Democrats mocked President Donald Trump’s desire to reopen the former federal prison on San Francisco Bay’s Alcatraz Island.
On Thursday, ahead of Attorney General Pam Bondi and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum‘s tour of the long-dormant facility, California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office dismissed Trump’s plan as not feasible—and took a shot at his controversial management of the Jeffrey Epstein controversy in the process.
“Pam Bondi will reopen Alcatraz the same day Trump lets her release the Epstein files,” the governor’s team wrote on X. “So… never.”
Pam Bondi will reopen Alcatraz the same day Trump lets her release the Epstein files. So… never. https://t.co/bhISLJX0CW
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) July 17, 2025
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi likewise doubted the prison would be functional again, and said that of all the Trump administration’s ideas, this one was the “stupidest.”
“Being tough on crime is not turning Alcatraz, which won’t even be a prison for a long time to come—I don’t think it’ll ever happen,” the congresswoman told MSNBC anchor Chris Jansing.
“I have said this is not only stupid, with stiff competition,” Pelosi emphasized, dubbing it “the stupidest initiative put forth by this administration.”
Pelosi noted the cost, which is estimated to be on the hundreds of millions of dollars, as did California Sen. Adam Schiff.
“Alcatraz is an actual museum. A literal relic of the past,” he wrote on X. “If you are looking for waste, fraud and abuse—it’s boondoggles like this.”
Bondi and Burgum seemed determined to press on.
“It could hold middle-class violent prisoners, it could hold illegal aliens. It could hold anything,” Bondi told Fox News in front of rusty cell door bars. “This is a terrific facility. It needs a lot of work, but no one has been known to escape from Alcatraz and survive.”
Trump suggested a revival of Alcatraz in May, having been inspired by the 1979 Clint Eastwood film Escape from Alcatraz.
“I was supposed to be a moviemaker,” Trump explained to reporters later. “[Alcatraz] represents something very strong, very powerful in terms of law and order… Alcatraz is, I would say, the ultimate. Sing Sing and Alcatraz, right? The movies.”
Earlier this month, Trump said that “conceptional work” on his goal shows “lots of promise.”
Revamping the prison, which closed in 1963 due to how expensive it was to run it, would take a massive effort.
As Fox reporter David Spunt prefaced in his interview with Bondi and Burgum, the former prison “has no water or electricity source from the mainland, and the building is rotting.”
Now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, the site generates over $60 million in annual revenue for the National Park Service.
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