US President Donald Trump said Sunday he had directed officials to rebuild and reopen Alcatraz prison, the notorious federal jail based on a small island offshore from San Francisco, in California, that shuttered six decades ago.
The jail will house “America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders”, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, adding that the institution will be “substantially enlarged”.
Alcatraz closed in 1963 due to high operating costs after being open for just 29 years, according to the US Bureau of Prisons, and now serves as a tourist attraction.
Located 2km off the coast of San Francisco and with a capacity of just 336 prisoners, it held several well-known criminals, including Prohibition-era mob boss Al Capone, and saw many fantastical escape attempts by inmates.
