Donald Trump has asked for $152m (\u00a3115m) to reopen the former Alcatraz jail so it can become a “state-of-the-art” prison.<\/p>\n
The president’s plea for the money was included in a proposed budget plan released by the \u200bWhite House to fund the US federal government \u200cfor the 2027 financial year.<\/p>\n
Such spending requests are normally seen as suggestions by Congress.<\/p>\n
![\"Alcatraz](\"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/25\/05\/768x432\/skynews-alcatraz-golden-gate_6907093.jpg?20250505130113\")
\n <\/div>\n Alcatraz Island is in San Francisco Bay, close to the Golden Gate Bridge. File pic: AP
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![\"A](\"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/25\/05\/768x432\/skynews-alcatraz-aerial-island_6906814.jpg?20250505074946\")
\n <\/div>\n A building on Alcatraz Island. Pic: AP
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The Federal Bureau of Prisons would use the investment to cover the \u200bfirst-year costs of rebuilding Alcatraz into “a state-of-the-art \u2060secure prison facility”, the plan said.<\/p>\n
The jail, on an island in San Francisco<\/strong><\/a> Bay in northern California, closed in 1963, and was opened to the public in 1973 as part of the US National Park Service.<\/p>\n Last May, Mr Trump<\/strong><\/a> said in a social media post that he had told the bureau, along with the US Department of \u200cJustice and other agencies to “reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt Alcatraz<\/strong><\/a>, to house America’s most ruthless and violent offenders”.<\/p>\n It would “serve as a symbol of law, order, and justice”, in a country that had been “plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat criminal offenders, the dregs of society”, he wrote.<\/p>\n Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, which opened in 1934, had been billed as the most \u2060secure prison in the US, given the island location, frigid \u200bwaters and strong currents.<\/p>\n Authorities said escape was impossible, but in the 29 years it was open, 36 men made 14 separate attempts, according to the FBI.<\/p>\n No successful escapes \u200bwere ever officially recorded, though five prisoners are \u200blisted as “missing and presumed drowned”.<\/p>\n <\/span> The story of three of those inmates was turned into the highly successful 1979 film, Escape From Alcatraz, starring Clint Eastwood.<\/p>\n Alcatraz Island was also the setting for the 1996 movie, The Rock, starring Sean Connery<\/strong><\/a> and Nicolas Cage.<\/p>\n Read more on Sky News:<\/strong> Gangsters Al Capone, George ‘Machine Gun’ Kelly and James ‘Whitey’ Bulger are among its best-known inmates.<\/p>\n It has since become a major tourist site, attracting more than a million visitors a year, according to its website.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"Visitors](\"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/25\/05\/768x432\/skynews-alcatraz-prison-people-tour-main-cells_6906763.jpg?20250505040817\")
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\n Visitors in the main cell house in 2021. File pic: AP
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\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n![\"Clint](\"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/25\/05\/768x432\/skynews-clint-eastwood-escape-from-alcatraz_6906851.jpg?20250505085306\")
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\n Clint Eastwood in Escape From Alcatraz.
\nPic: Paramount\/Malpaso\/Kobal\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
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