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How Alcatraz Became America’s Most Notorious Prison

One of three cell tiers of individual cells at the main block of the Alcatraz Federal Prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California, March 15, 1956. (AP)
One of three cell tiers of individual cells at the main block of the Alcatraz Federal Prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California, March 15, 1956. (AP)
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How Alcatraz Became America’s Most Notorious Prison

One of three cell tiers of individual cells at the main block of the Alcatraz Federal Prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California, March 15, 1956. (AP)
One of three cell tiers of individual cells at the main block of the Alcatraz Federal Prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California, March 15, 1956. (AP)

President Donald Trump wants to turn Alcatraz, a popular US tourist destination, into a federal prison again, more than 60 years after the California island fortress was shut down as too costly.

Trump says Alcatraz, now part of the National Park Service, suddenly is needed to house America’s “most ruthless and violent” criminals. It's where the government sent notorious gangsters Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly as well as lesser-known men who were considered too dangerous to lock up elsewhere.

“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,” Trump said Sunday on his Truth Social site.

What is Alcatraz? Alcatraz is in San Francisco Bay off the coast of San Francisco and visible from the Golden Gate Bridge. It is best known for its years as a federal prison, from 1934-63, but its history is much longer.

President Millard Fillmore in 1850 declared the island for public purposes, according to the park service, and it soon became a military site. Confederates were housed there during the Civil War.

By the 1930s, the government decided that it needed a place to hold the worst criminals, and Alcatraz became the choice for a prison.

“A remote site was sought, one that would prohibit constant communication with the outside world by those confined within its walls,” the park service said. “Although land in Alaska was being considered, the availability of Alcatraz Island conveniently coincided with the government’s perceived need for a high security prison.”

Why did it close? The remoteness eventually made it impractical. Everything from food to fuel had to arrive by boat.

“The island had no source of fresh water,” according to the US Bureau of Prisons, “so nearly one million gallons of water had to be barged to the island each week.”

The cost to house someone there in 1959 was $10.10 a day compared with $3 at a federal prison in Atlanta, the government said. It was cheaper to build a new prison from scratch.

Why is Alcatraz notorious? Despite the location, many prisoners tried to get out: 36 men attempted 14 separate escapes into the bay, according to the FBI. Nearly all were caught or didn’t survive the cold water and swift current.

“Escape from Alcatraz,” a 1979 movie starring Clint Eastwood, told the story of John Anglin, his brother Clarence and Frank Morris, who all escaped in 1962, leaving behind handmade plaster heads with real hair in their beds to fool guards.

“For the 17 years we worked on the case, no credible evidence emerged to suggest the men were still alive, either in the US or overseas,” the FBI said.

A national park Alcatraz became part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and was opened to the public in 1973, a decade after it was closed as a prison.

The park service says the island gets more than 1 million visitors a year who arrive by ferry. A ticket for an adult costs $47.95. Visitors can see the cells where prisoners were held.

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Varieties

Study: Almost All Coral Reef Ecosystems Face Risk of Collapse in 50 Years

Schools of grunt fish (top) and other fish swim over a coral reef in the southern Caribbean Sea, off Palm Beach in the western coast of Aruba, on October 22, 2026. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP)
Schools of grunt fish (top) and other fish swim over a coral reef in the southern Caribbean Sea, off Palm Beach in the western coast of Aruba, on October 22, 2026. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP)
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Study: Almost All Coral Reef Ecosystems Face Risk of Collapse in 50 Years

Schools of grunt fish (top) and other fish swim over a coral reef in the southern Caribbean Sea, off Palm Beach in the western coast of Aruba, on October 22, 2026. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP)
Schools of grunt fish (top) and other fish swim over a coral reef in the southern Caribbean Sea, off Palm Beach in the western coast of Aruba, on October 22, 2026. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP)

The world’s coral reef ecosystems almost all face a high risk of collapse in the next 50 years, mostly due to warming oceans and heat waves, according to a global assessment released Thursday.

It's the latest dose of bad news for coral reefs, which are critical sources for seafood and tourism and often serve as buffers from coastal erosion and storms. Sometimes dubbed “rainforests of the sea,” they have some of the world’s richest biodiversity. They support a quarter of marine species as well as coastal communities and businesses.

Some 96% of shallow-water reef systems are already critically endangered and could disappear by 2075, the International Union for Conservation of Nature announced on the sidelines of a UN biodiversity conference in Armenia.

Most of the world’s famous reef systems — including the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Coral Triangle in the Western Pacific Ocean and Southeast Asia, the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System and the Red Sea coral reefs — are all critically endangered, the highest level of threat.

A lion fish lurks around the shipwreck of the oil tanker Debbie II and a coral reef in the southern Caribbean Sea, off Palm Beach in the western coast of Aruba, on October 22, 2026. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP)

“The risk of coral reef collapse is escalating, but this must be a wake-up call rather than a cause for despair,” said Mishal Gudka, the scientific lead of the global IUCN Red List of Coral Reef Ecosystems assessment, the first of its kind.

