McNeil Island Corrections Center
 McNeil Island in 1937 | |
  Location in Washington  Location in the United States | |
| Location | McNeil Island |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 47°11′48″N 122°39′28″W / 47.19667°N 122.65778°W |
| Status | Closed |
| Security class | Medium |
| Capacity | 853 |
| Opened | 1875 |
| Closed | 2011 |
| Former name | McNeil Island Federal Penitentiary (1904–1981) |
| Managed by | Federal Bureau of Prisons (1904–1981) Washington State Department of Corrections (1981–2011) |
| County | Pierce County |
| State/province | Washington |
| Postal code | P. O. Box 88900 |
| Country | United States |
The McNeil Island Corrections Center (MICC) was a prison in the northwest United States, operated by the Washington State Department of Corrections. It was on McNeil Island in Puget Sound in unincorporated Pierce County, near Steilacoom, Washington.[1]
Opened 149 years ago in 1875, it had previously served as a territorial correctional facility and then a federal penitentiary.[2] Americans sentenced to terms of imprisonment by the United States courts that operated in China in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries served their terms at McNeil Island.[3] In the 1910s, inmates included Robert Stroud, the "Birdman of Alcatraz", who fatally stabbed a prison guard in March 1916.
During World War II, eighty-five Japanese Americans who had resisted the draft to protest their wartime confinement, including civil rights activist Gordon Hirabayashi, were sentenced to prison terms at McNeil; all were pardoned by President Harry S. Truman in 1947.[4] Career criminal and novelist James Fogle was sent to McNeil at the age of 17 in the 1950s.[5]
The state of Washington began to lease the facility from the federal government in 1981,[6] and later that year the state department of corrections began moving prisoners into the facility, renamed "McNeil Island Corrections Center." The island was deeded to the state government in 1984.[7]
In November 2010, the department announced its plans to close the penitentiary by 2011, saving $14 million in the process.[8]
Notable inmates
- Alvin Karpis, Depression-era gangster[6]
- Charles Manson, forger, future cult leader, and murderer
- Gordon Hirabayashi, resister against Japanese American internment during World War II
- Mickey Cohen, 1930s Los Angeles gang leader
- Robert Franklin Stroud, "The Birdman of Alcatraz" convicted murderer and cause célèbre[6]
- Samuel Bowers, former imperial wizard of the Ku Klux Klan
- Vincent Hallinan, 1952 Presidential candidate[9]
- Henry Meldrum, former United States Surveyor-General of Oregon[10]
• James Fogle, published author of the autobiography Drugstore Cowboy
See also
- List of law enforcement agencies in Washington
- List of United States state correction agencies
- List of U.S. state prisons
References
- ^ "Mailing Requirements". Washington State Department of Corrections. Retrieved on April 1, 2011. "McNeil Island Corrections Center P.O. Box 88100 Steilacoom, WA 98388-0900"
- ^ "McNeil Island". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). (Los Angeles Times). October 13, 1979. p. 2A.
- ^ Peters, E.W. (2011). Shanghai Policeman. Earnshaw Books: Hong Kong. p. 118. ISBN 9789881998385.
- ^ "McNeil Island Penitentiary (detention facility)". Densho Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ^ Jean, Sara. "'Drugstore Cowboy' sentenced to what may be his last ride". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2015-10-16.
- ^ a b c "McNeil Island". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). (Los Angeles Times). October 13, 1979. p. 2A.
- ^ "McNeil Island Corrections Center History". Washington State Department of Corrections. Archived from the original on 2010-07-02. Retrieved April 2, 2011.
- ^ Sullivan, Jennifer; Clarridge, Christine "McNeil Island prison to close next year". The Seattle Times (November 20, 2010). Retrieved November 20, 2010.
- ^ Robinson, Sean (March 28, 2011). "Who's who of McNeil Island prisoners". Bellingham Herald.
- ^ Puter, Stephen A. Douglas; Stevens, Horace (1908). Looters of the Public Domain. Portland, Oregon: Portland Printing House. pp. 452.
- McClary, Daryl C. (April 24, 2003). "McNeil Island Corrections Center, 1981-present". HistoryLink.org Essay 5239. Retrieved June 3, 2018.
External links
- "McNeil Island Corrections Center". Washington State Department of Corrections. Archived from the original on August 27, 2010.
- "McNeil Island Corrections Center History". Washington State Department of Corrections.
- Oppman, Patrick. "Last island prison in U.S. closes". CNN. April 1, 2011.
| State prisons |
|
|---|---|
| Closed |
|
Above facilities are male-only unless noted by ♀(female) or ♂♀ (unisex) | |
 | This article about a building or structure in the U.S. state of Washington is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This article about a United States prison is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |