As President Donald Trump called for the reopening of Alcatraz in a Sunday evening Truth Social post, many Americans were reminded of the notorious prison off the coast of San Francisco, California.
“REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ!” Trump wrote. “For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat Criminal Offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than Misery and Suffering,” he wrote.
Trump directed several agencies, including the Bureau of Prisons, Department of Justice, FBI and Department of Homeland Security, to develop plans to reopen a “substantially enlarged and rebuilt” Alcatraz prison that would “house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders.” He said the reopening of Alcatraz “will serve as a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE.”
During its time as a federal prison, which spanned almost 30 years, Alcatraz housed a total of over 1,500 inmates. Read about the most infamous inmates below:
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Al Capone
Al Capone spent time at several prisons across America before serving a sentence at Alcatraz. Capone was charged with tax evasion in 1931, and while originally entering a guilty plea on June 16, 1931, he would change his plea to not guilty after the presiding judge said he wasn’t bound by any plea deal made, according to the FBI.
After being convicted on Oct. 18, 1931, Capone was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison, with his six-month contempt of court sentence brought down to time served. While attempting to appeal his conviction, Capone was being held at the Cook County Jail in Illinois.
He began his sentence at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta, but was transferred to Alcatraz in 1934 after allegations that Capone was receiving cushy treatment by manipulating the prison system, according to History.com.
Capone was released from Alcatraz in 1939 for good behavior. He spent his last year at Alcatraz in a hospital after contracting syphilis.
After being released from Alcatraz, Capone didn’t return to his old style of life and was deemed to have the mentality of a 12-year-old child by a Baltimore psychiatrist in 1946. He lived with his wife and immediate family in Palm Island, an isle off of Miami, Florida.
He died of a stroke and pneumonia on Jan. 25, 1947.
George “Machine Gun” Kelly
George Kelly, along with hs wife, Kathryn Kelly, kidnapped Oklahoma business tycoon Charles F. Urschel and Walter Jarrett on July 22, 1933. Longtime associate Albert Bates also assisted in the kidnapping.
On July 26, 1933, J.G. Catlett, a close friend of Urschel, received a package written by Urschel which demanded he head to Oklahoma City and not communicate with the Urschel family. The package also received a ransom demand for $200,000.
After the ransom was completed, Urschel finally returned home on July 31, 1933.
The Kellys were arrested in Memphis, Tennessee during a Sept. 26, 1933 law enforcement raid by FBI agents and the Memphis Police Department. During the arrest, George Kelly allegedly famously cried “Don’t shoot, G-Men! Don’t shoot, G-Men!” according to the FBI.
George Kelly was locked away at Alcatraz from 1934-1951. He got his nickname “machine gun” after his wife bought him a machine gun and encouraged him to go into a life of crime.
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Robert Stroud – “Bird Man” of Alcatraz
In 1909, Robert Stroud killed a bartender who allegedly didn’t pay a prostitute he was pimping. He was convicted of manslaughter and served his sentence at U.S. Penitentiary, McNeil Island, Washington. While in federal prison, according to the Bureau of Prisons, Stroud attacked another inmate, resulting in his transfer to USP Leavenworth.
While at USP Leavenworth, Stroud killed corrections officer Andrew Turner in 1916.
Stroud was convicted of first-degree murder as a result, and was sentenced to death. In 1920, former President Woodrow Wilson commuted his sentence to life in prison.
While in prison, Stroud developed a deep interest in birds, and would go on to write two books about birds and their diseases. Prison officers eventually found contraband items hidden inside bird cages that Stroud got his hands on, resulting in his transfer to Alcatraz in 1942.
Stroud spent 17 years in Alcatraz before he died on Nov. 21, 1963.
Alvin ‘Creepy’ Karpis
Alvin Karpis was a member of the Barker/Karpis gang, which was involved in a number of high-profile kidnappings.
Karpis was involved in the 1933 kidnapping of William A. Hamm, Jr., president of the Theodore Hamm Brewing Company, according to the FBI. Hamm, Jr. left the building when he was grabbed by four individuals who pushed him into a car.
Members of the Barker/Karpis gang were responsible for the kidnapping, and demanded a ransom of over $100,000. Hamm signed a number of ransom notes in Wisconsin before he was taken to a hideout in Bensenville, Illinois. After the ransom was paid, Hamm was released near Wyoming, Minnesota.
Using fingerprint technology, the FBI used fingerprints on the ransom notes to identify suspects in the kidnapping – Karpis, “Doc” Barker, Charles Fitzgerald, and other members of the gang.
Karpis was eventually arrested in New Orleans, Louisiana, with former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover being part of the raid which led to his arrest on May 2, 1936.
Karpis, born in Montreal, spent 10 years in prison for burglary before working with members of the Barker family on more extreme crimes.
While Karpis was sentenced to life in prison, he spent time in various federal prisons, including Alcatraz. He was paroled in the late 1960s. He got his “creepy” nickname because of his smile.
Morton Sobell
Morton Sobell was convicted of espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union in 1951, but wasn’t convicted of providing the Soviet Union with stolen nuclear secrets, according to History.com.
He was sentenced to 30 years in prison, with 18 of them being spent in Alcatraz before he was paroled in 1969.
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were charged along with Sobell, were sentenced to death through electric chair.
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