Wild escape attempts, famous mobsters and no running water: Inside Americas most notorious prison as Trump vows to reopen Alcatraz

It’s the comeback no one expected.President Trump made a surprising request Sunday evening when he posted on Truth Social, “Rebuild, and open Alcatraz!” — adding that he has directed the DOJ, FBI, Homeland Security and the Bureau of Prisons to “reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt” prison on San Francisco’s Alcatraz Island to “house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders.”Known in its heyday as one of the scariest prisons in America — surrounded by rough water and loaded with even rougher characters — Alcatraz still looms large despite having shut down in 1963.That’s in large part because of movies like “The Rock,” “Escape From Alcatraz” and “Birdman of Alcatraz” that have helped burnish its legacy.But it’s also a major tourist attraction.According to the National Park Service, “Alcatraz Island welcomes approximately 1.2 million visitors a year” and generates around $60 million in annual revenue.

(Most of that money goes to financing various projects for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which the island is part of.)That said, it’s far from inhabitable.“The building closed because the infrastructure was almost shot 63 years ago, and it hasn’t cured itself,” John Martini, an Alcatraz historian, told The Post.“There’s no sanitation, no heat, no running water.

There is very minimal electricity.You’d have to rebuild it from the ground up … Alcatraz would be a tear down.

And you’d have to get heavy machinery out there, rent barges, bring in materials.It would take years to do and right now the goal is so undefined.”Trump later told reporters his plan was “just an idea I’ve had” as Alcatraz is “a symbol of law and order,” he said.

“It’s got quite a history, frankly.”The island prison known as The Rock began housing inmates in 1934.Built to hold 336 prisoners, there were usually 260 to 275 men behind its imposing walls.

Bill Baker, the last surviving former Alcat...