Photos: A closer look at notorious Alcatraz prison
President Donald Trump says he is directing the federal government to reopen and expand Alcatraz, the notorious former prison on a hard-to-reach California island off San Francisco that has been closed for more than 60 years.
With the Golden Gate Bridge in behind, Alcatraz Island is pictured on Sunday, May 4, 2025, in the San Francisco Bay, Calif. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
A bird flies above Alcatraz Island on Sunday, May 4, 2025, in the San Francisco Bay, Calif. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Alcatraz Island is pictured on Sunday, May 4, 2025, in the San Francisco Bay, Calif. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
A water tower stands at Alcatraz Island on Sunday, May 4, 2025, in the San Francisco Bay, Calif. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Alcatraz Island is pictured on Sunday, May 4, 2025, in the San Francisco Bay, Calif. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
A building stands on Alcatraz Island on Sunday, May 4, 2025, in the San Francisco Bay, Calif. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Alcatraz Island is pictured on Sunday, May 4, 2025, in the San Francisco Bay, Calif. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
FILE - The federal prison island Alcatraz, known as "The Rock," stands in the San Francisco Bay, California, July 21, 1950. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - The administration building of the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary is photographed through the doorway of the warden's home on the south end of Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California, March 13, 1956. (AP Photo/Ernest K. Bennett, File)
FILE - Dock officer George Black operates controls of the metal detector through visitors to the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary must pass on Alcatraz island in the San Francisco Bay, California, March 13, 1956. (AP Photo/Ernest K. Bennett, File)
FILE - Warden P.J. Madigan, top right, gives a press conference inside his office at the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in San Francisco Bay, California, March 13, 1956. G. Frederick Mullen, director of information, U. S. Dept. of Justice, sits at top center. (AP Photo/Ernest K. Bennett, File)
FILE - One of three cell tiers of individual cells at the main block of the Alcatraz Federal Prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California, March 15, 1956. (AP Photo)
FILE - The hospital operating room is photographed through the glass of a locked door at the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary prison in the San Francisco Bay, California, March 13, 1956. (AP Photo/Ernest K. Bennett, File)
FILE - Native Americans play ball at the main dock during their occupation of Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California, Nov. 26, 1969. (AP Photo/File)
FILE - An exhibit about a 1962 prison escape made famous in the movie, Escape from Alcatraz, is exhibited in the new cell house museum store on Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay, California, April 24, 2007. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)
FILE - Senior officer Melvin Kidney works within a 2-inch laminated bullet proof glass at the control center of the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in San Francisco Bay, California, March 14, 1956. He supervises all communications and has custody of arms, ammunition, tear gas, etc. (AP Photo/Ernest K. Bennett, File)
FILE - Visitors tour the cell of former prisoner Robert "The Birdman" Stroud in the hospital area of the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in the San Francisco Bay, California, July 7, 2011. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)
FILE - A tunnel under the main cellblock of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in San Francisco Bay, California, June 1, 1973. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File
FILE - The cell of a prisoner permitted to make oil paintings at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California, March 16, 1956. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Mae Capone, the wife of Al Capone, covers her face on the way to visit her husband at the hospital inside the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in the San Francisco Bay, California, March 1, 1936. Al Capone was suffering a mental illness brought on by tertiary syphilis. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Darwin Coon, a former inmate who spent four years at the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary for bank robbery, sits in his former cell at the prison in the San Francisco Bay, California, April 30, 2007. Coon wrote a book about his experiences on the island and was among the last inmates to the leave the island in 1962. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)
Visitors view Alcatraz Island from a tour boat Monday, May 5, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)
Downtown San Francisco is seen from Alcatraz Island Monday, May 5, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)
A visitor views pictures of famous inmates on Alcatraz Island Monday, May 5, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)
A prison cell with the effigy of an inmate in bed is displayed during a tour guide of the former Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, Ca., Monday, May 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)
The prison cells on Alcatraz Island are shown Monday, May 5, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)
The exterior of Alcatraz Island is shown from a window inside the prison Monday, May 5, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)
A visitor walks in the recreation yard on Alcatraz Island Monday, May 5, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)
The door to a solitary confinement cell is shown on Alcatraz Island Monday, May 5, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)
As featured on
Eleven inmate deaths in less than two months. More than 4,000 staff vacancies. A $3 billion repair backlog. And now, a directive from Trump to "REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ!"
There are plenty of hideouts in the rugged terrain of the Ozark Mountains where searchers are hunting for an ex-lawman known as the βDevil in the Ozarks.β
Grant Hardin, whose notoriety led to the TV documentary "Devil in the Ozarks," escaped May 25 from prison where he was serving sentences for murder and rape.
