Woman describes her experience living on Alcatraz Island as a child: ‘Absolutely wonderful’

(CNN) – Many are still reacting after President Donald Trump announced plans to reopen and expand Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in San Francisco.

What some might not know about the island is that it was not just home to criminals.

About 60 families of staff members lived on the island as well.

Jolene Babyak lived on Alcatraz Island as a child during the 1950’s when her father worked as an administrator and later as a warden at the prison.

“You know, for kids, it was absolutely wonderful,” she said. “There were about 75 children on the island.”

At the time, the island was separated into two sides.

Babyak said the residential side was a low-crime neighborhood that was very comfortable to live in.

“The prisoners were focused on the opposite of the island, and the escapes were in that direction, and we lived in our neighborhood, and they never really came down and tried to escape from that area,” she said.

The old prison is now a national park that millions of people visit each year.

When it was open, Alcatraz was a maximum security, minimum privilege prison.

The facility was open for about three decades before being closed in 1963. Babyak said reopening it would require a lot of effort and be very costly.

“It would be very, very expensive,” she said. “The building itself was ancient 62 years ago. It’s been closed, and it doesn’t have the infrastructure, water and sewage being the biggest problems.”

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