Trump Seeks $152 Million to Reopen Alcatraz Prison

The White House budget request follows President Donald Trump’s 2025 directive to house ‘ruthless and violent offenders’ at the historic site.
Trump Seeks $152 Million to Reopen Alcatraz Prison
The former federal penitentiary on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay on Sept. 9, 2025. Allan Stein/The Epoch Times
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The White House on April 3 requested $152 million to reopen Alcatraz, which is offshore from San Francisco, as a federal prison.

The funding appears in the proposed budget for fiscal year 2027, released by the administration. It would cover first-year costs for the Federal Bureau of Prisons to rebuild the island facility into “a state-of-the-art secure prison facility,” according to the document. Alcatraz has operated as a National Park Service tourist site since 1973, after the federal prison closed in 1963.

Kimberly Hayek
Kimberly Hayek
Author
Kimberly Hayek is a reporter for The Epoch Times. She covers California news and has worked as an editor and on scene at the U.S.-Mexico border during the 2018 migrant caravan crisis.