The president’s fiscal year 2027 budget proposal, sent to Congress on Friday, requested $152 million to restore the iconic lockup and return it to operation.
The goal: to make Alcatraz a “state-of-the-art secure prison facility,” the budget plan said — a symbol of justice.
The idea has promise, and Congress should give it due consideration.
The president shared his thinking in May in a post on X: “REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ! …. When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the 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.”
Restoring “The Rock” would bring back its mystique and put today’s crime lords on notice. Getty Images Sign up for the California Morning Report newsletter California's top news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.
Progressive politicians and prosecutors sympathize with criminals these days, letting perps walk free to victimize others, sometimes repeatedly.
That’s wrong. Trump knows it — and Alcatraz II would give the message an imposing exclamation point.
For decades, the fortress caged the worst criminals in America, including Al Capone, George “Machine Gun” Kelly, and Robert Stroud (the “Birdman of Alcatraz”).
Gangers, killers, kidnappers — all contained in a 22-acre island prison patrolled by sharks. It was the stuff of legend.
Restoring “The Rock” would tap that mystique and put today’s offenders on notice: One of these cells could be yours.
Of course (because TDS), the usual suspects sneered at the idea.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose district includes Alcatraz, posted on X last week:
“Rebuilding Alcatraz into a modern prison is a stupid notion that would be nothing more than a waste of taxpayer dollars and an insult to the intelligence of the American people.”
Says the woman who would never waste taxpayer dollars or insult Americans’ intelligence (such as by saying, as she did of Obamacare, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.”)
But on a serious note, questions about a Rock revival remain — including the high cost of boating supplies to and from Alcatraz and the island’s designation as a national historic landmark.
But … if anyone knows how to build things, it’s Donald Trump.
He didn’t get where he is by heeding critics, abiding convention, or taking “you’re crazy” for an answer.
On the contrary: The president has demonstrated he can think outside the norm, develop real estate, and get myriad big things done.
And if he can pull it off … what better monument to Law and Order?
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