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:
“When the inhabitants of some sequestered island first descry the “big canoe” of the European rolling through the blue waters towards their shores, they rush down to the beach in crowds, and with open arms stand ready to embrace the strangers. Fatal embrace! They fold to their bosoms the vipers whose sting is destined to poison all their joys; and the instinctive feeling of love within their breasts is soon converted into the bitterest hate.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)