Talk about Alcatraz reopening or maintaining national historic landmark status trending online

Talk about whether re-opening the infamous Alcatraz prison is actually possible is still trending online, after U.S. President Donald Trump said he was directing the Federal Bureau of Prisons to rebuild and reopen the island penitentiary, to “house America’s most ruthless and violent offenders.”

After U.S. President Donald Trump began floating the idea of rebuilding and reopening the Alcatraz prison in the San Francisco bay many are speaking out that it’s a bad idea including tourists who visited the site.

Alcatraz which housed notorious U.S. criminals such as Al Capone was closed in 1963 because it was too expensive to continue operating in large part due to its island location.

That’s according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website which also adds that it was nearly three times more costly to operate than any other federal prison.

The site is now operated by the National Park Service as a tourist destination.

It draws more than a million visitors a year and generates around 60-million dollars in revenue.

It was designated as a national historic landmark in 1986, but reopening isn’t as easy as it sounds and it’s not the first time this idea has come up.

According to USA today in 1981, the island was among a list of more than a dozen locations evaluated when the Reagan administration looked for a place to hold thousands of Cuban detainees during the Mariel boatlift, but the site was rejected because of it’s conditions and historic nature.

Whether Trump will follow through with this idea, we’ll have to wait and see.