Plan to reopen Alcatraz after movie shown on TV

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Donald Trump’s plan to reopen Alcatraz was mocked online Monday by people who suggested the US president got the idea from watching TV.

The order to resurrect the once-notorious island prison in San Francisco Bay came out of the blue over the weekend with a post on Trump’s social media platform.

“Today, I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent offenders,” he said.

The island fortress entered American cultural lore after a 1962 escape by three inmates, which became an inspiration for the film “Escape from Alcatraz” starring Clint Eastwood.

Social media users were quick to spot that the film had been shown on television in south Florida on Saturday night including in West Palm Beach, where Trump spent the evening at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

“Is it possible Trump watched the movie and got caught up in it? Which led to the so-called brilliant idea of rebuilding Alcatraz?” wrote @HansonRitta on X.

“Are we getting American policy from TV shows?”

“This is really funny,” wrote @MatthewSpira.

“We’re going to spend a half billion dollars fixing up Alcatraz to never serve as a supermax in the San Francisco Bay all because an old man was bored and flipping through channels on a Saturday night.”