A prison island is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An isla ...

housing a

prison 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, corre ...

. Islands have often been used as sites of prisons throughout history due to their natural isolation preventing escape.

Prison islands by country

Australia

Christmas Island Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an Australian external territory comprising the island of the same name. It is located in the Indian Ocean, around south of Java and Sumatra and around north-west of the ...

, location of

Christmas Island Detention Centre Christmas Island Immigration Reception and Processing Centre (Christmas Island IRPC) or commonly just Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre, is an Australian immigration detention facility located on Christmas Island in the Indian Oce ...

which houses people who are seeking asylum in Australia during processing.

Bulgaria

St. Anastasia Island St. Anastasia Island ( bg, остров св. Анастасия, ''ostrov Sv. Anastasiya'', formerly called ''Bolshevik Island'', ''остров Болшевик'') is a Bulgarian islet in the Black Sea. It is located 1.5 km off the coast n ...

, used as a prison island for political prisoners between 1925 and 1940

China

* Dongguan Prison occupies most of Xinzhou, an island in the

East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Quee ...

Croatia

* Goli otok, location of the prison and torture camp for political dissidents in

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

, from 1949 to 1988

France

Île Royale The Salvation Islands (french: Îles du Salut, so called because the missionaries went there to escape plague on the mainland; sometimes mistakenly called Safety Islands) are a group of small islands of volcanic origin about off the coast of Fre ...

, 1852-1952, part of the

Devil's Island The penal colony of Cayenne (French: ''Bagne de Cayenne''), commonly known as Devil's Island (''Île du Diable''), was a French penal colony that operated for 100 years, from 1852 to 1952, and officially closed in 1953 in the Salvation Island ...

penal colony *

Devil's Island (Kourou) Devil's Island ( French: Île du Diable) is the third-largest island of the Salvation Islands, an island group in the Atlantic Ocean. It is located approximately 14 km (9 mi) off the coast of French Guiana in South America just north o ...

, 1852-1952, part of the

penal colony *

Saint-Joseph Island The Salvation Islands (french: Îles du Salut, so called because the missionaries went there to escape plague on the mainland; sometimes mistakenly called Safety Islands) are a group of small islands of volcanic origin about off the coast of Fre ...

, 1852-1952, part of the

penal colony * Île Sainte-Marguerite, 1600s-1900s. *

Château d'If The Château d'If () is a fortress located on the Île d'If, the smallest island in the Frioul archipelago, situated about offshore from Marseille in southeastern France. Built in the 16th century, it later served as a prison until the end ...

* Frioul island

Hong Kong

Tai A Chau Tai A Chau is an uninhabited island of Hong Kong, part of the Soko Islands group, located south of Lantau Island. It is referred to as South Soko Island in some media articles. Geography With an area of 1.2 km², Tai A Chau is the larges ...

** Tai A Chau Detention Centre, 1991–96 *

Hei Ling Chau Hei Ling Chau, formerly Hayling Chau, is an island of Hong Kong, located east of Silver Mine Bay and Chi Ma Wan of Lantau Island. Administratively, it is part of the Islands District. Geography Hei Ling Chau is located south of Peng Chau and ...

** Hei Ling Chau Addiction Treatment Centre, 1975–present ** Hei Ling Chau Correctional Institution, 1994–present ** Lai Sun Correctional Institution, 1984–present ** Nei Kwu Correctional Institution, 2002–present

Indonesia

Nusa Kambangan Nusa Kambangan (also Nusakambangan, Kambangan island, or Nusa Kambangan Island) island is located in Indonesia, separated by a narrow strait from the south coast of Java; the closest port is Cilacap in Central Java province. It known as the place ...

off the southern coast of Java is a notorious prison island, and contains a number of prisons.

Malaysia

Jerejak Island Jerejak Island is an islet off the eastern coast of Penang Island in the State of Penang, Malaysia. Located within the Northeast Penang Island District, it is also a short ferry ride from the town of Bayan Lepas near the southeastern tip of Pe ...

, location of the Jerejak Rehabilitation Centre from 1969 to 1993. Called the 'Alcatraz of Malaysia'.

Montenegro

Grmožur Grmožur ( cnr, Грможур) is a fortified islet in Lake Skadar, located near the village of Godinje, in the Montenegrin municipality of Bar. The island was nicknamed the Island of Snakes by the local population, and the Island of Birds by o ...

