Trump's Alcatraz prison restoration plan gets cold reception from tourists

6/5/2025 7:04

U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to turn Alcatraz back into a federal prison was summarily rejected on Monday by some visitors to the tourist site in San Francisco Bay.



Trump revealed a plan over the weekend to rebuild and expand the notorious island prison, a historic landmark known as "The Rock" and operated by the U.S. government's National Park Service. It's "just an idea I've had," he said.



"We need law and order in this country. So we're going to look at it," he added on Monday.



Once nearly impossible to leave, the island can be difficult to get to because of competition for tickets. Alcatraz prison held fewer than 300 inmates at a time before it was closed in 1963 and draws roughly 1.2 million tourists a year.