The last island prison in the United States has been closed.
For 135 years the "prison without walls" kept prisoners within by way of three miles of frigid water of the Puget Sound. The institution was opened in 1875.
Prisoner Robert Stroud arrived in 1909, later transferred to Leavenworth Prison for murdering an inmate, he raised birds and became an expert on avian illnesses. He was portrayed by Burt Lancaster in the 1962 classic "Birdman of Alcatraz."
Crime boss Mickey Cohen hung out there for four years in the 1950s for tax evasion.
Charles Manson, then a minor league car thief served five years in the 1960s - he played in the prison band and painted a giant crimson pentagram on the floor of his cell.
Train robber Roy Gardner notoriously escaped in 1921 during a prison baseball game, later recaptured. After continued escape attempts he was transferred to the famous island prison, Alcatraz, where he penned his autobiography "Hellcatraz."
Reminds me of the film 'Inception' with Leonardo DiCaprio at that island prison.
Prison employees and their families lived alongside the inmates of McNeil Island. Ironically it presented an idyllic environment - fully equipped in its heyday with a community center, burger joint, church and swimming hole. It has its own water purification plant but electricity was generated on the main land.
It was handed over to the state by the Federal Bureau of Prisons in 1981 because of prohibitive operating expenses that became the ultimate reason for its closure. Prisoners stripped its fixtures and equipment and sent them to other state facilities and nature will be allowed to reclaim the island.
Bittersweet and bewildering for those who called it home. Others see its potential - the woods and water - "Its just so free."
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