SAN FRANCISCO—To some in this city, turning Alcatraz back into a prison would be a crime.

“The Rock” closed 62 years ago, and San Francisco has channeled the public’s macabre fascination with life inside the notorious prison to turn it into one of the city’s top tourist attractions.

Visitors can wander through the Gardens of Alcatraz, peruse the Big Lockup Exhibit, or take a night tour where one can “enjoy the beauty of a sunset silhouetting the Golden Gate Bridge” as well as “experience a cell door demonstration.” Over the years, Boy Scouts have clamored to hold overnight campouts in the infamous isolation cells of D Block. Athletes compete in prison-themed events, including a canoe race circling the island and the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon.

Calling the prison a “symbol of law and order,” Trump on Sunday said he is directing the Bureau of Prisons and other federal agencies to rebuild Alcatraz to house “America’s most ruthless and violent offenders.” San Francisco boosters aren’t keen on the idea and visitors aren’t so sure, either.

On Monday, National Park Ranger Matthew Connelly welcomed a crowd of more than 100 tourists and said he’d take questions. Just not all. When the subject of Trump’s proposal came up, he looked concerned and directed a reporter to call public affairs.

Those on the packed tour had plenty of thoughts after trudging from a ferryboat up a steep, quarter-mile walkway to the imposing fortress. Before entering the main gate, an Australian visitor jokingly suggested Trump lock himself into a new prison there. “He should lead by example,” the man said with a laugh. He and his wife declined to give their names. “No thanks mate, we want to get home.”

A rusted lock on a cell door at Alcatraz Prison, a National Parks site located on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay in San Francisco, California, U.S. May 5, 2025. REUTERS/Fred Greaves

Taking selfies with his wife in one of the windowless cells on a prison corridor called Broadway, John La Pierre, a 62-year-old tourist from the Netherlands, was supportive of Trump’s plan.

“I think the idea itself to put people on a certain island where they have no comfort, especially for those high delinquents, that’s a good idea,” La Pierre said. But he was wary of whether such a historic site could again be made into a modern prison complex.

Sitting in what had been the chow hall, Londoners Chris Manikowski and Naomi Alexandra said that instead of doubling down on a prison with such stark conditions, Trump should take a page from Norway, which treats prisoners well and has low recidivism rates.

“I think the times have changed, and for prisoners to spend a week without showering in those dark cells, it’s too much,” Manikowski, 28, said.

Naomi Alexandra and Chris Manikowski in the former chow hall. Photo: JIM CARLTON for WSJ

Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco agreed, calling the president’s idea “unhinged and terrifying.” Trump wants to turn Alcatraz “into a domestic gulag in the middle of San Francisco Bay,” Wiener wrote on social media.

Trump said reopening Alcatraz ties to his campaign promise to lower violent crime. His pitch harks back to the prison’s 1930s origins, when it opened to deal with “the most incorrigible inmates in federal prisons,” according to a government history. It operated as a maximum-security facility for nearly three decades, closing in 1963 because of millions of dollars in needed repairs and the expense of hauling all supplies, including fresh water, to the facility by boat.

Alcatraz was tiny by the standards of most federal facilities, never housing more than around 275 prisoners. Its shadow is huge.

A view of Alcatraz Prison, a National Parks site located on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay in San Francisco, California, U.S. May 5, 2025. REUTERS/Fred Greaves

The prison has graced the silver screen in such films as Michael Bay’s 1996 action thriller “The Rock” and 1979’s “Escape from Alcatraz,” starring Clint Eastwood. It housed famous criminals including mobster Al Capone and George “Machine-Gun” Kelly.

At times, Alcatraz was almost as famous for those who tried to escape as it was for those who were inside. Contrary to myth, cold temperatures and strong currents—not sharks—were the biggest obstacles to making it the mile-plus to shore. Trained swimmers as young as age 9 have successfully made the journey that so many prisoners failed.

In one unsuccessful escape in 1941, a prisoner who gave up after hitting the Bay’s cold water later tried to escape again from a San Francisco federal courtroom. Another man attempted to leave by stealing an Army uniform and calmly walking aboard an Army launch. He was promptly returned to Alcatraz when the boat landed at nearby Angel Island.

Today, more than a million visitors each year travel to the island, according to the National Park Service. In peak season, tourists book tickets weeks in advance.

Not everyone in San Francisco has understood why a sinister prison is such a draw. “It’s heinous,” declared one writer on “Broke-ass Stuart,” a local alternative website, noting the irony of a progressive city touting a museum of human suffering. “I don’t think moms from Minnesota should be allowed to take selfies in rooms where men pushed past the point of no return hung themselves.”

For those looking to bring a dose of reality back home from the prison tour, visitors can buy rectangular magnets reminding them of Alcatraz’s central tenets. Like Regulation #5: “You are entitled to food, clothing, shelter, and medical attention. ANYTHING ELSE YOU GET IS A PRIVILEGE.”

Parents seeking some tough-love discipline can slap Regulation #23 on the fridge: “If you make GROUNDLESS COMPLAINTS for the purpose of…STIRRING UP TROUBLE…you will be subject to DISCIPLINARY ACTION.”


For $13.95, tourists can also take home a replica tin inmate cup, which had the advantage back in the day of not being able to be broken into shards that could become a weapon.

Carson Brock, a 24-year-old from Cincinnati who voted for Trump, said from the prison’s gift shop that he favors preserving Alcatraz’s history over reopening. “But if that’s what he wants to do, then I guess so be it,” he said.

One Alberta resident touring the island was reticent to share her views, but concluded: “We’re Canadian, we don’t really care.”

Visitor Mike Neville, another Trump supporter, said he thinks turning Alcatraz back into a prison would be cost-prohibitive. The 61-year-old, visiting from Colorado Springs, Colo., has a better plan: “I always liked the idea of turning it into a casino.”

Write to Jim Carlton at [email protected] and Sara Randazzo at [email protected]