A Survivor’s Warning: Reopening Alcatraz Is a Step Backward on Justice

A Survivor’s Warning: Reopening Alcatraz Is a Step Backward on Justice

The idea of reopening Alcatraz for what Trump termed as punishment for the country’s “most ruthless and violent” criminals should not be viewed in isolation. It calls for a broader reckoning with why such carceral relics were created in the first place and why their logic persists. Alcatraz was designed to be the ultimate deterrent, embodying the harshest aspects of the U.S. penal system as a symbol of punitive excess. Yet it was historically in…