sought $152 million US to return the former Alcatraz prison island to active duty, following up on U.S. President Donald Trump’s call last year to transform the popular San Francisco Bay tourist destination.
The request was tucked into a proposed budget the White House released to fund the government for the 2027 fiscal year. Such spending requests are typically treated by lawmakers in Congress as suggestions.
The budget seeks funds for the Federal Bureau of Prisons to cover the first-year costs of rebuilding Alcatraz into “a state-of-the-art secure prison facility.” It closed in 1969 and has been under the National Park Service’s auspices.
Trump in May announced on social media that he was directing the Bureau of Prisons, the U.S. Department of Justice, and other agencies to “reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders.”
Alcatraz, which opened in 1934, had been billed as America’s most secure prison given the island location, frigid waters and strong currents. No successful escapes were ever officially recorded, though five prisoners are listed as “missing and presumed drowned.”
Before its closure, it housed such notorious criminals as Al Capone and James “Whitey” Bulger.
The Bureau of Prisons’ website recounts that it was closed because it was too expensive to continue operating, noting it was nearly three times more costly to operate than any other federal prison.
