William Head Institution is a Canadian minimum-security federal

correctional institution A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

for men located in

Metchosin, British Columbia The District of Metchosin is a municipality and community in Greater Victoria on the southern tip of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. It is a coastal community adjacent to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Metchosin is part of the Wester ...

, about southwest of Victoria on the southernmost tip of

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest by ...

. The Institution opened in 1959 and can house 200 inmates. Inmates live in 5 units of eight groups/duplexes. William Head uses an individual approach focused on basic programs. This prison is infamously referred as a "

Club Fed "Club Fed" is a derisive term used in North America to refer to a prison whose accommodations are seen as less severe than many other prisons. ''Club Fed'' is a pun on the "Club Med" chain of all-inclusive resorts. The 1999 movie ''Office Space' ...

" prison, a term for minimum-security prisons mostly hosting

white-collar criminal The term "white-collar crime" refers to financially motivated, nonviolent or non-directly violent crime committed by individuals, businesses and government professionals. It was first defined by the sociologist Edwin Sutherland in 1939 as "a ...

s without much security.

Facility Characteristics

Institution for male offenders. Security level: Minimum. Date opened: 1959. Number of inmates: 94. Average length of sentences: - Less than 40 months: 20 per cent of inmates. - 40 months and over: 27 per cent of inmates. - Life sentence: 53 per cent of inmates. Number of employees: 101. Reported: April 2010

William Head Quarantine Station

Before becoming a jail, the site was used as an immigration control quarantine station from 1883 to 1958 to handle arrivals on the west coast and from 1917 to about 1918 as a training (drill) depot for the

Chinese Labour Corps The Chinese Labour Corps (CLC; french: Corps de Travailleurs Chinois; ) was a force of workers recruited by the British government in the First World War to free troops for front line duty by performing support work and manual labour. The French ...

(CLC) during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. It is also final resting place for 21 members of the CLC, who died en route to or from the war in Europe. William Head was named for explorer Sir William E. Parry and was built to replace Albert Head Quarantine Station. The quarantine station was closed in 1958 and converted to use as a prison.

References

{{reflist Prisons in British Columbia Quarantine facilities in Canada

Facility Characteristics

William Head Quarantine Station

See also

References