Donald Trump says he is directing his government to reopen and expand Alcatraz, the infamous former prison on an island near San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge.
In a message on his Truth Social site on Sunday, President Trump said that "for too long America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat criminal offenders".
The reopening of Alcatraz - once notorious as one of the US's toughest prisons - would serve as a "symbol of law, order, and justice," he said.
Leading Democrats said the proposal was "not a serious one". The maximum security facility, also known as The Rock, was closed in 1963 and it is currently operating as a successful tourist site.
"Today, I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ," Trump wrote.
The prison would "house America's most ruthless and violent Offenders".
