McNeil Island Corrections Center
 McNeil Island in 1937 | |
| Location | McNeil Island, Washington |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 47°12′54″N 122°41′17″W / 47.21500°N 122.68806°WCoordinates: 47°12′54″N 122°41′17″W / 47.21500°N 122.68806°W |
| Status | Closed |
| Security class | Medium |
| Capacity | 853 as of June 2008 |
| Opened | 1875, 141 years ago |
| Closed | 2011 |
| Managed by | Washington State Department of Corrections |
The McNeil Island Corrections Center (MICC) was a Washington State Department of Corrections prison on McNeil Island in unincorporated Pierce County, Washington, near Steilacoom.[1]
Opened in 1875, it had previously served as a territorial correctional facility and then a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility. 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.[2] 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.[3] Career criminal and novelist James Fogle was sent to McNeil at the age of 17 in the 1950s.[4]
The state of Washington began to lease the facility from the federal government in 1981, and later that year the state department of corrections began moving prisoners into the facility, named "McNeil Island Corrections Center" by the department. The island was deeded to the state government in 1984.[5]
In November 2010, the department announced its plans to close the penitentiary by 2011, saving $14 million in the process.[6]
Notable Inmates
- Alvin Karpis Mass murderer
- Charles Manson Serial killer, musician
- Mickey Cohen 1930's Los Angeles gang leader
- Robert Franklin Stroud "The Birdman of Alcatraz"
- Samuel Bowers Former imperial wizard of the Ku Klux Klan
- Vincent Hallinan 1952 Presidential candidate[7]
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"
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ "McNeil Island Corrections Center History". Washington State Department of Corrections. Retrieved on April 2, 2011.
- ↑ Sullivan, Jennifer; Clarridge, Christine "McNeil Island prison to close next year". The Seattle Times (November 20, 2010). Retrieved November 20, 2010.
- ↑ http://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/local/article22203312.html
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to McNeil Island Penitentiary. |
- "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.
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