Trump seeks over £100 million to reopen Alcatraz
The San Francisco landmark was once America's most notorious prison.
The President is looking to carve out over $150 million from the US national budget to turn Alcatraz into a modern high-security prison.
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President Trump is after $152m (£115m) from the proposed US budget for the 2027 financial year to cover the costs of Alcatraz' refurbishment, and the first year of its operation.
He is hoping to turn the San Francisco Jail, which sits on an island near the Golden Gate Bridge, into "a state-of-the-art secure prison facility."
Alcatraz has not been an active prison since 1963, and currently has no running water, gas or sewage system.
It has been a tourist destination run by the US National Parks Service since 1973 and welcomes around 1.2 million visitors every year, bringing in $60 million.
The plan has been slammed by Democrats, with former speaker for the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi saying the proposal is: "absurd on its face and should be rejected outright".
"Rebuilding Alcatraz into a modern prison is a stupid notion that would be nothing more than a waste of taxpayer dollars and an insult to the intelligence of the American people," she added.
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Trump said on Truth Social that he hopes “to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office dismissed the plan as a “distraction.”
California state senator Scott Wiener’s office estimated this week that rebuilding the prison could end up costing over $2 billion.
Trump's scheme is a part of a larger $1.7 billion request to help the US Bureau of Prisons to repair its facilities.
Alcatraz shut its doors in 1963 when it became too expensive to operate.
The site was notorious for its dangerous inmates and location, surrounded on all sides by the freezing San Francisco Bay. Out of 14 escape attempts, almost all escapees were caught, shot, or drowned, with two unaccounted for to this day.
Famous inmates like George 'Machine Gun' Kelly and Al Capone made the 'The Rock' famous, as did a series of deadly riots.
A 1948 revolt by prisoners prompted a 48-hour pitched battle through a prison wing that ended with three inmates and two guards dead.