President Donald Trump has requested $152 million to begin restoring the notorious Alcatraz prison as part of his proposed fiscal year 2027 budget, BBC reported on Saturday, April 4.
The funding request aims to rebuild “The Rock” as a state-of-the-art, maximum-security facility. The initial $152 million would cover only the first year of costs for what is envisioned as a substantially enlarged prison. The project is part of a broader $1.7 billion investment into the US Bureau of Prisons.
“I am directing the Bureau of Prisons... to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ,” Trump previously announced on Truth Social, stating the facility would house the country’s most violent offenders.
The plan has faced immediate pushback from California politicians and former officials. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi labeled the proposal “absurd” and a “waste of taxpayer dollars.” Critics point to significant logistical hurdles, including the lack of modern plumbing, sewage systems, and the high cost of transporting all supplies to the island by boat.
Before its closure in 1963, Alcatraz cost three times more to operate than any other federal prison. Currently managed by the National Park Service as a tourist attraction near San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, the site generates approximately $60 million in annual revenue.
The proposal must still be approved by the US Congress, where it is expected to face intense scrutiny alongside the administration’s record $1.5 trillion defense budget request.
Originally a naval defense fort, Alcatraz was converted into a federal prison in the 1930s. If the plan proceeds, it would end the site’s decades-long tenure as one of America’s most popular national landmarks to return it to the Department of Justice’s jurisdiction.