Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Thursday his visit to Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay was intended to “test the feasibility” of converting the historic prison back to its “original use,” at the behest of President Donald Trump.
Burgum, who toured the island with Attorney General Pam Bondi, discussed the site in an interview with Fox News. The Interior Department did not respond to a request for comment.
“Alcatraz is the brand known around the world for being effective at housing people that are in incarceration, and so this is something that we’re here to take a look at,” Burgum said.
“It’s original use was a prison, and so part of this would be to test the feasibility about returning it back to its original use,” he added of the site, which was closed in 1963 due to extreme costs to federal taxpayers.
