Sunday, April 5, 2026
HomeEducationTrump Asks Congress for $152 Million to Reopen Alcatraz

Trump Asks Congress for $152 Million to Reopen Alcatraz

“Trump’s dementia continues to get the perfect of him,” he stated. “Making Alcatraz a jail once more isn’t a factor, and we’re not going to let him flip Alcatraz into his latest gulag. Again off.”

Wiener’s workplace stated restoring the ability is predicted to value over $2 billion.

Estimated by the Bureau of Prisons round that point to be about thrice as excessive as some other federal facility, Alcatraz was shuttered in 1963 on account of excessive working prices and crumbling infrastructure.

At its highest occupancy, the location housed between 260 and 275 folks — lower than 1% of federal prisoners within the nation.

Trump’s plan would additionally face legislative challenges, for the reason that island is at the moment below the management of the Division of the Inside as a part of the Golden Gate Recreation Space, a federally acknowledged nationwide park created in Congress in 1972.

The realm consists of Alcatraz, Muir Woods in Marin County and the Presidio in San Francisco.

Inspiration Level overlook within the Presidio of San Francisco on Sept. 4, 2025, appears to be like out over the Bay and Alcatraz. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

Federal legislation requires that the Nationwide Park Service and Division of the Inside “protect the recreation space, so far as doable, in its pure setting, and defend it from growth and makes use of which might destroy the scenic magnificence and pure character of the realm.”

The land can also be topic to the Historic Preservation, Nationwide Environmental Safety and Park Service Natural acts — federal protections that might make working a jail on the location just about inconceivable.

Alcatraz is a vacationer vacation spot that pulls greater than 1.5 million guests a yr, producing tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars}, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated when Trump first floated the concept of reopening the jail final yr.

At a press convention, Lurie instructed reporters, “This isn’t a severe proposal.”


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