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One of Alcatraz's last living inmates on Trump's plan to reopen prison
BBC News ^ | May 11, 2025 | By Madeline Halpert, Lily Jamali

Posted on 05/11/2025 5:55:34 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

When Charlie Hopkins thinks back to the three years he spent in one of America's most famous prisons, he remembers the "deathly quiet" the most.

In 1955, Hopkins was sent to Alcatraz - a famed prison on an isolated island off the coast of San Francisco - after causing trouble at other prisons to serve a 17-year sentence for kidnapping and robbery.

Falling asleep at night in his cell on the remote island, he said, the only sound was the whistle of ships passing.

Now 93 and living in Florida, Hopkins said the San Francisco National Archives informed him that he is likely the last surviving former Alcatraz inmate.

Although it closed decades ago, US President Donald Trump recently claimed that he wants to re-open it as a federal prison.

Alcatraz "represents something very strong, very powerful" - law and order, Trump said.

But experts and historians said Trump's proposal to re-establish the prison is far-fetched, as it would cost billions to repair and bring up to date with other federal facilities.

Hopkins agrees. "It would be so expensive," he said.

"Back then, the sewage system went into the ocean," he added. "They'd have to come up with another way of handling that."

But the avid Trump supporter said he does not believe the president's proposal is serious.

"He don't really want to open that place," Hopkins said, adding that Trump was trying to "get a point across to the public" about punishing criminals and those who enter the US illegally.

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...


TOPICS: History; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: alcatraz
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To: yuleeyahoo

The perfect facility for traitors in the government is an urn..


41 posted on 05/11/2025 7:04:05 AM PDT by delchiante
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To: Political Junkie Too

Well Trump happens to be President and you are not. So what he wants goes.


42 posted on 05/11/2025 7:05:35 AM PDT by SmokingJoe (What a )
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To: SmokingJoe

You keep babbling and obsessing with this guy, it was just a casual opinion of a Trump supporter, he wasn’t trying to counter Trump or insult him and he didn’t display any unusual interest in it one way or the other, did you read the article?

It seems that you are taking a firm (and with raging anger) stand that a new prison will be built on Alcatraz Island, is that correct?


43 posted on 05/11/2025 7:07:01 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: Yo-Yo

so the Left couldn’t sue in Federal courts on their behalf.

It was to circumvent lawfare.

....

Makes giving aid and comfort to enemies of America a little more challenging..


44 posted on 05/11/2025 7:07:14 AM PDT by delchiante
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To: SmokingJoe

“”Now you’ve been reduced to babbling utter nonsense.””

Shows how much you know about building ANYTHING in CA....


45 posted on 05/11/2025 7:07:48 AM PDT by Thank You Rush ( )
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To: Thank You Rush

He has so much “common sense” he kidnapped people?
What does he know about anything outside kidnapping?


46 posted on 05/11/2025 7:07:52 AM PDT by SmokingJoe (What a )
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Whatever the ROM cost is to get it operational add 100% difficulty factor because of access to the island……


47 posted on 05/11/2025 7:08:11 AM PDT by wardamneagle
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To: ansel12

Just common sense...


48 posted on 05/11/2025 7:10:18 AM PDT by Thank You Rush ( )
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To: SmokingJoe
How many huge construction projects have you ever done?

I was a project engineer and manager in a chemical plant requiring very large machinery. I also obtained air quality and water quality permits in the San Francisco Bay Area.

As to the quality of the concrete in the prison, I grew up in San Francisco, and remember well an escape from Alcatraz in June 1962. Three inmates chiseled away at the concrete around the air vents under their sinks with metal spoons and other improvised tools to enlarge the holes and break through to an unguarded utility corridor.

49 posted on 05/11/2025 7:10:35 AM PDT by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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To: Thank You Rush
I’ll tell you one thing, I know a heck of a lot more about building than this joker does.
As does Trump.
50 posted on 05/11/2025 7:11:02 AM PDT by SmokingJoe (What a )
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To: SmokingJoe

“”ANYTHING in CA....””

You forgot those three words!


51 posted on 05/11/2025 7:15:16 AM PDT by Thank You Rush ( )
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To: Carry_Okie
Trump has done vastly more construction projects in his 79 years life than you ever did, most of it in the brutal, cut throat Manhattan construction environment.
He's taken death threats from the mob who used to control the concrete business back in the day.
And Trump was always a hands on, on site guy.
I'll back him over you any day when it comes to executing big construction projects.
52 posted on 05/11/2025 7:17:33 AM PDT by SmokingJoe
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To: napscoordinator

I don’t think he dissed Trump.
I believe he was talking about the ex con.


