McNeil Island is an island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...

 in western Puget Sound

Puget Sound

Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...

, located just west of Steilacoom, Washington

Steilacoom, Washington

Steilacoom is a town in Pierce County, Washington, United States. The population was 5,985 at the 2010 census. Steilacoom is on the coast of Puget Sound, on a branch not visible on the map to the right...

, with a land area of 17.177 km² (6.6319 sq mi). It lies just north of Anderson Island. Fox Island

Fox Island, Washington

Fox Island is a census-designated place in Pierce County, Washington, United States, on an island of the same name in Puget Sound. It is located approximately five miles from Gig Harbor. The island was named Fox by Charles Wilkes during the United States Exploring Expedition, to honor J.L. Fox, an...

 is to the north, across Carr Inlet

Carr Inlet

Carr Inlet, in southern Puget Sound in the U.S. state of Washington, is an arm of water between Key Peninsula and Gig Harbor Peninsula. Its southern end is connected to the southern basin of Puget Sound. Northward, it separates McNeil Island and Fox Island as well as the peninsulas of Key and Gig...

. To the west McNeil Island is separated from Key Peninsula

Key Peninsula

The Key Peninsula is a finger of land in Puget Sound, Washington, United States . It is approximately long and extends south from the Kitsap Peninsula. It is part of Pierce County, Washington. Some of its towns include:...

 by Pitt Passage

Pitt Passage

Pitt Passage is a strait, in the southern of part of Puget Sound in the U.S. state of Washington. Entirely within Pierce County, Pitt Passage separates Key Peninsula from McNeil Island....

. The Washington mainland lies to the east, across the south basin of Puget Sound. The island has been owned by the government for most of its history and has been home to the McNeil Island Corrections Center

McNeil Island Corrections Center

The McNeil Island Corrections Center was a Washington State Department of Corrections prison on McNeil Island and in unincorported Pierce County, Washington, near Steilacoom....

 from 1875 until 2011. Prior to its closing on April 1, 2011, it was the last remaining island prison in the country.

In November 2010, the Washington State Department of Corrections announced its plans to close the penitentiary by 2011 and saving $14 million in the process. A detention center for violent sexual offenders is to remain on the island.

The McNeil Island Historical Society was chartered in 2010 shortly after the closing of the prison for the purpose of educating the public about, and preserving, the rich history of McNeil Island.

History

It was named in 1841 by Charles Wilkes

Charles Wilkes

Charles Wilkes was an American naval officer and explorer. He led the United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 and commanded the ship in the Trent Affair during the American Civil War...

 during the United States Exploring Expedition

United States Exploring Expedition

The United States Exploring Expedition was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands conducted by the United States from 1838 to 1842. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones. The voyage was authorized by Congress in...

 in honor of Captain William Henry McNeill

William Henry McNeill

William Henry McNeill was best known for his 1830 expedition as the captain of the brig Llama, which sailed from Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 12,000 miles around Cape Horn, to the Pacific Northwest on a fur trading expedition.Boston merchants owned the brig whose cargo consisted of...

 of the Hudson's Bay Company

Hudson's Bay Company

The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...

. McNeill was at Fort Nisqually

Fort Nisqually

Fort Nisqually was an important fur trading and farming post of the Hudson's Bay Company in the Puget Sound area of what is now DuPont, Washington and was part of the Hudson's Bay Company's Columbia Department. Today it is a living history museum located in Tacoma, Washington, USA, within the...

 in 1841 and greeted Wilkes upon arrival in southern Puget Sound.

The Robert A. Inskip expedition of 1846 named the island Duntze, after Captain John A. Duntze of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

. In 1847, during the British map reorganization project, Henry Kellett

Henry Kellett

Vice Admiral Sir Henry Kellett KCB was a British naval officer and explorer.-Naval career:Kellett joined the Royal Navy in 1822...

 restored the earlier name McNeil.

