Trump's hard cell? Visitors respond to plan to reopen Alcatraz

In the choppy waters of the San Francisco Bay, on a windswept rock lies a crumbling former federal prison that's now at the center of Donald Trump's latest real estate proposal: "REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ!" he announced on Truth Social over the weekend, to "serve as a symbol of Law, Order and JUSTICE".

- Isabeau Doucet

On Monday, the day after Trump's declaration, throngs of tourists queued up for the ferry to visit the island. Reacting to Trump's plan, Jonathan Perez, 20, a psychology student from Miami, was curt: "He's insane."

Standing inside the former prison cellhouse, Perez looks around horrified at the thought that the notorious prison could come suddenly back to life.

"He's already shown his enthusiasm for mass incarceration as seen in El Salvador, and he had mentioned using Guantanamo Bay to imprison people," said Perez. "I think it's horrible. They abandoned the prison for a reason."

Alcatraz is steeped in contradiction – a living symbol of punishing state power, Indigenous resistance and a space where tourists are encouraged to reflect on history, memory and justice. The former prison is now a museum run by the National Park Service and is one of San Francisco's most popular tourist destinations, with 1.4 million visitors a year. California officials have called the idea of reopening the prison, which has been shuttered since the 1960s, an absurd and unfeasible political distraction.

On the island, many visitors seemed to agree. "As tourists we're a bit shocked with that news, considering how old it is and how long since it's really been inhabited," said Janelle Lawson, a tourist from Australia. "There'll have to be a lot of money put into the infrastructure to be able to make it livable again."