Ex-acting prisons chief: Alcatraz not fit for today

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00:00All right, so bottom line, a prison that was built in 1934, which is when Alcatraz was built,

00:06how well adapted would you say such a facility would be to today's needs?

00:12No, it's not. I mean, it would have to be completely, it would have to, I mean, pretty much

00:16have to be torn down. Could they tear it down? Could they tear it down? Because it's a historical

00:20monument, isn't it? Well, that's a good question. That's not my area of expertise, but yeah, sure.

00:25I don't know that they could even tear it down, but I don't know that historically they could do

00:29the changes that they need to do. They don't have cameras. The cells, I mean, if you were a six

00:34foot person, which is not, I mean, not a unusually tall person, you can't even stand in the cell

00:40fully upright. The cells, the walls are literally crumbling. You know, you see movies where people

00:48take sharp objects and chisel their way out of a cell. I don't even know how accurate that is,

00:54but you don't even need a sharp object in Alcatraz to do that. You could literally use your hands.

00:59So I don't know how you could, I don't know how you could reinstate Alcatraz without rebuilding

01:05it. But even if you were to find a way to, to do it without tearing it down, I mean, it's just not

01:12in any condition to house people. There's no, there's no, you know, no security cameras. There's

01:18no safety devices. Look, part of the problem being on an island, if there is a medical emergency

01:26or a riot or other law enforcement emergency, you can't bring in assistance without getting

01:33boats to come out there.