The McNeil Island Correctional Center, located in the southern part of Puget Sound, 4.5 miles from Steilacoom, Washington, was the oldest prison in the Northwest. Built in 1875, it began as the first federal prison in Washington Territory.

Americans sentenced to various prison terms by United States courts operating in China in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries served their sentences here. In the 1910s, among the inmates was Robert Stroud, the "Birdman of Alcatraz," who fatally stabbed a prison guard in March 1916.

During World War II, eighty-five Japanese-American Americans who protested their wartime detention, including civil rights activist Gordon Hirabayashi, were sentenced to prison terms at McNeil; all were pardoned by President Harry S. Truman in 1947. Professional criminal and writer James Fogle was sent to McNeil at age 17 in the 1950s.

Although McNeil Island functioned as a modern exemplary facility, in 1976 the Bureau of Prisons decided to gradually close the 107-year-old correctional colony, declaring it "obsolete." The main reason was the high costs of operating and maintaining the aging facility. The prison also needed major repairs and replacement of all major systems. The target closure date for McNeil Island was set for October 1, 1980.

By 1979, the shutdown operation was in full swing. However, in April 1979, Fidel Castro initiated the Mariel Exodus (El éxodo del Mariel), during which 125,000 Cuban refugees arrived in the United States. The prison on McNeil Island was used to house hundreds of undocumented Cuban immigrants for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in addition to about 60 regular inmates. It turned out that the prison’s closure might have to be postponed indefinitely. But the situation was resolved, and by February 1981 the last Cuban refugees were removed from the prison, and the closure process continued.

In the late 1970s, Washington State was acutely experiencing a shortage of prison beds, and a federal court had to take urgent measures to correct the situation. The legislature wanted to use the facility to reduce overcrowding at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla and other state institutions. Governor Dixie Lee Ray (1914–1994), who promoted a plan to build a new 500-bed prison costing $35 million in Monroe, opposed this idea. She argued that the island was too beautiful and too expensive to be used as a prison and proposed turning it into a state park. Environmentalists wanted the entire island preserved as a wildlife refuge.

The Washington State Attorney General argued that transferring McNeil Island from federal to state hands did not change the use of the facility, so an Environmental Impact Statement was not required. On February 27, 1981, Supreme Court Judge James McCutchen agreed with the state attorney general and denied a request for a court injunction to block the transfer of state prisoners to the island.

On March 2, 1981, U.S. marshals removed the last four regular federal inmates from the island. The next day, the Washington State Department of Corrections transferred the first 20 state prisoners to the prison. To ensure a smooth transition, federal warden Darrell D. Gray and his staff continued to manage the prison until June 30, officially handing over authority to the new state superintendent William Callahan and his staff on July 1, 1981. Forty-one federal employees remained in their positions, transferring to state service. The federal McNeil Island prison was renamed the McNeil Island Correctional Center.

According to federal law, surplus government property may be transferred to states for public use. In June 1981, Senator Warren Magnuson introduced legislation allowing the transfer of ownership rights of McNeil Island to Washington State. By September 1981, the correctional center housed 391 inmates. Since the federal government had stopped even routine maintenance in 1979 when Congress ordered the closure, inmates were immediately put to work repairing and improving the facility. They were paid $50 per month. Besides work inside the facility, inmates had 54 staff houses, 70 miles of roads, and several boats and tugs to repair and maintain. Superintendent William Callahan said there was enough work on the island to keep a thousand people busy for 10 years.

On January 4, 1984, Governor John D. Spellman signed documents drafted by the General Services Administration officially transferring McNeil Island, covering seven square miles, to Washington State. Under the terms of the agreement approved by Congress, the state was allowed to continue operating the abandoned federal prison but was not permitted any significant development of the rest of the island. That area was declared an official wildlife refuge, and any public visitation or use of McNeil Island would be strictly prohibited.

In 1989, a study conducted for the Department of Corrections showed that McNeil Island was one of the most expensive prisons to operate in the state. Its island location increased costs, but the main reason was the small size of the prison. By fall 1993, the Department of Corrections had built five new modern medium-security housing units, each housing 256 inmates, and a sixth isolation unit with 129 single cells, increasing prison capacity from 800 to 1,300 inmates. The original prison block was demolished and replaced in 1994 by a building for inmates that housed a hospital, education center, recreation room, hobby shop, music hall, and gymnasium.

In 1998, the state legislature authorized moving the Special Commitment Center from the Monroe Correctional Center to McNeil Island. The Special Commitment Center was created in 1990 following the passage of the Sexual Predator Act. Instead of being released after serving their prison terms, chronic and violent sexual offenders can be civilly committed after a court determines they are "mentally abnormal." The new Special Commitment Center is a full confinement facility located within the secure perimeter of the correctional center. The program, designed to provide long-term specialized mental health treatment for sex offenders, is operated under the supervision and guidance of the Department of Social and Health Services.

Thus, the last remnants of the old federal prison disappeared, replaced by a modern correctional center sprawling over 89 acres. As Superintendent Eldon Veil said in an interview with The (Tacoma) News Tribune on June 13, 1994: "There aren’t many facilities where you can step outside into the yard and see Mount Rainier, see a bald eagle, see a deer through the fence, and see the bay."

