Because the penitentiary cost much more to operate than other prisons (nearly $10 per prisoner per day, as opposed to $3 per prisoner per day at Atlanta), and half a century of salt water saturation had severely eroded the buildings, then Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy ordered the penitentiary closed on March 21, 1963.
由於聯邦監獄比其他監獄花費更多（每名囚犯每天10美元，而亞特蘭大監獄的囚犯則是3美元），並且半個世紀以來海水中蒸發的鹽嚴重腐蝕了建築物，所以總檢察長Robert F. Kennedy下令將聯邦監獄於1963年3月21日關閉。