In August 1934, the first group of inmates arrived at Alcatraz, the maximum-security prison perched on a small island in San Francisco Bay. The Big House on the Bay was the ultimate destination for some of the country’s most dangerous and wily criminals.

Image Credit: Survival World

WASHINGTON — President Trump wants to make California’s Alcatraz Island into an active prison again — feared by criminals. Trump’s budget to Congress on Friday includes a $152 million request to get the long-shuttered iconic lockup up and running again as a “state-of-the-art secure prison facility.

The island off San Francisco housed famous criminals, including Al Capone, in the mid-20th century. Now a National Historic Landmark, it's a tourist attraction with over a million annual visitors. San Francisco could be losing an iconic tourist spot.

Watch recordings of recent KQED Live events. Donor-Advised Funds Support KQED by using your donor-advised fund to make a charitable gift. As all good Bay Area history nerds know, Alcatraz Prison closed in 1963, less than a year after Frank Morris and John ...