President Trump has the idea of reopening Alcatraz prison
President Donald Trump expressed his frustration with the judge, which sparked the idea of reopening and expanding the infamous Alcatraz prison.
ALCATRAZ – Visitors to the prison here have mixed reactions to President Donald Trump’s desire to re-occupy a criminal who has been hardened in the infamous former federal prison on Monday.
Some tourists were willing to entertain the concept, but others found it unrealistic at best and ridiculous at worst.
“The man is an idiot,” said Chris Smith, running through the American West with his wife Claire from his hometown of Lincolnshire, England.
Almost everyone, including travelers from Brazil, Germany, the UK, Argentina, France, the Netherlands, Taiwan and Canada, agreed that it would be extremely expensive to restore historic facilities on a 22-acre island in the San Francisco Bay, which was built between 1909 and 1911 and is showing its age.
According to the National Park Service, it was clear that many people missed the popular attraction, attracting up to 1.6 million visitors, generating around $60 million a year. On a sparkling day that stood in stark contrast to the reputation of the rock’s cold and wet conditions, the old prison was filled with tourists eager to absorb the checkered history.
Where to maintain the “worst and worst”
Should we sacrifice what is currently a profitable park or museum at the expense of bringing it home?
Rob and Kari Kremer, resident of Minnesota’s Twin City Area, said they described themselves as conservative, and they said they were open to the idea.
Rob Kramer said there are many false criminals in the United States. “It’s the worst and worst, and we need a place for them to protect people. This could be an opportunity to solve that problem.”
The Alcatraz Prison was closed in 1963 – it reopened as a park after 10 years – primarily the isolated area was too expensive to run, costing almost three times more than any other federal prison.
Rob Kramer suggested that technological advancements may mitigate the problem, and he and Kari said tourism jobs lost to the transition could be made up of construction and prison jobs.
“It’s going to have to be considered and evaluated,” he said. “The idea itself seems good. We’ll do a cost analysis and then draw a conclusion.”
There is more land to build more prisons
Emily Lin, a Taiwanese native and attending a university in San Diego, noted that Alcatraz was famous for fleeing, surrounded by the frigid seas and strong currents. The Federal Bureau of Prisons states that no one succeeded in doing so officially during its 29 years of operation, but the five men who tried to escape were never found and are presumed to be owned.
“If there’s no better place, yeah, they should open it (as a prison),” Lin, 28. “The purpose of a prison is to retain criminals. It’s not for tourists. They can open another museum and showcase the history of the prison.”
The choice of location has baffled the Smith couple from the UK. He said the Alcatraz building is in ruins and even the term Trump, used on social media on Sunday, would not serve as a residential area.
The island, 1.5 miles north of San Francisco, has no sewer system or running water, only partial electrical services, and requires all equipment and equipment to be brought by boat.
“There’s certainly a lot of other places where there are more prisons in America,” Chris Smith said.
“He can’t be serious about that.”
Bruno Tavares, a town from Brazil, lived through the presidency of Järe Bolsonaro’s far-right leader, who fought for election defeats like Trump, plunged his country into chaos.
Tavares considers himself a political moderate and feels that Trump’s Alcatraz plan isn’t too far away.
“He can’t be serious about it, that’s a joke,” said Tavares, 40. You can’t treat people like that. American citizens don’t allow that.”
Tolu Ogundele, an undergraduate student at Kennesaw State University in northern Atlanta, learned about Trump’s ideas from an Uber driver on his way to Monday’s tour. The visit convinced her that Alcatraz would be better off staying a museum, especially in light of Trump’s willingness to cut federal spending.
“They closed it because it was too expensive to run, and I just think it’s financially irresponsible to bring it back to prison in the state of the economy,” said Ogundel, 22.
