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US President Donald Trump says he wants to reopen the famous prison Alcatraz. The prison is on a rocky island in San Francisco Bay. The jail was in use between 1934 and 1963. It was used to house high-profile prisoners. These included the gangsters Al Capone and George "Machine Gun" Kelly. Officially, no one ever escaped alive from the prison. In 1973, Alcatraz opened to the public and became a tourist attraction. President Trump wants the island to return to housing dangerous criminals. Trump said: "Alcatraz represents something very strong, very powerful." He wants it to be a symbol of law and order. He added: "America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat criminal offenders."
The USA's head of border control, Tom Homan, liked the idea of reopening Alcatraz as a prison. He said it could be "an option for significant public safety threats and national security threats". However, some people think Alcatraz should not become a prison again. Hugh Hurwitz, a former acting director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, disagreed with the idea. He told the BBC: "It's not realistic to think you can repair it. You'd have to tear it up and start over." He said the island needed too many repairs and that some buildings are "literally falling apart". He pointed out some problems. He said: "There are no security upgrades. No cameras. No fencing. You can't run a prison [like that]."
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