Did Donald Trump had the idea of reopening the famous island prison of Alcatraz watching television? Some Americans are wondering with the last shock decision of the American president, released from nowhere this weekend.
On its Truth Social network, the republican billionaire suddenly ordered his administration on Sunday “to reopen Alcatraz, after having considerably enlarged and rebuilt him, in order to welcome the most violent and ruthless criminals of the United States”.
Built on an island opposite San Francisco, this prison fortress printed its mark in the American imagination with the escape of three detainees in 1962, which inspired the film “L’Evadé d’Alcatraz” by Clint Eastwood.
This feature film was broadcast on Saturday evening on television in Florida, where Donald Trump was because he spent the weekend in his residence Mar-A-Lago. A coincidence that has not escaped social networks.
“Is it possible that Trump watched the film and let himself be carried away? What led to the brilliant idea of rebuilding Alcatraz?” Asks a user on X. “Does American policy are inspired by television programs?”
“We are going to spend half a billion dollars to renovate Alcatraz (…), all because an old man was bored and zapped in front of the television on a Saturday evening,” jokes another Internet user.
– “filmmaker” –
Asked on the origin of his idea on Monday, Trump maintained ambiguity.
“I guess I was intended to be a filmmaker,” he told the press in the oval office.
The prison “represents something very strong, very powerful, in terms of law and order,” he said.
“No one has ever escaped,” observed the president, by supporting his words with approximations. “A person almost got there, but they (…) found his clothes in tatters, with many shark bites.”
According to the American prison administration, 36 people tried to escape from Alcatraz. If most were caught up or died during their attempt, the fate of five of them remains unknown and they are listed as “disappeared and presumed drowned”.
But no fugitive has ever been devoured by a shark, unlike the legends surrounding the legendary prison.
“There are no sharks + men’s eaters + in the Bay of San Francisco, only small sharks that feed at the bottom of the water,” said the prison administration on its site.
In any case, the prison administration “will do everything to support and apply the president’s program,” said his new director William Marshall.
He ordered “an immediate evaluation to determine our needs and the next steps” to reopen Alcatraz.
– Exorbitant costs –
Built to house a military garrison, Alcatraz was then converted to prison. But the penitentiary establishment operated only for 29 years, before closing its doors in 1963, because of its exorbitant costs.
It was necessary to transport food, equipment, gasoline and even drinking water to operate on the island every week. The prison therefore cost three times more than a conventional prison establishment.
At the time of its closure, Alcatraz was dilapidated and its possible renovation was estimated at five million dollars. The authorities preferred to build new prisons elsewhere and put an end to his activity.
After her retraining in tourist attraction in 1973, she became an almost obliged passage for travelers staying in San Francisco. More than a million visitors parade there every year.
They discover the Spartan cells there, without door and with simple bars, which allowed the guards to permanently monitor the prisoners – including the mafia al Capone, who spent almost five years.
They also visit the brutal isolation pieces and immersed in total darkness, where the prisoners were locked up if they put themselves in the way of the formidable director.
Difficult to say to what extent this universe will be resurrected by the Trump administration. But in the event of a reopening one thing seems to be acquired: the souvenir shop, which sells t-shirts and posters of the island prison, seems condemned to closure.
