Alcatraz to reopen? What caused it to close in the first place?

Alcatraz, which has been closed as a prison since 1963, could potentially be set to reopened.

President Trump announced he had plans to restore the former maximum security prison into a working prison once again.

Alcatraz ended up closing in the 1960s because its unique location also caused high operating costs, and the deteriorating infrastructure made it vulnerable to prisoner escapes.  At the time, the cost of housing prisoners was over 2.5 times the average of the other federal prisons.

The prison does have a storied history, including some of the country’s most notorious names such as Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly. It also inspired many movies over the years including The Rock starring Nicholas Cage and Sean Connery and Escape from Alcatraz starring Clint Eastwood.