President Trump said Sunday that federal law enforcement would like to work on restoring Alcatraz, the now museum.
Trump wrote on social media, in his constant and modest sense that America has become a dangerous and lawless place, that Alcatraz, an island in the San Francisco Bay, wants to house America’s most ruthless and violent criminals.
Given that such projects were extremely expensive and that he had already planned to cut billions of dollars from the Justice Department’s budget, it was not immediately clear how his meditation could be led to action.
Trump said he instructed the prisons, the Justice Department and Homeland Security to work on his ideas with the FBI. This is a strange choice considering the bureau does not play a role in jailing people convicted of crimes.
The reopened Alcatraz “serves as a symbol of law, order and justice,” Trump wrote. The prison captured the public imagination as the “worst and worst” home until it closed in 1963 and eventually turned into a popular museum attraction.
In addition to retaining a gang known as “Machine Gun Kelly” and Alcatraz, multiple indictments Trump mentioned to explain that he was often unfairly persecuting himself on campaign trails – Alcatraz is most famous for the escape of three men in 1962. Today, Alcatraz is best known as a wet, frigid, nostalgic staple food for tourist packages and field trips for kids.
In comparison, the current federal Super Maxim Security Prison in Florence, Colorado, has never been inmates fled.
In California, San Francisco’s leading Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener is the latest example of what he called Trump’s idea “absurdity in his face” and the president’s “continued condemnation behavior.”
When asked about the president’s order, a spokesman for Gov. Gavin Newsom laughed. “It looks like a distraction day again in Washington, D.C.,” said Izzy Gardon, the governor’s director of communications.
Gardon pointed out that it’s been more than 60 years since Alcatraz acted as a prison, and if it were to be returned to the facility to house prisoners, it would take years and be a major federal investment when the president said he wanted to cut spending.
Maggie Harberman Reports of contributions.
