_updates.jpg)
President Donald Trump has requested the funding of $152 million in order to restore Alcatraz, a former federal prison off the coast of San Francisco, into a modern high-security prison.
The request was made in a budget proposal released on Friday, April 3, for the 2027 fiscal year.
While Trump has been calling upon the DOJ, the FBI and Homeland Security to rebuild the prison since last year, several elected officials in California have questioned the feasibility of such a decision.
According to the San Francisco Standard, as of now, Alcatraz lacks water, gas, power and sewage systems.
California state senator Scott Wiener's office estimated this week that rebuilding the prison would cost over $2 billion.
On Friday, Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker of the House, said in a news release, "Rebuilding Alcatraz into a modern prison is a stupid notion that would be nothing more than a waste of taxpayer dollars and an insult to the intelligence of the American people."
As per the budget proposal, the initial $152 million would cover the first year of the restoration process, with no clear plan for the reopening timeline.
The significant figure is a part of a larger $1.7 billion request to fund the Bureau of Prisons' "crumbling detention facilities".
For the unversed, the maximum security prison housed some of the nation's most notorious criminal offenders from 1934 until its closure in 1963.
Dubbed "the Rock", while Alcatraz's location on an island made escape difficult, it also made operations costly.
Since its closure, it has become a historical site that over a million tourists flock to annually.
