Alcatraz Isand, California – The exhibitions on the island of Alcatraz, the infamous federal prison that decades ago closed and retained as a site of the National Park and a tourist attraction, invite visitors to imagine what it was to be a guard or an inmate confined to the lonely rock and mist in the middle of the San Francisco Bay.
But on Monday, a day after President Trump published on social networks that he wants to reopen the prison of almost centenarians as a “substantially expanded and rebuilt Alcatraz, to accommodate the most ruthless and violent criminals in the United States”, many tourists imagined a very different role: how would be the construction manager who could have to understand how to make that happen.
“I'm for what [Trump] He is doing, but this makes no sense, “said Beverly Klir, 63, a burning Trump supporter who was visiting from Chicago.” I think Gitmo [the prison at Guantanamo Bay] It can be better. That's where everyone belongs. They don't belong here. “
She and her husband were standing in the midst of a rough rough flowers in the rows of the island, looking at the Golden Gate bridge as a couple of crawls in Canada and three past diffuse patitos. Behind them, the prison was raised, its facade with a threatened strength -shaped, but also a testimony of age and climate, with crumbled stucco, deteriorated masonry and combining joints.
Above the island, outside the three -story cell home, where some of the most incorrigible prisoners of the nation were locked in primitive cells, Melody García, 10, visiting Concord's family, seemed equally perplexed. “Most of Alcatraz broken down and those things,” he said.
Even so, a few hours after Trump's pronouncement, the Prison Office issued a statement saying that I was already at work.
“The Prison Office will strongly seek all the ways to support and implement the president's agenda,” said Office director William K. Marshall III. “I have ordered an immediate evaluation to determine our needs and the next steps. USP Alcatraz has a rich history. We hope to restore this powerful symbol of law, order and justice.”
Meanwhile, many California officials responded with a variety of ridicule and concern. A spokesman for Governor Gavin Newsom dismissed the pronouncement as a ploy designed to distract voters from Trump's actions as president. State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) called him “deranged.” But he also warned that “when Donald Trump says something, he means,” and speculated that Trump may want to “open a gulag here in the United States”
The presence of the US Government in Alcatraz began in the 1850s, with the construction of a strong erruption with cannons to defend San Francisco de los ships hostile.
Shortly after, US officials also began using it as a military prison. During the Civil War, the crew of a Confederate ship, together with soldiers of the Union convicted of violation, murder, dropout and other crimes, were imprisoned there. The United States Army also locked the Indians Hope, Apache and Modoc there and, later, conscientious objectors for World War I.
In 1934, Alcatraz opened as an official federal prison for men who had made attempts to escape from other federal prisons, or otherwise being moody. Among his notable inmates were to Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly.
Known as “The Rock”, the prison, which had capacity for 336 men, won a place in popular culture as a remote despair island. “Everyone wants to be an individual,” said former inmate James Quillen, who served 10 years there, from 1942 to 1952. “You want to be human. And you weren't in 'The Rock'.”
In addition to being formidable, the prison was terribly expensive to maintain and operate. So expensive, in fact, that in 1963, then attentive. General Robert F. Kennedy ordered him closed.
John Martini, a Alcatraz historian, said the prison was closed in part because it was built with defective construction methods and was in decline, and “it would be a money well to take it to the standards … that it was easier to build a new penitentiary.”
Six years later, the island acquired an outstanding place in the history of the Native Americans when a group of American native activists landed on the island, declaring that they were taking it on behalf of “Indians of all tribes.” The occupation lasted 19 months and helped awaken the nation to the concerns of indigenous Americans.
When the federal agents moved to eliminate the last occupants in 1971, the officials had plans to destroy everything. But in 1972, Congress created the National Recreation Area of Golden Gate, and the island became one of San Francisco's most beloved attractions. More than 1.4 million people visit each year, walking through the blocks of wet cells and receiving exhibitions in the occupation of the Native Americans.
Ask Alcatraz to reopen, Trump said his restoration “would serve as a symbol of law, order and justice.”
But the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, a non -profit organization that helps to preserve and support operations in Alcatraz, issued a statement on Monday by saying that the height of prison as a historical point and an educational destination already plays an important role.
“Alcatraz has not been a labor prison for more than 60 years,” said the organization in his statement. “Today, it is a powerful symbol: a national historical milestone preserved forever, a transforming experience of the National Park and a global reflection site … This is where history speaks, and where we learn from the past to shape a better future.”
John Kostelnik, western regional vice president of the Council of Previous premises 33, said that the idea of reopening Alcatraz was not only an “irresponsible” use of federal money, but also a slap to the prison guards, which for a long time complained about the low wages.
“It simply seems very hypocritical that they entered and said they will make the government more efficient and dux and all that,” Kostelnik said, using the acronym for the Cost reduction team of Elon Musk, “and now they say they will throw hundreds of millions of dollars to a symbol.”
In December, the Prison Office said it was closing its problematic federal prison in Dublin, California, about 30 miles east of San Francisco, as well as five fields of minimum security prisoners in Florida to Colorado states. The office said in a document obtained by Associated Press that was closing the facilities to address “significant challenges, including a critical shortage of personnel, crumbled infrastructure and limited budgetary resources.”
The office of the mayor of San Francisco, Daniel Lurie, directed consultations about Alcatraz's proposal at the service of National Parks, which did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
Tourists wandering around the island on Monday seemed worried about two questions: how and why?
“He is not ready. In any way, form or forms ready,” said Daniel Mulvad, 24, who lives in San Francisco and was visiting guests from outside the city. He pointed out that the costs of renewing the structure would be astronomical and seemed foolish since, as a tourist attraction, Alcatraz seemed to be generating a large amount of income through the sale of tickets and goods.
“You would really have to … to wire again,” said Alyssa Sibley, 26, of Sacramento, while standing in the old bathroom, looking at raw and oxidized bath accessories.
Tumidei Valentin, 34, a French holiday psychologist in California, denounced him as a “terrible idea.” “Every day has new ideas,” Valentin said about Trump, most of them “to make a buzz” and get attention.
Kristin Nichols, 60, of Palm Springs, who was visiting the family, said that, as someone who is part of Chickasaw, he was particularly moved by exhibitions on the occupation of the Native Americans.
“The amount of money that would be needed to do this …” he said. “I would question the purpose.”
She added: “It is a historical place, and if they make it a prison, it will ruin the whole story.”
