President Trump wants to reopen Alcatraz. It’s at least worth exploring the feasibility of the project, which illustrious managing editors consider genius. Here’s a related proposal: Reopen McNeil Island prison in Washington State.

The history of the McNeil facility can be found here. In summary, the main McNeil Island Corrections Center (MICC) was closed in April 2011, though there remains a small Special Commitment Center (SCC) for sexual predators.

Some have proposed sending homeless people over to the island, but defeatist stick-in-the-muds always find obstacles. A better idea may be to reopen the facility to house “America’s most ruthless and violent” criminals, just as President Trump wishes for Alcatraz. Even if it is to remain a state prison (leased from the federal government in 1981), the federal government can contract with states through Intergovernmental Agreements to house federal inmates.

 National Archives and Records Administration, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Alcatraz, now a museum, is certainly etched into America’s consciousness, but even at its peak, it only confined about 300 inmates, as notorious and irredeemable as they were. McNeil Island, when fully operational, was capable of confining over one thousand thugs. So, while the McNeil SCC confines about 214 violent perverts, the Island’s penal potential is being underutilized (except by wildlife).

Sure, the main prison building needs refurbishment, which will give the new inmates some purpose greater than they’d find in El Salvador’s confines, for example. Aren’t illegal aliens supposed to be amenable to manual labor, especially in construction endeavors?

Others who are particularly well-behaved and contrite (hope springs eternal) might be afforded the privilege of helping the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, which is active on the island. They could help restore beaches, test water, count fish, measure toxicity, and remove weeds and “invasive species”...and whatever else they use taxpayer dollars for.

It’s recognized that if given too much license to roam, prisoners may try to escape the penitentiary premises proper. Supposedly, per N.Y. City Mayor Adams, illegal aliens are competent swimmers. However, unless they are a trained U.S. Navy Seal (or equally super-human), it’s very unlikely they will successfully cross the frigid Puget Sound to the mainland.

Far from “cruel and unusual,” it’s rather pleasant and scenic on the 7-square-mile Island in the Puget Sound—if their behavior warrants time outside the lockup to observe it. So let’s reopen MICC as, in the words President Trump applied to Alcatraz, “a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE.”

Trump is the “builder President” who can direct this, so don’t incessantly look for lazy excuses like “structural issues” and “asbestos” and whatnot. The initial tranche of inmates will be given masks to clean it all up to their liking. It will be their new “home,” after all. Perhaps they can get some of the adjacent SCC pervs to help.

Reopening MICC may also have a positive impact on the beautiful and historic town of Steilacoom (which can’t even fund its summer concert series anymore), which shines majestically across the watery passage. Construction crews, suppliers, contractors, guards...all will use Steilacoom’s ferry dock, and all may partake of the quaint town’s services, driving up tax receipts. Perhaps they’ll get a take from any Bureau of Prisons Intergovernmental Agreement, to boot.