But in December 2010, Governor Christine Gregoire decided to close the McNeil Island Correctional Center, cutting about $8.6 million per year from Washington State’s budget.

Over the next four months, most inmates and staff were transferred to other correctional facilities, leaving a handful of personnel and caretakers to decommission the site. On Friday, April 1, 2011, the McNeil Island Correctional Center was officially closed. The facility had operated for 136 years and was the last remaining penitentiary on an island in the country.

However, it continued to operate as a Civil Commitment Center, which exist in fewer than half of U.S. states and are designed to protect society from the most dangerous sex offenders. It houses 214 people living in a special center for former inmates. All men have served their sentences but remain confined indefinitely due to a controversial legal mandate.

The only way to the small island and back is by passenger ferry, which makes a 15-minute trip every two hours. The ferry docks at the nonexistent prison on the island, and a bus transports staff and visitors several miles inland. Along the way, the bus passes an overgrown baseball field and boarded-up houses, remnants of prison staff and their families who called the island home until the prison closed in 2011.

Few people living in the region know about the island and its unusual residents, and even fewer know about the no less unusual law that put them there.

Kelly Cannery, a lawyer representing some of the men confined at the center, says people are often shocked to learn that "even after offenders have served their time and left prison, they can be administratively detained and held for the rest of their lives."

Each resident was previously convicted of at least one sex offense, including sexual harassment, rape, and child molestation. Then the court ruled that they meet the legal definition of a "sexually violent predator," meaning they have a mental abnormality or personality disorder that makes them prone to repeat sexual violence.

People sent to the special center on McNeil Island are called "residents," not inmates, although it is hard to distinguish the facility from a prison. Rows of barbed wire fences surround the area, and guards check residents every hour to ensure they comply with facility rules.

"In most cases, it’s worse because it creates the illusion that it’s not a prison," Calvin Malone, one of the residents, told me.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Malone worked as a Boy Scout troop leader in various states and also with at-risk youth organizations. In these roles, he molested numerous boys and was convicted of sex crimes in California, Oregon, and Washington. Malone said he doesn’t like to talk about what he feels in terms of shame or guilt. These emotions, he said, are more about how he relates to himself. Instead, he said he feels regret.

"Regret means understanding what you did and the losses that occurred because of your actions, and it gives you space to move forward so you don’t flounder," he said.

The Washington Civil Commitment Center is unique not only because of its island location but also because it was the first of its kind.

On September 26, 1988, convicted sex offender Gene Raymond Kane kidnapped, raped, and murdered 29-year-old Diane Ballasiotes. At the time of the incident, Kane had been released from prison. Ballasiotes’ death, followed by two more alarming sex crimes, sparked public outcry that ultimately led the governor to sign the 1990 Community Protection Act. This law established offender registration and created a procedure allowing authorities to indefinitely detain sex offenders when the court deems them a continuing threat to society.

Since then, 19 other states have enacted similar civil commitment laws. According to a 2017 survey of 20 civil commitment centers, there are more than 5,200 people civilly committed in the U.S.

About half of the states with such laws allow civil commitment of offenders who committed offenses as juveniles. Many of those committed are diagnosed with a general paraphilia, a condition in which a person’s sexual arousal and gratification depend on behavior considered atypical or extreme.

Civil commitment in Washington cost $185,136 per resident in 2018. This is about five times more per person than the average cost of incarcerating one inmate in Washington in 2017, according to the latest data.

Sex offenders have a relatively low rate of recidivism. According to a 2016 U.S. Department of Justice study, of offenders convicted of rape and sexual assault who were released from prisons in 30 states in 2005, about 5.6% were rearrested for rape or sexual assault five years later. The same statistics for other types of crimes were significantly higher. Fifty-four percent of offenders were rearrested for property crimes, and 33% of drug offenders were rearrested for drug-related crimes.

In addition to protecting the broader community, civil commitment centers are intended to treat sex offenders. Treatment is usually based on cognitive-behavioral therapy, aimed at eliminating distorted thoughts and regulating emotions to change behavior. Although data on sex offender treatment is limited, research shows it is promising in terms of reducing recidivism.

All civil commitment centers offer treatment, but participation is not mandatory. At McNeil Island, about 62% of residents participate in treatment.

Once someone is labeled a sexually violent predator and placed in a civil commitment center, it is difficult to be released. In most states, a civilly committed person is entitled to an annual review, during which the court examines the offender’s history and treatment progress to consider release.

Forensic experts answer these questions in a recommendation that is then submitted to the court, creating the possibility for release hearings.

But arguments in favor of releasing a sex offender into society can be a tough challenge.

Under Washington’s judicial process, a civilly committed person may be released under less restrictive conditions.

The number of people released nationally from these facilities by any means has historically been small. On average, about 260 people reside in these facilities. Of 16 states that provided release numbers in a 2017 survey of civil commitment centers, the average number of people released from a facility per year was seven. Five states released fewer than one person per year on average.

The small number of people released from these facilities makes it difficult to study the effectiveness of these laws and facilities.

Sources:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/03/dangerous-sex-offenders-mcneil-island-commitment-center

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McNeil_Island_Corrections_Center

https://www.doc.wa.gov/docs/publications/infographics/100-PO038.htm

https://www.doc.wa.gov/about/agency/history/micc.htm