(Adnkronos) – A “crazy” plan. In the aftermath of Donald Trump’s announcement about the intention to reopen Alcatraz, which from a maximum security prison has become one of San Francisco’s most popular tourist destinations, many visitors do not hide their disapproval. “We are a bit shocked by this news, considering how old the prison is and how long it has been since it was last used – commented Janelle Lawson, who comes from Australia to the Guardian – It will take a lot of money to invest in the infrastructure to make it habitable again”.
“It’s crazy,” echoes 20-year-old Jonathan Perez, a 20-year-old psychology student from Miami, recalling that the infamous prison “was abandoned for a reason…it was horrible.” Perez underlines and denounces the president’s “enthusiasm” for the mass deportations of illegal migrants to prisons in El Salvador and his intention to “also use the Guantanamo base”, where al Qaeda terrorists have been held for decades.
“I think it should remain what it is, a national monument – says Jacqueline Kemokai, a retired nurse from Tampa – They have already taken away so much of the past and there is a need for something to remain to keep our memories alive”.
A story still alive and well present for Morning Star Gali, a member of the Achomawi Native American tribe, who for 16 years has organized a ceremony to commemorate the indigenous protest at Alcatraz, occupied between 1969 and 1971 to demonstrate against federal policies towards Native Americans. “Reopening Alcatraz would not only be an act of historical erasure, but a statement that this country intends to remember its most violent legacy – concludes Gali – That’s where the first indigenous leaders of California were imprisoned, and that’s a story that is not yet very well known”.
The former Alcatraz prison is now a museum run by the National Park Service and is one of California’s most popular tourist destinations, with 1.4 million visitors a year. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the penitentiary was three times more expensive to run than any other federal prison, mainly because of its inconvenient location, which required that any raw material, from water to food, be brought in from outside.
