Donald Trump on Tuesday defined his shock determination to resurrect Alcatraz, the notorious island jail off the coast of San Francisco. Removed from a coverage drafted in a committee room, Trump’s newest directive seems to be impressed by Hollywood greater than Washington, with the US president insisting the deserted fortress represents “one thing very robust, very highly effective when it comes to legislation and order.”
“Properly, I assume I used to be purported to be a film maker,” Trump advised reporters on the White Home, showing to hyperlink his plan to revive the infamous island penitentiary with a Hollywood-style imaginative and prescient of legislation and order. “It represents one thing very robust, very highly effective, when it comes to legislation and order.”
His remarks adopted a shock directive over the weekend by which he ordered the Bureau of Prisons, alongside the Justice Division, FBI and Homeland Safety, to reopen a “considerably enlarged and rebuilt” Alcatraz to detain “America’s most ruthless and violent offenders.” The announcement, posted on Trump’s Reality Social account, caught officers and observers off guard and was extensively mocked on-line.
Social media customers had been fast to notice that the 1979 Clint Eastwood movie *Escape from Alcatraz* had aired on tv in South Florida, together with West Palm Seaside, the place Trump had spent the night at Mar-a-Lago. “Are we getting American coverage from TV exhibits?” one person posted on X.
Requested whether or not he had drawn inspiration from the film, Trump appeared to nod to the connection. “Alcatraz is, I might say, the final word, proper? Alcatraz, Sing Sing and Alcatraz, the films,” he mentioned, earlier than describing the jail as “each horrible and delightful and robust and depressing, weak. It’s bought quite a lot of qualities which can be attention-grabbing.”
The previous jail, perched on a distant island off San Francisco, housed a few of America’s most notorious criminals, together with Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly, earlier than closing in 1963 because of crumbling infrastructure and excessive prices. Since then, it has change into a serious vacationer attraction underneath the Nationwide Park Service, drawing greater than one million guests yearly.
Regardless of Trump’s romanticised claims that “no person ever escaped” and one inmate was discovered lifeless from “quite a lot of shark bites,” the Bureau of Prisons clarifies that 5 escapees had been by no means discovered and are presumed drowned. The company additionally notes there aren’t any “man-eating” sharks in San Francisco Bay.
Nonetheless, Trump’s new prisons director, William Marshall, mentioned a direct evaluation was underway: “The Bureau of Prisons will vigorously pursue all avenues to assist and implement the President’s agenda.”
Critics have dismissed the plan as unrealistic. Former Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose district contains Alcatraz, wrote, “The President’s proposal is just not a critical one.” Others questioned spending billions on a high-security jail whereas present services are being closed because of related infrastructure challenges.
However for Trump, the symbolism of Alcatraz nonetheless looms massive. “It simply represented one thing robust having to do with legislation and order,” he mentioned. “We’d like legislation and order on this nation.”
