President Donald Trump says he wants to reopen Alcatraz – turning the national park and museum in San Francisco Bay back into the notorious island prison it once was. But Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman says a better move would be to restore current jails and prisons.

When Alcatraz closed in 1963, it was in such bad shape that the federal government ruled it would be more cost effective to abandon it and open another prison elsewhere.

An ongoing Associated Press investigation has uncovered deep, previously unreported flaws within the Bureau of Prisons over the last few years, including widespread criminal activity by employees, dozens of escapes, the free flow of guns, drugs and other contraband, and severe understaffing that has hampered responses to emergencies.