Last living Alcatraz inmate recalls haunting feeling of being locked up on deathly quiet island that Trump plans to reopen

The last-known living inmate to serve time in Alcatraz has revealed what haunted him most about being locked up on the notorious island prison that President Trump plans to reopen.Charlie Hopkins, 93, was shipped off to the 22-acre island prison in 1955 for causing a problem at another facility while serving 17 years for kidnapping and robbery, he told the BBC.What he remembers most is the “deathly quiet” on the island that is surrounded by the freezing, treacherous waters of the San Francisco Bay — with the only sound the whistle of passing ships.“That’s a lonely sound,” Hopkins recalled.“It reminds you of Hank Williams singing that song, ‘I’m so lonesome I could cry.’”Hopkins, now 93, said his three years in Alcatraz were excruciatingly mundane — leaving him so bored he would clean to pass the time, buffing the floors “until they shined.”“There was nothing to do,” he said.

“You could walk back and forth in your cell or do push-ups.”Despite being locked up in the notoriously strict high-security prison, Hopkins said he still found a way to get himself into trouble.“You wouldn’t believe the trouble I caused them when I was there,” he told the outlet.“I can see now, looking back, that I had problems.”Hopkins spent most of his days at Alcatraz locked in “D Block” — the solitary confinement section that housed troubled inmates who were rarely allowed to leave their cells.His longest time on “D Block” was six months for being part of a failed escape attempt with several other inmates — including career criminal and notorious prison escapee Forrest Tucker.Hopkins said he stole a hacksaw from the prison’s electric shop for the men to use to cut the prison bars in the basement kitchen to escape.However, the plan was spoiled when guards found the blades in one of his accomplices’ cells.“A few days after they locked them up, they locked me up,” he recalled.Following Hopkins’ failed attempt, more and more i...