SAN FRANCISCO (TNND) — President Donald Trump said Sunday that he is directing government agencies to reopen and expand Alcatraz "to house America's most ruthless and violent offenders."

“For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat Criminal Offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than Misery and Suffering," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.”

"That is why, today," he added, “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, to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders."

The former notorious prison on an island off San Francisco was closed in 1963 due to crumbling infrastructure and the high costs of repairing and supplying the island facility, because everything from fuel to food had to be brought by boat.

The prison — infamously inescapable due to the strong ocean currents and cold Pacific waters that surround it — was known as “The Rock" and housed some of the nation's most notorious criminals, including gangster Al Capone and George "Machine Gun" Kelly.

It has long been part of the cultural imagination and has been the subject of numerous movies, including “The Rock” starring Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage.

Now, the prison is a tourist site operated by the National Park Service and a designated National Historic Landmark.

Trump told reporters at the White House Sunday that he'd come up with the idea because of frustrations with "radicalized judges."

"It's an idea I've had, and I guess because the judges, so many of these radicalized judges, they want to have trials for every single thing of it, every single person that's in our country illegally that came in illegally, that would mean millions of trials, and it's just so ridiculous what's happening," he said. "And it's long been a symbol Alcatraz of whatever it is. I mean it's a sad symbol, but it's it's a symbol of law and order and you know it's got quite a history, frankly, so I think we're going to do that and we're looking at it right now."

A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons told The Associated Press that the agency "will comply with all Presidential Orders."

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed back against Trump's idea that the prison could be used again after so many years.

"Alcatraz closed as a federal penitentiary more than sixty years ago. It is now a very popular national park and major tourist attraction," she wrote on X. "The President’s proposal is not a serious one."

Shortly after starting his second term, Trump directed the opening of a detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to hold up to 30,000 illegal immigrants living in the United States who cannot be deported back to their home country.

The new order comes after Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act to send accused Venezuelan gang members to the maximum-security CECOT prison in El Salvador.

Border Czar Tom Homan said last week that the Trump administration has carried out 139,000 deportations of illegal immigrants since taking office.

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Editor's note: The Associated Press contributed to this article.