Spike Island ‘could be the new Alcatraz’

AN HISTORIC island in Cork harbour should be turned into a tourist attraction rather than a super-prison, it was claimed yesterday.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell has announced plans to build a €70 million prison for the Munster region on Spike Island, two years after a complex on the same site closed its doors.

The Cobh Tourism Board said this would be a mistake because the island could become a massive tourist attraction like the former prison island of Alcatraz in San Francisco or Robben Island in South Africa.