US President Donald Trump announced on Monday on his Truth Social network that he would reopen the prison on Alcatraz Island for the world’s most dangerous criminals.
“I am 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,” Trump said.
According to Trump, the reopening of the prison will be a “symbol of law, order and justice.”
At the end of January, the eldest son of US President Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., suggested on social media that Alcatraz prison be reopened. The son of the White House chief welcomed his father’s idea of setting up a large migration centre at the Guantanamo Bay base in Cuba to hold detained illegal migrants.
Alcatraz Prison has a reputation as the toughest prison in the United States. Former inmates have reported cruelty and inhumane conditions that severely tested their sanity. During its 29-year history as a federal prison, there were at least 14 escape attempts. The most famous escape attempt was made by bank robber Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin in June 1962. Among the most famous inmates at Alcatraz were the notorious gangster Al Capone, Robert Stroud and mobster Meyer Cohen.
