Trump asks for $152 million to rebuild Alcatraz and reopen it as a prison - San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco Chronicle
April 3, 2026
3 min read

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President Trump has requested $152 million in federal funding to rebuild Alcatraz Island and reopen it as an operational prison. The request represents a significant pivot toward expanding federal incarceration capacity, a signature priority of the Trump administration's law-and-order agenda. Alcatraz, the notorious federal penitentiary in San Francisco Bay that housed high-profile inmates from 1934 until its closure in 1963, has operated solely as a tourist attraction for decades. The proposal would require congressional approval and faces likely opposition from San Francisco officials and California lawmakers, who have generally resisted federal prison expansion in the region. If funded, the project would signal the administration's commitment to increasing detention infrastructure despite the long-term decline in federal incarceration rates over the past two decades.

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