President Donald Trump, known for his audacious ideas, has recently been contemplating the reopening of the notorious Alcatraz prison.
This proposal, aimed at incarcerating the country's most violent and irredeemable criminals, has sparked a lively debate. While the idea is intriguing, it's worth noting that the Supermax prison in Colorado already serves a similar purpose, housing some of the nation's most dangerous individuals.
According to RedState, the idea of reviving Alcatraz, a prison from which no escape has ever been confirmed, has been met with an alternative suggestion by former FBI agent Jonathan Gilliam. Gilliam, in an interview with Fox News Digital, proposed a different location for a prison that could effectively deter criminals. "If you want to build a prison, forget about Alcatraz," Gilliam stated, suggesting San Clemente Island in California as a potential site for the prison.
San Clemente Island, primarily used by the U.S. Navy for various purposes, including Navy SEAL training, is only accessible by boat and air, making it a challenging destination for most. Gilliam believes that the island's size and its distance from California's coast, approximately 80 miles from San Diego, make it an ideal location for a prison akin to Alcatraz.
Island prisons have a storied past, from Napoleon's exile to Elba, the notorious Devil's Island, and the Dry Tortugas. These locations offer several advantages, primarily the difficulty of escape due to their distance from the mainland. Alcatraz, with its swift, cold currents, presents a formidable challenge to any potential escapee. However, San Clemente Island, being 80 miles away from the mainland, significantly amplifies this challenge.
Facilities like Alcatraz serve a crucial purpose: they house the most dangerous criminals, those beyond redemption. It's an unfortunate reality that some individuals are inherently evil, and in cases where the death penalty is not an option, the best course of action is to isolate them from innocent citizens.
Gilliam further elaborated on the potential benefits of such a prison, stating that Trump's plan to reopen Alcatraz would send a strong message to criminals. "I think the key to Alcatraz was always that it stood alone, you couldn't escape it and the most hardened criminals were there. So it was a scary place to be," he said. "And so I think as long as that stays with it, then it'll serve as a deterrent, I would think."
However, the effectiveness of such a deterrent is debatable. It's doubtful that hardened criminals, the type that would be housed in a refurbished Alcatraz or a new San Clemente Island prison, would be deterred by the mere existence of such a facility. These individuals are typically undeterred by most threats. Nonetheless, the concept of an island prison offers the advantage of safely isolating these dangerous individuals from the general population, a benefit that cannot be underestimated.
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