Thirty years ago McNeil Island prison, then a mothballed federal facility, was in the headlines as Governor Dixy Lee Ray prepared for a re-election bid. Uncle Duane Berentson (pictured above left in 1980 during his campaign for the GOP gubernatorial nomination) was a nine term legislator from Burlington. He advocated opening the facility as a state prison to address a dangerous overcrowding situation at Monroe and Walla Walla. Ray said the island belonged to the feds, and the transition to state prison could never happen. Ray lost her re-election bid to John Spellman. In 1981 McNeil Island became a state prison. Today the state has announced the prison will be closed again, phased out next year with 500 minimum security prisoners being sent to other state prisons. Click on AnacortesToday blog button for another photo, more information.