Alcatraz used to be the nation’s most feared prison. Now it’s a tourist site. And not a very good one at that. President Trump’s proposal to reopen it has been reflexively opposed because it comes from him, because his Democrat opponents have become members of a pro-crime party and, more practically, because Alcatraz was closed down for a reason.
The official reason is that Alcatraz became an albatross, an expensive white elephant with a bad reputation for the prison system, that everyone was happier getting rid of. The Kennedy administration in particular wanted to be seen as more progressive and Alcatraz flew in the face of its liberal agenda.
Alcatraz was indeed expensive to run. Some of that was due to the environment. Seawater took its toll and has taken its toll since. But some of that also came from efforts by the Bureau of Prisons to overcome the prison’s bad reputation by trying to turn it into a showpiece. Alcatraz went from being one of the hardest to one of the softest prisons at least as far as how the prisoners were catered to by the system.
None of it worked because the real violence and ugliness in Alcatraz came from the nature of the men trapped inside.
Financially there are good arguments to be made against reopening Alcatraz, but they miss the point.
President Trump understands that prisons are meant to be a deterrent. And the Alcatraz reputation is a deterrent. Much like Gitmo, now being used for foreign gang members, Alcatraz was a place no one wanted to be sent. That’s why President Trump has proposed reopening Alcatraz.
Prisons are not tourist destinations. The Alcatraz reputation may help deal with some of the current crime wave.
