
US President Donald Trump announced yesterday, Sunday, that he has ordered his administration and relevant state agencies to rebuild and reopen the infamous Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay, so that the most "violent" and "recidivist" criminals can be sent there.
"For too long, America has faced a scourge of criminals, savages, violent, recidivists, the scum of society who bring nothing but misery and suffering," the Republican said via Truth Social.
"That's why today I have ordered the Bureau of Prisons, as well as the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security, to reopen, significantly expand, and rebuild Alcatraz to house America's most dangerous and violent criminals," he continued.
He also declared in the same post that his government will not be held “hostage” by judges who prevent him from deporting “criminals” and “thugs” who “came to our country illegally” — without explaining whether, or what, his order to reopen this prison has to do with his anti-immigration policy.
According to President Trump, the reopening of the prison, which closed in March 1963, will be a "symbol of law, order and justice."
Alcatraz prison, which once held mafia bosses, most famously Al Capone, was closed just 29 years after it opened, due to excessive operating costs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
Two kilometers from the coast, the former prison is now a tourist attraction in San Francisco Bay, California.
The Republican has made the fight against crime a key element of his second term in the White House.