Fox News Legal Analyst Pours Cold Water on Trump’s Big Plan to Reopen Alcatraz
Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett doesn’t expect Alcatraz to be open for business anytime soon, after President Donald Trump ordered the iconic prison to resume operations.
During Fox & Friends segment discussing the move Monday morning, the question of when was posed to Jarrett — who poured cold water on the notion that the San Francisco island pokey would be ready for prisoners in 2025.
“It would have to be rebuilt almost entirely,” Jarrett told Brian Kilmeade. “It’s so outdated and crumbling. Here’s the important part. It has landmark status, so there would be an avalanche of lawsuits that would probably tie it up for years.”
Jarrett also came with several jabs at the left and California’s leadership.
“Don’t forget this is California. They care more about protecting the tiny smelt than building water resistance to save lives and livelihoods as we saw in the L.A. Fires.”
Read the full dialogue below:
BRIAN KILMEADE: So President Trump ordering the Bureau of Prisons, DOJ and Homeland Security to reopen Alcatraz to house “Americas most ruthless and violent offenders.” The last time Alcatraz housed prisoners was 1963 … OK, so the last time it was open in 1963, they had 300-400 people. Gregg Jarrett joins us now discuss it. Gregg, you’ve been to Alcatraz. How close is to reopening? Do you think they have the keys?
GREGG JARRETT: Yeah, they’ve got the keys. You don’t need keys anymore, though. It’s a provocative idea, Brian, which may be why Trump is proposing it, so the sound you hear are all the liberal heads exploding at the same time. Progressives frown on prisons; they tend to favor nanny day care for hardened criminals. And Alcatraz pretty forbidding, frigid place, housed Al Capone. Machine Gun Kelly, Mickey Cohen. It is, however, federal property. So this can be done, but it would have to be rebuilt almost entirely. It’s so outdated and crumbling. And here’s the important part: It has landmark status, so there would be an avalanche of lawsuits that would probably tie it up for years. Don’t forget, this is California. They care more about protecting the tiny smelt than building water systems to save lives and livelihoods as we saw in the L.A. Fires.
KILMEADE: A lot of people run for office on the pro-smelt agenda. But by the way, they say Alcatraz, despite the movie, one of the better prisons in terms of conditions. We will see what happens there.
Trump took to Truth Social late Sunday to demand the reopening of Alcatraz, which housed a rogues gallery of criminals, including Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly (the gangster, not the singer), and Robert Stroud, the famed “Birdman of Alcatraz.”
Trump called the possible reopening “a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE.”
Watch above via Fox News.
