2. Due to changing public perceptions and increasingly expensive costs to maintain the island prison, Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary closed on March 21, 1963
By the mid-1950s, despite the relaxation of the prison’s earlier harsh treatment of inmates, the institution continued to garner controversy. Regarded by many as epitomizing the social failures of the contemporary prison system, Alcatraz became increasingly unpopular within wider American society. In 1952, James V. Bennett, Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons called for a centralized institution to replace the barbaric and outdated model of Alcatraz. In 1959, a report into the prison’s finances revealed that Alcatraz was three times more expensive to operate per prisoner than the average in America, costing $10 per day per prisoner instead of the average $3.
With major repairs costing as much as $5,000,000 on the horizon, with exposure to the salty air causing structural damage to the facility, by 1961 the prison was facing closure under the auspices of reformist Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. With planning underway for a new institution in Illinois, the 1962 escape merely served to reinforce the opinion that Alcatraz was no longer fit for purpose. Closing on March 21, 1963, with the remaining prisoners transferred to alternative penitentiaries to serve the remainders of their sentences, the island became open to the public soon after as a tourist attraction.