One of the last Alacatraz prisoners on the Trump plan to reopen the prison

When Charlie Hopkins thinks about the three years he spent in one of the most famous America Prisons remember the most “deadly calm”.

In 1955, Hopkins was sent to Alcatraz – a famous prison on an isolated island off the coast of San Francisco – after causing a problem in other prisons in spending a 17 -year prison sentence for kidnapping and theft.

He said that the only sleep at night in his dungeon on the remote island was the only sound was a ship whistle.

“This is a single voice,” Hopkins said. “He reminds you of Hank Williams, who sings that song,” I am very alone. I can cry. “

Now 93 lives in Florida, Hopkins said that San Francisco’s national archives have informed him that he was likely to be the last former prisoner alive. It seems that another prisoner, William Baker, was alive as of last year.

In an interview with the BBC this week, Hopkins described life in Alcatraz – which was the preparation for The Rock for the year 1996 – where he made friends with gangsters and once helped in planning uncomfortable escape.

Although he has been closed for decades, US President Donald Trump recently claimed that he wanted to reopen him as a federal prison.

When Hopkins was transferred to the severe security prison in 1955, from the Atlanta facility, he remembers it is clean, but it is hateful. He said that there are few deviations – no radio at the time, and a few books.

“There was nothing to do,” he said. “You can walk back and forth in your cell or perform payment operations.”

He said that Hopkins remained busy at the time with his job to clean the Alcatraz, sweep the floors and died “until it shines.”

He was sent to prison in 1952 in Jacksonville, Florida, for his role in a series of robbery and kidnappings. He said he was part of a group that took the hostage to overcome road barriers and steal cars.

In Alcatraz, Hopkins had some notorious neighbors. The facility includes many violent criminals over 30 years – Al Capone; Robert Strud, a murderer known as “Burdman Alacatraz”; And crime head James “Wayti” Bolgger – which makes him the subject of a group of films and TV programs.

The island of 22 acres, 1.25 miles (2 km) off San Francisco surrounded by frozen water with strong currents, was originally the marine defense fort. It was rebuilt in the early twentieth century as a military prison. The US Department of Justice seized in the 1930s, and turned the facility into a federal prison to address an organized crime at that time.

Even in the Security Security Prison, Hopkins said he was still able to face troubles and spent several days in the “B.” in the facility – solitary confinement, where the prisoners who offended the behavior and rarely out of their cell were arranged.

Hopkins said that his longest work period – six months – came after he tried to help many other prisoners, including the notorious bank thief Forest Taker, escape from Alcatraz. Help stole Hacksaw’s blades from the power store in prison to cut prison bars in the basement kitchen.

Hopkins said the plan did not succeed – prison guards discovered the blades in the cells of other prisoners. “After a few days of their imprisonment, they closed me,” he said.

But this did not stop one of the prisoners.

In 1956, when Tikr was transferred to a hospital for a kidney operation, his ankle was stabbed with a pencil until the prison guards were forced to remove the legs of his leg. New Yorker. After that, when he was transferred to get x -rays, he overcame the apostate hospitals and fled.

He was arrested in the hospital dress in the corn field after hours.

Hopkins said that more prisoners have tried to escape from the years over the years, as well as security officials.

“When I left there in 1958, the security was very narrow and could not breathe,” he said.

Finally, there have been 14 separate attempts over the years 36 prisoners involved, according to the National Park Service service.

One of the most famous fame Frank Morris, the brothers Clarence and John Angelin, who fled in June 1962 by placing the heads of paper in their family and going out through the ventilation channels. It was never found, but the FBI concluded that they drowned in the cold waters surrounding the island.

A year later, the prison was closed after the government decided that it would be effective to build new prisons instead of maintaining the remote island facility.

It is now a museum publicly managed by millions every year generating about 60 million dollars (45 million pounds) per year in Park Partners.

The building is eroded, with peeled paint, rusty tubes and collapsed toilets in each narrow cell. The construction began at the main prison facility in 1907, and made more than a century of exposure to the elements of the place uninterrupted.

However, Trump said this week that he wanted his government to reopen and expand Al -Jazeera prison for “the most harsh perpetrators and violence in the country.

Trump said the Casaraz “represents a very strong and very strong thing” – law and order.

But experts and historians said that Trump’s proposal to re -establish the prison is a long time, as billions will cost to reform and modernize with other federal facilities.

Hopkins agree. “It will be very expensive,” he said.

“At that time, the sewage system went to the ocean,” he added. “They must reach another way to deal with it.”

Hopkins left the Catrazing five years before it was closed forever. He said he was transferred to a prison in Springfield, Missouri, and gave a psychological drug that improves his behavior and helped him heal psychological issues.

But the thirsty Trump supporter said he did not believe that the president’s proposal is dangerous.

“He does not really want to open this place,” Hopkins said, adding that Trump was trying to “get a point to the public” about punishing criminals and those who enter the United States illegally.

Hopkins was released in 1963, first worked at a truck station before taking on other jobs. He returned to his homeland, Florida, where he now has a daughter and grandson.

He said that after several decades in thinking about his crimes and life in the Casrif, he wrote 1000 pages, with nearly half of the book explaining his troubled behavior.

“You will not believe the problem I caused when I was there,” he said. “I can see now, and look back, I have problems.”