Pauline Rogers on the prospect of reopening prison on Alcatraz Island

Pauline Rogers (Leading with Conviction™ 2023) writes in Ms. Magazine:

“The proposal to reopen Alcatraz Island as an active prison, recently suggested by President Donald Trump, signals more than a symbolic return to a dark chapter in American carceral history. It represents a continued investment in punishment over restoration, in isolation over innovation. Inhumanity over humanity. …

“As a survivor of the juvenile justice system and founder of the RECH Foundation, I visited Alcatraz as a tourist and it struck a deeply personal chord. Walking through those cold, confining corridors resurrected buried memories of confinement as a young girl—when my potential was punished instead of nurtured.

Reopening [Alcatraz] would symbolize a return to punitive measures over rehabilitative approaches.

“The silence, the steel, the calculated isolation felt all too familiar. It reminded me why I’ve spent my life fighting to ensure no child is ever treated as disposable, and why RECH was founded—to create space for restoration instead of retribution. The experience affirmed what I’ve always known: Places like Alcatraz don’t just imprison bodies, they haunt spirits. …

“The prison industrial complex in the United States has ensured that structures like Alcatraz remain very much alive. With the U.S. ranking fifth in the world for incarceration rates of 541 people per 100,000 residents, what Alcatraz once represented is now dispersed across countless facilities, both state-run and private, urban and rural.

“Each institution, despite technological advancement or geographical difference, perpetuates the same cycles of isolation, dehumanization and systemic neglect.

“The idea of reopening Alcatraz for what Trump termed as punishment for the country’s ‘most ruthless and violent’ criminals, particularly in today’s political and economic climate, 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.

“The myth of deterrence through brutality, the overreliance on incarceration as a solution to social problems, and the refusal to invest in prevention rather than punishment—these are the ideologies that gave rise to Alcatraz, and they continue to shape the justice system today.

“Alcatraz was designed to be the ultimate deterrent, embodying the harshest aspects of the U.S. penal system as a symbol of punitive excess. Its reopening would symbolize a return to punitive measures over rehabilitative approaches.

“Yet it was historically ineffective. The prison’s closure in 1963 was due to high operational costs and its failure to rehabilitate inmates, suggesting that its model was unsustainable and ineffective.

“The push to reopen Alcatraz is seen as a symbolic, political move that appeals to a desire for ‘tough on crime’ policies, rather than a practical solution to criminal justice issues. …

“Rather than reinvesting in outdated, punitive models, a firsthand visit to Alcatraz in 2022 with members of the justice advocacy group, All of Us or None, reinforced what many have long understood. Alcatraz should never have been built, let alone considered for reopening.

“Reopening Alcatraz would not represent progress or innovation—it would mark a dangerous regression to a punitive past dressed up as bold policy. Rather than rebuilding relics of oppression, the nation must invest in strategies that prioritize prevention, accountability and healing.”

Read the full op-ed at MsMagazine.com.

(Photo: Pauline Rogers visiting Alcatraz in 2022, used by permission. Credit: Dr. Stacia V. Hunter)