Coordinates: 47°12′27″N 122°40′56″W / 47.2074°N 122.6823°W / 47.2074; -122.6823 McNeil Island is an island in western Puget Sound, located just west of Steilacoom, Washington, with a land area of 17.177 km² (6.6319 sq mi). It lies just north of Anderson Island. Fox Island is to the north, across Carr Inlet. To the west McNeil Island is separated from Key Peninsula by Pitt Passage. 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 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.
Read more about McNeil Island: History, Population, Transportation
Famous quotes containing the word island:
“I candidly confess that I have ever looked on Cuba as the most interesting addition which could ever be made to our system of States. The control which, with Florida, this island would give us over the Gulf of Mexico, and the countries and isthmus bordering on it, as well as all those whose waters flow into it, would fill up the measure of our political well-being.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)