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Top officials from the Trump administration visited Alcatraz Island in California today to assess the possibility of converting the national park back into a prison, a directive Trump issued on Truth Social in May.
Fox News joined Attorney General Pam Bondi and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on their tour of the site, which functioned as a federal prison until 1963, as noted by the Bureau of Prisons, and has been a national park since 1972.
“It’s federal property. Its initial purpose was to serve as a prison, so part of our visit is to evaluate the practicability of restoring it to its former function,” explained Burgum, who manages national parks.
Trump had directed the federal officials to “to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders.”
Bondi echoed the call during the tour, telling Fox News that those housed in the facility, should it reopen, would include “the worst of the worst.”
“It could hold middle-class, violent prisoners. It could hold — it could hold illegal aliens. It could hold anything. This is a terrific facility [that] needs a lot of work, but no one has been known to escape from Alcatraz and survive,” Bondi said.
During its time as a penitentiary, Alcatraz had a capacity of more than 300 people and was designed to house “the most dangerous criminals.” However, difficulties sending supplies to the island, as well as high operating costs, led to its closing.
California officials have doubted the likelihood of the facility’s reopening as a prison, with Gov. Gavin Newsom saying in a statement: “Pam Bondi will reopen Alcatraz the same day Trump lets her release the Epstein files. So… never.”
