The federal Bureau of Prisons has lots of problems. Reopening Alcatraz is now one of them

Eleven inmate deaths successful little than 2 months. More than 4,000 unit vacancies. A $3 cardinal repair backlog.

And now, a stunning directive from President Donald Trump for the crisis-plagued national Bureau of Prisons to “REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ!” — the notorious penitentiary connected an land successful San Francisco Bay that past held inmates much than 60 years ago.

Even arsenic the Bureau of Prisons struggles with abbreviated staffing, chronic unit and crumbling infrastructure astatine its existent facilities, Trump is counting connected the bureau to fulfill his imaginativeness of rebooting the infamously inescapable situation known successful movies and popular civilization arsenic “The Rock.”

Trump declared successful a societal media station Sunday that a “substantially enlarged and rebuilt” Alcatraz volition location the nation’s “most ruthless and convulsive Offenders.” It volition “serve arsenic a awesome of Law, Order, and JUSTICE," helium wrote connected Truth Social.

Newly appointed Bureau of Prisons Director William K. Marshall III said Monday that the bureau “will vigorously prosecute each avenues to enactment and instrumentality the President’s agenda” and that helium has ordered “an contiguous appraisal to find our needs and the adjacent steps.”

“USP Alcatraz has a affluent history. We look guardant to restoring this almighty awesome of law, order, and justice,” Marshall said successful a statement, echoing Trump’s post. “We volition beryllium actively moving with our instrumentality enforcement and different national partners to reinstate this precise important mission.”

Alcatraz was erstwhile an exemplar

Alcatraz, a 22-acre (8.9 hectare) spit of onshore with views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco skyline, was erstwhile the crown jewel of the national situation strategy and location to immoderate of the nation’s astir notorious criminals, including gangsters Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly.

But skyrocketing repair and proviso costs compelled the Justice Department to adjacent the situation successful 1963, conscionable 29 years aft it opened, and the Bureau of Prisons has agelong since replaced Alcatraz with modern penitentiaries, including a maximum-security situation successful Florence, Colorado.

The erstwhile and possibly aboriginal penitentiary is present a fashionable tourer attraction and a nationalist historical landmark. It’s controlled by the National Park Service arsenic portion of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, meaning the Bureau of Prisons could beryllium successful for an interagency tug of warfare if it tries to wrest distant power of the island.

Trump’s Alcatraz directive is yet different situation for the Bureau of Prisons arsenic it struggles to hole lingering problems portion responding to the president’s priorities connected incarceration and migrant detention. The agency’s mission, arsenic redefined nether Trump, includes taking successful thousands of migration detainees nether an statement with the Department of Homeland Security.

The problems astatine the Bureau of Prisons transcend administrations and facilities.

An ongoing Associated Press investigation has uncovered deep, antecedently unreported flaws wrong the Bureau of Prisons implicit the past fewer years, including widespread transgression enactment by employees, dozens of escapes, the escaped travel of guns, drugs and different contraband, and severe understaffing that has hampered responses to emergencies.

Last year, then-President Joe Biden signed a instrumentality strengthening oversight of the agency. It remains the Justice Department’s largest agency, with much than 30,000 employees, 155,000 inmates and an yearly fund of astir $8 billion, but the Trump administration’s cost-cutting measures person eliminated immoderate wage bonuses that were credited with retaining and attracting caller staff.

That has resulted successful agelong overtime shifts for immoderate workers and the continued usage of a argumentation known arsenic augmentation, wherever situation nurses, cooks, teachers and different workers are pressed into work to defender inmates.

Infrastructure is buckling, too. A Bureau of Prisons authoritative told Congress astatine a proceeding successful February that much than 4,000 beds wrong the strategy — the equivalent of astatine slightest 2 afloat prisons — are unusable due to the fact that of unsafe conditions similar leaking oregon failing roofs, mold, asbestos oregon lead.

Deaths person plagued the national situation system

Since mid-March, 11 national situation inmates person died. They see David Knezevich, a 37-year-old Florida businessman who was recovered dormant April 28 successful a suspected suicide astatine a national jailhouse successful Miami. He was awaiting proceedings connected charges helium kidnapped and killed his estranged woman successful Spain.

And connected April 24, inmate Ramadhan Jaabir Justice was killed successful a combat astatine the national penitentiary successful Pollock, Louisiana, wherever helium was serving a astir 11-year condemnation for a condemnation related to an equipped robbery.

As Trump was ordering Alcatraz’s reopening Sunday, correctional officers astatine the aforesaid Miami jailhouse were warring to curb the dispersed of tuberculosis and COVID-19, isolating inmates aft they tested affirmative for the diseases. Last month, migration detainees astatine the installation ripped retired a occurrence sprinkler and flooded a holding compartment during a lengthy intake process.

Meanwhile, astir 30 miles (50 kilometers) eastbound of Alcatraz, the Federal Correctional Institution successful Dublin, California, has sat idle for much than a twelvemonth aft the Bureau of Prisons cleared it of inmates successful the aftermath of rampant intersexual maltreatment by employees, including the warden.

In December, the bureau made the closure imperishable and idled six situation camps crossed the country to code “significant challenges, including a captious staffing shortage, crumbling infrastructure and constricted budgetary resources.”

While Trump hails Alcatraz arsenic a paragon of the national situation system’s cherished past, different facilities basal arsenic reminders of its caller troubles.

They see the national jailhouse successful Manhattan, which remains idle aft Jeffrey Epstein’s termination determination successful 2019 exposed heavy flaws successful its operations, and a troubled national lockup successful Brooklyn, wherever 23 inmates person been charged successful caller months with crimes ranging from smuggling weapons successful a Doritos container to the stabbing past period of a antheral convicted successful the sidesplitting of hip-hop fable Jam Master Jay.

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