Donald Trump on Sunday suggested reopening the prison on Alcatraz Island for serious criminals, but he got a swift fact check and some mockery, too.
Trump over the weekend made his announcement on his own social media site, Truth Social.
"REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ! For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat Criminal Offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than Misery and Suffering," the president said. "When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. No longer will we tolerate these Serial Offenders who spread filth, bloodshed, and mayhem on our streets."
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The near-immediate fact check came from Kaitlan Collins of CNN, who pointed out the expenses necessary for such an operation.
"Trump says he wants to reopen Alcatraz as a functioning prison for the most violent offenders. As the Bureau of Prisons notes on its website, it was closed in the 1960s because it was three times more expensive to operate than other prisons," she wrote.
Yashar Ali of HuffPost made a similar announcement.
"BREAKING President Trump says he has ordered Alcatraz, the former prison on Alcatraz Island just over one mile off San Francisco’s shore, to be re-opened," Ali wrote. "Alcatraz is controlled by the National Park Service, but given that it’s been a museum for many decades, I would imagine it would take years for it to be properly (key word: properly) re-opened as a federal prison."
Journalist Josh Marshall also chimed in:
"I guess he hasn’t heard about Florence. But the real thing here is that this guy operates in a world of 1950s movies," Marshall wrote on Sunday.
Columnist Michael A. Cohen said, "There’s pretty much zero chance he’s heard of Supermax prisons."
Conservative anti-Trump lawyer George Conway seized on that comment, adding, "Or knows that Alcatraz is a tiny little rock that can only fit a couple hundred people."