The last living inmate who spent time at Alcatraz shared his thoughts on President Trump’s proposal to reopen the notorious prison.
Charlie Hopkins, who is 93 years old, was sent to this 22-acre island prison in 1955 after spending 17 years in another facility for robbery and other issues.
What lingers in his memory is the eerie “Death Quiet” that surrounded him on an island encased by treacherous waters in San Francisco Bay.
“It’s a lonely sound,” he reminisces, linking it to a tune by Hank Williams.
Hopkins describes his three years at Alcatraz as largely uneventful.
“There was nothing to do,” he noted. “You just walked back and forth or did some push-ups.”
Despite the prison’s strict environment, he managed to find trouble, remarking, “You wouldn’t believe the issues I caused there. Now, looking back, I can see what I did wrong.”
He spent a considerable amount of time in the “D-Block,” a solitary confinement area reserved for difficult prisoners who rarely left their cells.
His lengthy stint in “D-Block” included six months following a failed escape attempt alongside several notorious inmates, including Forest Tucker.
He recounted how a stolen hacksaw could have been a key to their escape but was ultimately discovered by a guard in an accomplice’s cell.
“A few days after they locked them up, they locked me in,” he remembered.
After his failed attempts, the number of escape efforts grew, prompting officials to boost security significantly.
Hopkins completed his sentence in a Missouri prison and was released in 1963, the same year Alcatraz closed its doors.
During his time, there were 14 known escape attempts from the prison. Out of 36 individuals who tried to break out, only three are believed to have succeeded: Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers, John and Clarence.
On June 12, 1962, they used dummy heads to make it look like they were asleep, then escaped through a hole in the wall, maneuvered through the utility corridors, and accessed the roof via ventilation ducts.
Their bodies were never found in the bay, and they were declared legally dead in 1979 after the FBI concluded they had likely drowned. Their story inspired the film “Escape from Alcatraz,” starring Clint Eastwood.
Now living in Florida, Hopkins was told by the San Francisco National Archives that he is likely the last surviving former prisoner of Alcatraz.
Recently, President Trump announced plans to reclaim large island facilities from San Francisco Bay, intending to reopen them for housing repeat offenders.
Trump, 78, described the renewed prison as one that would “serve as a symbol of law, order, and justice.”
However, Hopkins, a supporter of Trump, expressed skepticism about reviving what he calls a place “long past its usefulness.” He remarked, “It would be costly. Back then, the sewage system went straight into the ocean. They would need a new solution.”
In his view, Alcatraz belongs to history. “You can’t turn back time,” he said. “The place is a relic of the past.”
