Trump to reopen notorious Alcatraz as supermax prison for 'America’s most ruthless offenders'

US President Donald Trump claims that in a dramatic directive, he is ordering Alcatraz, the infamous prison island off the coast of California, to reopen and expand. The notorious prison has been closed for over six decades.

In a message posted Sunday night on his Truth Social platform, Trump declared that the United States must return to a time when it locked away the "most dangerous criminals and keep them far away from anyone they could harm". 

Alcatraz, he said, will serve as a "symbol of law, order, and JUSTICE."

On Truth Social, Trump claimed that America is plagued by violent offenders and that he is going to "fix that".

"For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat Criminal Offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than Misery and Suffering," Trump wrote.

"We are going to fix that," he added.

Nicknamed "The Rock", Alcatraz once held America's most notorious inmates — from Al Capone to George "Machine Gun" Kelly. 

The prison's high-security isolation and treacherous Pacific surroundings made it virtually escape-proof — a fact that has been immortalised in Hollywood films like Escape from Alcatraz and The Rock.

Trump now wants to "substantially enlarge and rebuild" the prison to house the nation’s most violent and repeat offenders, working with the Justice Department, FBI, Homeland Security, and Bureau of Prisons.

This move comes amid Trump’s increasingly aggressive criminal justice proposals. He recently called for accused gang members to be shipped to El Salvador’s notorious prisons and proposed reopening Guantánamo Bay — another infamous prison — to hold up to 30,000 "criminal aliens".