McNeil Island, Detention island in Pierce County, United States.
McNeil Island is an island in south Puget Sound in Washington, covering several square miles of forested landscape bordered by coastal bluffs. The site sits between Anderson Island and Fox Island and housed a major detention facility for many decades.
The federal government purchased the land in 1870 and opened a penitentiary in 1875 that operated for over a century. In 1981, the facility shifted to state control and eventually ceased operations.
The island carries the weight of its decades as a detention center, shaping how locals and visitors understand justice and imprisonment in the Pacific Northwest. Those who visit encounter remnants of the facility and learn how this place became part of the region's collective memory.
Access to the island is restricted and requires special authorization from authorities before visiting. A ferry from Steilacoom Dock provides transportation for authorized visitors, though service is limited.
During World War II, the facility imprisoned over eighty Japanese Americans who resisted military service, including civil rights activist Gordon Hirabayashi. This lesser-known chapter reveals how the island became entangled with questions of dissent and justice during wartime.
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