The United States government bought land on McNeil Island in 1870 and opened a federal penitentiary there in 1875. By 1937 the federal government, which had been accumulating parcels of land adjacent to the penitentiary, had purchased all the land on the island and compelled its last residents to leave. The federal penitentiary's most famous inmates were probably Robert Stroud, the "Birdman of Alcatraz

Birdman of Alcatraz

Robert Franklin Stroud , known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz", was a federal American prisoner who reared and sold birds and became an ornithologist...

," who was held there from 1909 to 1912; Charles Manson

Charles Manson

Charles Milles Manson is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction...

, who was an inmate from 1961 to 1966 for trying to cash a forged government check; and Alvin Karpis

Alvin Karpis

Alvin Francis Karpis , nicknamed "Creepy" for his sinister smile, was an American criminal known for his alliance with the Barker gang in the 1930s. He was the last "public enemy" to be taken.-Early life:Karpis was born to Lithuanian immigrants in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and was raised in Topeka,...

, who was an inmate until 1971 for operating as point man for Ma Barker's gang in the 1930s. Karpis was the only person arrested by J. Edgar Hoover

J. Edgar Hoover

John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...

, and was released soon after Hoover died.

Washington state took over the penitentiary from the federal government in 1981. It is now called McNeil Island Corrections Center (MICC). Since Washington was not a state when the prison was formed, it has been a territorial, federal, and state prison.

McNeil Island Cemetery

Land for the McNeil Island Cemetery was donated by island pioneers, Eric Nyberg and his wife, Martha, and the first of many burials was in October 1905. When the island's residents were forced to leave in 1936, the cemetery was closed and all remains were exhumed and reburied in cemeteries on the mainland.

At the time of its closing, it was the only prison left in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 that was only accessible by boat or air. It was the site of the state's primary Special Commitment Center

Special Commitment Center

The Special Commitment Center in the state of Washington is a post-sentence treatment institution, primarily located on McNeil Island. It is controversial in that it allows the involuntary commitment of people who have served their prison sentence...

 (SCC), where sexually violent predators are indefinitely committed for treatment after completing their standard prison sentences. Not only is there a main building that held the majority of inmates, but on the other side of the island, there is an annex which housed low risk inmates, and those who were scheduled for release. It was once a military encampment as well as a military prison for a short time during the 1800s. At one point, the prison was almost self sustaining in the way of agriculture/farm and as a dairy farm, that was manned and operated by the inmates.

Long threatened with closing due to the high cost of operating the prison, it was made official in late 2010 to close the prison by 2011. The prison's remaining 500 low-risk inmates will be integrated into other state prisons. The prison officially closed on April 1, 2011.

Population

The island had a population of 1,516 residents as of the 2000 census

United States Census, 2000

The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...

. The majority of the residents are incarcerated in MICC prison while several hundred are civilly committed to SCC. There are about 40 families and about 100 people that live on the island. The non-incarcerated families have at least one family member employed at MICC, most often those employees are members of the special response team, warden, and sometimes assistant warden. The homes are subsidised by the DOC at a greatly reduced rent. There is no commerce or stores on the island and access to the island is strictly controlled by the Department of Corrections.

Transportation

In 1934, McNeil Island was linked by ferry service

Steilacoom-Anderson Island Ferry

The Steilacoom-Anderson Island ferry is a ferry route in southern Puget Sound which is owned and operated by Pierce County, Washington. The route also serves Ketron Island. There are 10 to 14 runs per day, depending on the day of the week. Four runs per day run on a triangular route run from...

 with Steilacoom

Steilacoom, Washington

Steilacoom is a town in Pierce County, Washington, United States. The population was 5,985 at the 2010 census. Steilacoom is on the coast of Puget Sound, on a branch not visible on the map to the right...

, Anderson Island and Longbranch, Washington

Longbranch, Washington

Longbranch is an unincorporated community in Pierce County, Washington, United States. It is located on the Key Peninsula, along Filucy Bay between Pitt Passage and Balch Passage...

. The ferry continues in operation, but no longer connects to McNeil Island or Longbranch. Separate federal or state-owned ferries under the prison administration connected McNeil Island with Steilacoom.

External links

• McNeil Island: Census Tract 727, Pierce County, Washington United States Census Bureau
• McNeil Island Wildlife Area