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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Isabeau Doucet in San Francisco

A hard cell? Alcatraz tourists dismiss Trump’s ‘insane’ plan to revive it as a prison

People take photos of Alcatraz Island from a ferry in San Francisco, Monday, May 5, 2025.
The prison on Alcatraz Island, which was shuttered in the 1960s, is now a popular tourist destination run by the National Park Service. Donald Trump has suggested reopening it as a prison. Photograph: Jed Jacobsohn/AP

In the choppy waters of the San Francisco Bay, on a windswept rock, lies a crumbling former federal prison that’s now at the center of Donald Trump’s latest real estate proposal: “REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ!” he announced on Truth Social over the weekend, to “serve as a symbol of Law, Order and JUSTICE”.

On Monday, the day after Trump’s declaration, throngs of tourists visited the island, after having queued up for the ferry at Fisherman’s Wharf.

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