Never let it be said that President Donald Trump is one to shy away from big notions.
One of those big notions, as RedState’s own Bob Hoge recently reported, is the re-opening of the infamous Alcatraz prison to house some of the nation’s most violent, irredeemable prisoners. It’s an interesting idea, although we also have the Supermax prison in Colorado that already houses some… people of this sort.
Still, Alcatraz is a singular location. There was never a confirmed escape from that island prison. But when if comes to island prisons, there are alternatives; a former FBI agent, Jonathan Gilliam, has another idea.
Former FBI special agent Jonathan Gilliam told Fox News Digital he has an even better idea on where to build a prison that would serve as a deterrence for criminals.
“If you want to build a prison, forget about Alcatraz,” Gilliam said, pitching San Clemente Island in California as a possible location for the prison.
San Clemente Island is primarily used by the U.S. Navy for several purposes, including training to become a Navy SEAL. The island is only accessible by boat and air, rendering it hard to reach for most people.
Gilliam said San Clemente Island is well-suited to host a prison similar to Alcatraz because of its size and distance from California’s coast, as it’s around 80 miles from San Diego.
Now that’s an interesting idea.
Island prisons have a long history, from Napoleon’s exile to Elba to the infamous Devil’s Island to the Dry Tortugas. There are a lot of advantages, not the least of which is that being miles from any mainland makes escape, at best, extremely unlikely. Alcatraz has the added advantage of being in a location where swift, cold currents make swimming to the mainland a considerable task, but San Clemente Island kicks that difficulty to the next level by being 80 miles away from land. Even Johnny Weissmuller would find that a long slog.
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The value found in installations like Alcatraz is that they can house the very worst of the worst. It’s an unfortunate fact of human nature that some people are evil, beyond redemption, and the best we can do with them in cases where, for whatever reason, the death penalty is not invoked is to house them forever away from any innocent citizens.
Mr. Gilliam had some further thoughts on the value of a prison like this:
Gilliam said he thinks Trump’s plan to reopen Alcatraz will send a message to criminals.
“I think the key to Alcatraz was always that it stood alone, you couldn’t escape it and the most hardened criminals were there. So it was a scary place to be,” he said. “And so I think as long as that stays with it, then it’ll serve as a deterrent, I would think.”
Here’s where I differ. I doubt hardened criminals, goblins of the sort that a refurbished Alcatraz or any new San Clemente Island prison (I find the name “Devil’s Island” compelling for such an installation) would be deterred by the existence of a prison. These goblins aren’t deterred by much of anything. But the idea of an island prison has the benefit, at least, of being able to warehouse these utterly evil people safely – and far away from the general population.
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