Trump vows to re-open Alcatraz as a prison

President Donald Trump announced yesterday (Sunday) he is directing federal authorities to reopen the famous prison at Alcatraz Island.

Posting on the social media platform, Truth Social, Trump said he is "directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America's most ruthless and violent Offenders." 

U.S. Penitentiary Alcatraz closed in 1963 after opening 29 years earlier on the island in San Francisco Bay.

Known as "The Rock," some of the famous criminals of their time, like Al Capone, were housed there during the prison's operation.

After its closure and a period of occupation by Native Americans, the National Park Service. Alcatraz has since turned into a tourist attraction with more than a million visitors a year to the public museum about the history of the island and its prison.

State Sen. Scott Wiener, of San Francisco, called Trump’s proposal "absurd on its face.” He said the former prison is a major tourist attraction that generates significant revenue for the federal government and supports many jobs."