Trump’s AG Says Reopening Alcatraz — Which Closed Because It Was So Expensive — Will Lead to ‘Cost Savings’

Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed Monday that reopening the notoriously costly Alcatraz will actually save the U.S. government money.

The day before, President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to announce his desire to reopen the prison. In the post, Trump called Alcatraz “a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE” and said he was directing the Bureau of Prisons to reopen and “substantially” enlarge the facility.

During an appearance on Fox Business, Bondi explained to Larry Kudlow why she supported the idea.

“I’m all for that — all for that,” Bondi said. “And I think it will be a cost savings. We’ll have specially trained guards. They’ll be in isolation. They won’t be able to run their businesses; and it sends a very strong message that if you do this, you are going to be out of our society forever. Had these guys been housed at Alcatraz, this would have never, ever happened. They’re drug dealers, they’re the worst of the worst, and they’re killers.”

The Federal Bureau of Prisons — a bureau within Bondi’s Department of Justice — didn’t agree with her economic argument back when it shuttered the prison in 1963. According to the BOP:

It did not close because of the disappearance of Morris and the Anglins (the decision to close the prison was made long before the three disappeared), but because the institution was too expensive to continue operating. An estimated $3-5 million was needed just for restoration and maintenance work to keep the prison open. That figure did not include daily operating costs – Alcatraz was nearly three times more expensive to operate than any other Federal prison (in 1959 the daily per capita cost at Alcatraz was $10.10 compared with $3.00 at USP Atlanta). The major expense was caused by the physical isolation of the island – the exact reason islands have been used as prisons throughout history. This isolation meant that everything (food, supplies, water, fuel…) had to be brought to Alcatraz by boat. For example, the island had no source of fresh water, so nearly one million gallons of water had to be barged to the island each week. The Federal Government found that it was more cost-effective to build a new institution than to keep Alcatraz open.

If the Trump administration were to reopen and expand the prison, that expansion would mean that even more food, water, and supplies would have to be shipped to the island on a regular basis. Operational costs would almost certainly do the opposite of saving money.

Watch above via Fox Business.