“Coral reefs have shown a remarkable ability to bounce back from devastating bleaching events,” AFP quoted him as saying. “Pockets of surviving, resilient coral reefs can still remain in the future, so we must do everything within our reach to set them up for success.”

When a reef collapses, hard corals disappear and are replaced by algae, rubble and sponges. As a result, the reef no longer supports a diverse ecosystem that can include everything from tiny invertebrates to reef fish like grouper.

“Coral reefs are one of the clearest vital signs of the ocean’s health,” Grethel Aguilar, the IUCN director general, said in a statement.

The assessment, spanning 127 tropical and subtropical ecoregions, and encompassing 72,726 square miles (188,362 square kilometers) of coral reefs globally, called climate change the “single most consistent threat driving coral reef decline worldwide.”

A week ago, another study in the journal Nature by the IUCN found that nearly 44% of reef-building coral species face an elevated risk of extinction due to climate change. A year ago, a survey found that harmful bleaching of the world’s coral has grown to include 84% of the ocean’s reefs — the most intense of its kind in recorded history.

An octopus hides in the crevice of a coral reef in the southern Caribbean Sea, off Palm Beach in the western coast of Aruba, on October 22, 2026. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP)

The year 2024 was Earth’s hottest on record, and much of that is going into oceans. The average annual sea surface temperature of oceans away from the poles was a record 69.57 degrees Fahrenheit (20.87 degrees Celsius).

Beyond combating rising global emissions, experts said efforts to reduce pollution, overfishing and coastal development can help reefs survive.

“We know what is needed: ambitious emissions reductions, stronger protection and restoration efforts, and sustained investment in resilient coastal ecosystems and the communities that depend on them,” Aguilar said.

Andrew Baker, director of the Coral Reef Futures Lab at the University of Miami, sought to inject some hope after reviewing the assessment. He said stopping global warming and pollution isn't the only way to save corals.

“It means finding new ways to restore corals using emerging technology and innovative approaches,” he said, “that can throw a lifeline to struggling reefs and buy us critically needed time to make these transitions.”

Varieties

Prehistoric 'Giant Rat' Found in Thailand from Fossil Teeth

Oarsmen row barges in the rain along the Chao Phraya River during the full dress rehearsal for the Royal Barge Procession in honor of Queen Suthida's 48th birthday, in Bangkok on October 28, 2026. (Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP)
Oarsmen row barges in the rain along the Chao Phraya River during the full dress rehearsal for the Royal Barge Procession in honor of Queen Suthida's 48th birthday, in Bangkok on October 28, 2026. (Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP)
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Prehistoric 'Giant Rat' Found in Thailand from Fossil Teeth

Oarsmen row barges in the rain along the Chao Phraya River during the full dress rehearsal for the Royal Barge Procession in honor of Queen Suthida's 48th birthday, in Bangkok on October 28, 2026. (Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP)
Oarsmen row barges in the rain along the Chao Phraya River during the full dress rehearsal for the Royal Barge Procession in honor of Queen Suthida's 48th birthday, in Bangkok on October 28, 2026. (Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP)

A giant rodent weighing around 30 kilograms roamed what is now southern Thailand 33 to 35 million years ago, scientists said, after identifying a previously unknown species from two fossilized teeth.

The ancient animal, which one geologist on the team called a "giant rat", was among the largest known from the Paleogene period, offering new clues about how early rodents evolved to enormous sizes.

The findings, published Wednesday in the journal Scientific Reports, were based on a molar and an incisor discovered in 2004 at a coal mine in southern Krabi province.

Pannipa Tian, a geologist with Thailand's Department of Mineral Resources who found the incisor, said she initially misidentified the fossil because of its "unusually large size".

"At first, I thought it was a bone. I showed it to my supervisor, who told me it was a giant rat's tooth," Pannipa, 51, told AFP on Thursday.

The cream-colored fossil stood out against the dark coal deposits, while another expedition member found the dark-colored molar the same day.

The Krabi basin has previously yielded fossils of ancient primates, carnivores and hoofed mammals.

But at the time of the discovery, the team lacked sufficient evidence and technology to identify the species.

More than two decades later, researchers from Thailand, France and Canada were able to do so through detailed analysis of the teeth.

The animal weighed around 30 kilograms -- an estimated half as much as a large capybara, the world's largest living rodent, they said.

Unlike the South American capybara, however, the prehistoric rodent belonged to the now-extinct Ischyromyidae family, one of the earliest major groups of rodents.

"It tells a lot about the diversity of life in the past," Pannipa said, suggesting that ancient rodents may have evolved in what is now Thailand before spreading to other parts of the world.

But with only two teeth recovered, the animal's appearance, diet and behavior remain unknown.

The species was named Yakamys sirindhornae in honor of Thailand's Princess Sirindhorn, a supporter of scientific and palaeontological research.

