Why Trump ordered the reopening of the Alcatraz prison
5 May 14:58
US President Donald Trump has instructed the Bureau of Prisons, along with the Department of Justice, the FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen the prison on Alcatraz Island, where he wants to house “the most ruthless and violent criminals.” It was closed more than 60 years ago.
Trump said this on his social network Truth Social, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
The American president wrote that the United States has suffered for too long “from violent, violent scum of the earth and repeat offenders who will never bring anything but misery and suffering.”
Who will be placed in the Alcatraz prison?
“When we were a more serious nation, in the past, we didn’t hesitate to incarcerate the most dangerous criminals and keep them away from anyone they could harm. That is the way it should be. We will no longer tolerate these serial criminals who spread filth, bloodshed, and chaos on our streets,” Trump said
He said that he proposed the idea because he was frustrated with “radicalized judges” who insisted that those being deported should be entitled to due process.
According to Trump, the reopening of Alcatraz will be a “symbol of law, order and justice.”
According to the AP, this comes as Trumpwants suspected gang members to be immediately sent to a maximum security prison in El Salvador, even without a full trial. He also proposed the controversial idea of transferring some prisoners from U.S. federal prisons to El Salvador’s CECOT prison, which was built to hold terrorists and gang members.
A spokesman for the Bureau of Prisons said that the agency “will comply with all presidential orders.”
Reopening the Alcatraz prison is likely to be an expensive and difficult task.
The facility, located on an island off the coast of San Francisco, was closed in 1963 due to serious infrastructure problems and high maintenance costs. Due to its island location, everything from fuel to food had to be delivered by boat, which significantly increased costs.
According to the Bureau of Prisons, Alcatraz cost almost three times as much to operate as any other federal prison, and restoration and maintenance work alone required between $3 million and $5 million, and that’s not including daily expenses.
Alcatraz, which operated as a federal prison for nearly 30 years, was known as a completely isolated “prison from which there is no escape” due to strong ocean currents and the cold waters of the Pacific Ocean. Therefore, the institution was called “The Rock” and held some of the most dangerous criminals in the United States.
