Trump plans to reopen Alcatraz

U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing for the popular tourist
attraction to once again become a maximum security prison


ALCATRAZ ISLAND
Length: 511m

Power house
Water tower
Recreation yard
Lighthouse 
Dock
Cellhouse

Held average of 260 to 275 inmates.
Maximum capacity of 336 was never reached
ALCATRAZ HISTORY

1850s: Alcatraz Island turned
into military fort guarding entrance
to San Francisco Bay

1909-11: Alcatraz rebuilt as
military prison

1934: Converted into federal
prison, housing notorious inmates
such as gangster Al Capone and
George “Machine Gun” Kelly

Prison considered inescapable
due to strong currents around island
and icy water temperatures

1962: Facility
made famous by
film, Birdman of
Alcatraz, starring
Burt Lancaster,
about convicted
murderer Robert
Stroud

1963: Alcatraz closed because of
high operating costs and crumbling
infrastructure

1973: Opens to public
as tourist attraction

1979: Escape from Alcatraz film
recounts daring 1962 prisoner
escape, starring Clint Eastwood
as ringleader Frank Morris

1981: Island evaluated by Reagan
administration as possible site for
housing Cuban refugees

1986: Named National Historic
Landmark

1996: Alcatraz is site of action film,
The Rock, starring Sean Connery
and Nicolas Cage


Alcatraz

Golden 
Gate
Bridge

San
Francisco

Oakland

San
Francisco
Bay

5km
3 miles


Sources: BBC, Federal Bureau of Prisons 
Pictures: Getty Images, Newscom 
© GRAPHIC NEWS