Varieties

Endangered Hawaiian Bird Uses Beak and Body to Dig Out its Dinner

A close-up view of an 'akiapōlā'au bird showing its distinctive long, curved upper bill, in Pu'u Maka' Ala Natural Area Reserve, in Hawaii, US, September 3, 2022. Bret Nainoa Mossman/Handout via REUTERS
A close-up view of an 'akiapōlā'au bird showing its distinctive long, curved upper bill, in Pu'u Maka' Ala Natural Area Reserve, in Hawaii, US, September 3, 2022. Bret Nainoa Mossman/Handout via REUTERS
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Endangered Hawaiian Bird Uses Beak and Body to Dig Out its Dinner

A close-up view of an 'akiapōlā'au bird showing its distinctive long, curved upper bill, in Pu'u Maka' Ala Natural Area Reserve, in Hawaii, US, September 3, 2022. Bret Nainoa Mossman/Handout via REUTERS
A close-up view of an 'akiapōlā'au bird showing its distinctive long, curved upper bill, in Pu'u Maka' Ala Natural Area Reserve, in Hawaii, US, September 3, 2022. Bret Nainoa Mossman/Handout via REUTERS

The ʻakiapōlāʻau has no need for a toolbox. The endangered Hawaiian bird taps the wood of trees, hacks into it with the lower half of its unusual beak, then switches to its long, flexible upper bill to probe the hole for insect larvae to eat.

New research provides the most comprehensive look yet at this Hawaiian honeycreeper's unique anatomy, showing that when the bird strikes the wood, even its legs get involved in the action.

The ʻakiapōlāʻau (pronounced ah-key-ah-POLE-ah-ow) is found only on the island of Hawaii and feeds mainly on insects, including larvae hidden in branches. There are no native woodpeckers in Hawaii, but the ʻakiapōlāʻau has evolved its own way of getting at prey inside wood, filling a similar feeding niche despite the two birds not being closely related.

Scientists had long observed how the ʻakiapōlāʻau feeds, but knew much less about the anatomy that makes this behavior possible. To investigate, the researchers examined three ʻakiapōlāʻau skeletons from the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley, and compared them with skeletons of related continental finches from other museum collections.

"The anatomy of an animal ⁠is like the ⁠book, whereas the in-life behavior is like the movie," said Alexander Clark, a University of Chicago doctoral candidate and scientific affiliate with the Field Museum in Chicago who was the lead author of the study published in the journal Ornithology.

In that "movie," the first step is finding where the prey may be hiding. The bird first assesses a branch and sometimes taps it gently with its upper bill to feel for hollow spaces, Reuters quoted Clark as saying.

Once it selects a spot, the bird switches tools. It opens its mouth widely and begins to vigorously gouge the woody substrate with the lower bill only, while the upper bill is held as far away as ⁠possible. After creating an opening, it inserts the slender upper bill and searches from side to side for its prey.

"With its mouth fully agape, it almost looks like the little bird is yelling at the wood it's gouging," Clark said.

The researchers found that the upper bill is unusual beneath the surface as well. Its underlying bony structure is about 38% shorter than its outer covering. The section without bone can flex as the bird moves its head from side to side while probing.

"When I've witnessed this behavior, I could've sworn it was going to snap its bill – and yet, it doesn't," Clark said.

Perhaps the biggest surprise came from the legs. The bird has a proportionally short femur, or the first bone of the leg that articulates with the hip.

"If you're constantly clinging to and needing to maintain awkward positions on perches, it helps to lower your center of gravity, particularly by reducing the leg length," Clark said.

Researchers also found a well-developed attachment for a muscle ⁠that flexes the ankle.

"This ⁠muscle, when contracted, flexes the ankle, bringing the lower part of the leg towards the body. It's essentially the same movement as if you were to stretch out your leg, and raise your foot towards your shin. You're working the muscle I'm talking about," Clark said.

When the ʻakiapōlāʻau gouges wood, that movement helps lift the body and then drive it forcefully downwards. That differs from woodpeckers, which primarily initiate their drilling movement using neck muscles to cock back and then lunge forward.

"In ʻakiapōlāʻau, it's a whole-body affair," Clark said. "Like effectively swinging an axe, you have to put your whole body into it."

Repeatedly striking wood may also carry a risk of injury, and scientists do not yet fully understand how the ʻakiapōlāʻau's skull copes with the forces involved. Woodpeckers have reinforced bone structures between the eyes that help cope with stresses from drilling. The ʻakiapōlāʻau has something similar, Clark said, but nothing to the same degree.

Mastering the technique also takes time. Young ʻakiapōlāʻau remain with adults for an unusually long period while learning to forage, Clark said.

"It takes practice to use that bill," Clark said.

With Hawaiian honeycreepers facing the risk of extinction, Clark added, "there will never again be a time in Earth's history when their songs will make up part of the dawn chorus."