53 posted on 05/11/2025 7:18:05 AM PDT by MotorCityBuck (Keep the change, you are filthy animal !!)
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To: Yo-Yo
Guantanamo wasn't for symbolism, it was to keep detainees from Afghanistan and Iraq off of U.S. soil so the Left couldn't sue in Federal courts on their behalf. ... It was to circumvent lawfare.

I think you're absolutely right.

54 posted on 05/11/2025 7:20:36 AM PDT by libertylover (Our biggest problem, by far, is that almost all of big media is AGENDA-DRIVEN, not-truth driven.)
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To: yuleeyahoo

Tell ya what...

I’ve been skeptical of the idea. Rather than rebuild Alcatraz, it seems to me that a bigger, more modern and efficient federal prison could be built in, say... El Reno, Oklahoma. Oh there’s already one there, which kinda supports that point.

Your point, however, about putting away all the traitors in government for high crimes, for example global acts of biological terrorism...

Maybe you got a point there...

If he can make it down to the bay, let him go ahead and see if he can swim home...


55 posted on 05/11/2025 7:25:37 AM PDT by OKSooner (Always carry. Even if all you can handle is a .32 SingleSix, carry it. You might be surprised.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

I want to know what the two who escaped and went to Brazil think.


56 posted on 05/11/2025 7:27:31 AM PDT by x
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To: x

Please cite a reputable source for that assertion.

TIA


57 posted on 05/11/2025 7:30:26 AM PDT by OKSooner (Always carry. Even if all you can handle is a .32 SingleSix, carry it. You might be surprised.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

DOGE has been finding billions of dollars worth of unused, government-owned properties — would be quicker, cheaper, and more accessible to convert one or more of those into prisons.


58 posted on 05/11/2025 7:36:52 AM PDT by NewJerseyJoe (Rat mantra: "Facts are meaningless! You can use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true!")
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To: OKSooner

Here is an example.

https://people.howstuffworks.com/adx-florence.htm
Just two hours outside of Denver, in a concrete pit among Rocky Mountain foothills, sits the highest-security prison in America. Its official name is the U.S. Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility, but everyone calls it “ADX” or “ADX Florence.”

The ADX in Florence, Colorado, is the one and only federal “Supermax” prison, home to the most dangerous criminals and escape-prone offenders in federal prison.

Among nearly 400 male inmates incarcerated at ADX Florence prison are several infamous characters who have graced the Federal Bureau of Investigations “most wanted” list.

Take, for example, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the notorious drug kingpin. El Chapo was sent to ADX after escaping twice from maximum security prison in Mexico. Today, dozens of convicted serial killers, drug runners and other violent offenders reside at ADX.

Some of the most infamous criminals serving time at ADX include:

Ted Kaczynski, the “Unabomber”
Eric Rudolph, the Atlanta Olympics bomber
Zacarias Moussaoui, the 9/11 conspirator
Terry Nichols, the Oklahoma City bomber
Ramzi Yousef, the 1993 World Trade Center terrorist
Michael Swango, a doctor who poisoned and killed up to 60 of his patients
Richard Reid, the “shoe bomber”


59 posted on 05/11/2025 7:37:34 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: SmokingJoe
Trump has done vastly more construction projects in his 79 years life than you ever did, most of it in the brutal, cut throat Manhattan construction environment.

That doesn't mean the job won't be expensive.

I'll back him over you any day when it comes to executing big construction projects.

As would I. Nevertheless, rebuilding Alcatraz would be expensive. The concrete would have to be mixed there. The aggregate would come from a long way away. The loading and unloading would be subject to conditions and a bigger dock would have to be built. The diesel and fresh water would have to come in by barge, as would the mixing equipment. The tidal currents there are about 4kt, and the winds are often up to 35mph. So anchoring said barges would be difficult and operations limited by weather. All the concrete would have to be pumped at least 150ft uphill. NONE of that is cheap compared to building a prison somewhere else.

To Trump's point, I suspect he is showing his age, as there certainly was a mystique about Alcatraz as inviolable up until the breakout of 1961. But the place certainly does not carry that aura today. Frankly, I like the idea of putting a new prison there, but it wouldn't be cheap.

60 posted on 05/11/2025 7:42:47 AM PDT by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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