McNeil Island is an island in southern Puget Sound, located just west of Steilacoom, Washington at 47°12′42″N 122°41′14″W / 47.21167°N 122.68722°W[1], 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.
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It was named in 1841 by the Charles Wilkes during the United States Exploring Expedition in honor of Captain William Henry McNeill of the Hudson's Bay Company. McNeill was at Fort Nisqually 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. In 1847, during the British map reorganization project, Henry Kellett restored the earlier name McNeil.[2]
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," who was held there from 1909 to 1912, and Charles Manson, who was an inmate from 1961 to 1966 for trying to cash a forged government check.
Washington state took over the penitentiary from the federal government in 1981. It is now called McNeil Island Corrections Center (MICC). The state claims, erroneously, that it has been a territorial, federal, and state prison. In fact it was never a territorial institution, the territorial penitentiary was first located at Seatco (now Bucoda), then relocated to Walla Walla (where it stands to this day as the state penitentiary). It is the only prison left in North America that is only accessible by boat or air. It is presently the site of the state's primary Special Commitment Center (SCC), where sexually violent predators are committed for treatment after completing their standard prison sentences. Not only is there a main building holding the majority of inmates, but on the other side of the island, there is an annex to house low risk inmates, and those that are soon to be released. It was once a military encampment as well as a military prison for a short time during the 1800's. 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.
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.[3]
The island had a population of 1,516 residents as of the 2000 census.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
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   | McNeil Island: Census Tract 727, Pierce County, Washington - Detailed Tables - American FactFinder |
| | McNeil Island Corrections Center - McNeil Island Corrections Center |
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