Trump's call to reopen Alcatraz faces 'daunting' challenges

President Trump’s idea to reopen Alcatraz as a functioning prison is a reflection of his political instincts and personal tastes, even as it is a long shot to come to fruition.

Alcatraz, the island located off the coast of San Francisco, was closed as a prison in 1963 and has since been turned into a public museum. The excessive cost to operate Alcatraz was the driving factor in its closure as a prison, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

Trump’s suggestion that it could once again be a penitentiary for hardened criminals highlights both his efforts to project a tough on crime image, and his fondness for cultural symbols of past generations.

“Well, I guess I was supposed to be a movie maker,” Trump quipped when asked Monday how he came up with the idea to reopen Alcatraz as a prison.

“I think it represents something,” Trump told reporters. “Right now it’s a big hulk that’s sitting there rusting and rotting... It sort of represents something that’s both horrible and beautiful, and strong and miserable. Weak. It’s got a lot of qualities that are interesting.”

The president first raised the idea in a Truth Social post on Sunday, when he said he was directing the Bureau of Prisons, the Department of Justice and other agencies to "reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt" prison at Alcatraz. 

The facility, he mused, would house "America's most ruthless and violent Offenders." Trump has also indicated the expanded space would be needed if all the individuals his administration is attempting to deport require a trial.

William Marshall III, the director of the Bureau of Prisons, said in a statement Monday that he had ordered “an immediate assessment to determine our needs and the next steps” as it related to Trump’s proposal. 

“USP Alcatraz has a rich history. We look forward to restoring this powerful symbol of law, order, and justice,” Marshall said in a statement. “We will be actively working with our law enforcement and other federal partners to reinstate this very important mission."

But experts and local officials said such a project is unrealistic for a variety of reasons.

“Overwhelmingly complicated and daunting is how I would describe it,” said John Martini, who previously worked as a park ranger for the National Park Service at Alcatraz and has written multiple books about the island.

Martini likened the prospective project to a teardown that would require the Alcatraz facility to be rebuilt from the ground up. It would require infrastructure upgrades to account for running water, sewage treatment, electricity and extensive fixes to bring the building up to federal codes.

The Bureau of Prisons states on its website that Alcatraz closed in 1963 after 29 years of operating because “the institution was too expensive to continue operating.” The prison’s isolated location meant that food, water, fuel and other supplies had to be brought to the island by boat.

At the time of its closure, the government determined roughly $5 million was needed just for “restoration and maintenance” to keep Alcatraz open, which would amount to roughly $52 million in 2025 when accounting for inflation.

In addition to the financial costs, Alcatraz now operates as a national park that attracts more than 1 million visitors each year and brings in revenue for the federal government. The National Park Service did not respond to a request for comment about Trump’s proposal.

Some lawmakers, however, called Trump’s proposal unrealistic.

“Alcatraz closed as a federal penitentiary more than sixty years ago,” former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has represented San Francisco in Congress for decades, posted on X. “It is now a very popular national park and major tourist attraction. The President’s proposal is not a serious one.”

Alcatraz has been part of the public consciousness for decades. It has been featured in dozens of movies and television shows, remaining well known as a prison despite its closure in the 1960s. 

It was the central subject in popular films like “Birdman of Alcatraz,” which was released in 1962, “Escape from Alcatraz,” which was released in 1979, and “The Rock,” which was released in 1996.

The prison housed notorious criminals like George "Machine-Gun" Kelly and Al Capone. During the 2024 campaign, Trump frequently compared his own treatment in the legal system to that of Capone, the infamous gangster.

In addition to Alcatraz being a cultural symbol that resonates with Trump, the idea aligns with his political agenda as well.

“It’s a sad symbol, but it’s a symbol of law and order,” Trump said of Alcatraz on Monday. “And you know, it’s got quite a history frankly.”

Trump has aggressively cracked down on immigration early in his second term, cutting off legal pathways for individuals to enter the country, aggressively sending resources to the southern border and ramping up deportations.

The president directed his administration to expand capacity at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, another notorious prison, to accommodate potentially hundreds of deported immigrants while they awaited their return to another country.

While Alcatraz was opened in response to the crime wave of the 1920s and rise of crime bosses like Capone, some administration officials viewed it as a potentially similar solution to the rise in border crossings in recent years.

"I think that this is a great idea from President Trump,” Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, said on Fox News. “He also mentioned… that this is symbolism, just like Guantanamo Bay. Historically, Alcatraz was used to house the worst of the worst, and that’s exactly what we're doing at Guantanamo Bay and could potentially do at Alcatraz as well.”