, a fortified islet in

Lake Skadar Lake Skadar ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Скадарско језеро, Skadarsko jezero, ; sq, Liqeni i Shkodrës, ) also called Lake Scutari, Lake Shkodër and Lake Shkodra lies on the border of Albania and Montenegro, and is the largest lake in Southern ...

which served as a prison * Mamula, location of the Fascist Italian

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

, from 1942 to 1945

Russia

* Ognenny Ostrov, location of Vologodskiy Pyatak prison since 1917.

South Africa

* Robben Island, location of Robben Island Prison from 1961 to 1996. The Island was used to incarcerate political prisoners as early as the 17th Century, and later during the

Xhosa Wars The Xhosa Wars (also known as the Cape Frontier Wars or the Kaffir Wars) were a series of nine wars (from 1779 to 1879) between the Xhosa Kingdom and the British Empire as well as Trekboers in what is now the Eastern Cape in South Africa. T ...

Tanzania

* Changuu, known as 'Prison Island'. Held rebellious slaves in 1860s.

Turkey

İmralı İmralı is a small Turkish prison island in the south of the Sea of Marmara, west of the Armutlu-Bozburun peninsula within Bursa Province. It measures in the north–south direction with a width of , and has an area of . The highest peak is ...

island, location of a

since 1935.

United Kingdom/Republic of Ireland

Spike Island, County Cork Spike Island ( gle, Inis Píc) is an island of in Cork Harbour, Ireland. Originally the site of a monastic settlement, the island is dominated by an 18th-century bastion fort now named Fort Mitchel. The island's strategic location within t ...

, from 1847 to 2004. Part of

Treaty Ports Treaty ports (; ja, 条約港) were the port cities in China and Japan that were opened to foreign trade mainly by the unequal treaties forced upon them by Western powers, as well as cities in Korea opened up similarly by the Japanese Empire. ...

United States

Alcatraz Island Alcatraz Island () is a small island in San Francisco Bay, offshore from San Francisco, California, United States. The island was developed in the mid-19th century with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, and a military pri ...

, location of

Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz Island, also known simply as Alcatraz (, ''"the gannet"'') or The Rock was a maximum security federal prison on Alcatraz Island, off the coast of San Francisco, California, United States, the site of a ...

from 1934 until 1963. *

Rikers Island Rikers Island is a island in the East River between Queens and the Bronx that contains New York City's main jail complex. Named after Abraham Rycken, who took possession of the island in 1664, the island was originally under in size, but has ...

, location of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

's main jail complex. *

Deer Island (Massachusetts) Deer Island is a peninsula in Boston, Massachusetts. Since 1996, it has been part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area. Although still an island by name, Deer Island has been connected to the mainland since the former Shirley Gut ...

, location of

Deer Island Prison The Deer Island Prison (–1991) in Suffolk County, Massachusetts was located on Deer Island in Boston Harbor. Once known as the Deer Island House of Industry and later, House of Correction, it held people convicted of drunkenness, illegal posses ...

, closed in 1991. *

McNeil Island McNeil Island is an island in the northwest United States in south Puget Sound, located southwest of Tacoma, Washington. With a land area of , it lies just north of Anderson Island; Fox Island is to the north, across Carr Inlet, and to the ...

, location of

McNeil Island Corrections Center The McNeil Island Corrections Center (MICC) was a prison in the northwest United States, operated by the Washington State Department of Corrections. It was on McNeil Island in Puget Sound in unincorporated Pierce County, near Steilacoom, Washi ...

from 1875 to 2011. *

Diego Garcia Diego Garcia is an island of the British Indian Ocean Territory, a disputed overseas territory of the United Kingdom. It is a militarised atoll just south of the equator in the central Indian Ocean, and the largest of the 60 small islands of ...

, believed to be a

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

black site In military terminology, a black site is a location at which an unacknowledged black operation or black project is conducted. According to the Associated Press, "Black sites are clandestine jails where prisoners generally are not charged with ...

circa 2005. *

Terminal Island Terminal Island, historically known as Isla Raza de Buena Gente, is a largely artificial island located in Los Angeles County, California, between the neighborhoods of Wilmington and San Pedro in the city of Los Angeles, and the city of Long ...

, a low security federal prison.

References

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