William Head Institution


William Head Institution is a Canadian minimum-security federal correctional institution for men located in Metchosin, British Columbia, about southwest of Victoria on the southernmost tip of Vancouver Island. 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" prison, group of minimum-security prisons mostly hosting white-collar criminals 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 prison, 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 depot for the Chinese Labour Corps during World War I. It is also final resting place for 21 members of the CLC, whom died enroute 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.