Federal Bureau of Prisons has a $3 billion repair backlog. Now it’s expected to reopen Alcatraz too

Eleven inmate deaths in less than two months. More than 4,000 staff vacancies. A $3 billion repair backlog.

And now, a stunning directive from President Donald Trump for the crisis-plagued federal Bureau of Prisons to “REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ!” — the notorious penitentiary on an island in San Francisco Bay that last held inmates more than 60 years ago.

Even as the Bureau of Prisons struggles with short staffing, chronic violence and crumbling infrastructure at its current facilities...