Prison Island: A Graphic Memoir

By Colleen Frakes

McNeil Island in Washington state was the home of the last prison island in the US, accessible only by air or sea. It was also home to about fifty families, including Colleen Frakes' when she was growing up. Colleen's parents—like nearly everyone else on the island—both worked in the prison, where her father was the prison's captain and her mother worked in security. The island functioned as a "company town," where housing was assigned based on rank, and even children's actions could have an impact on a family's livelihood: If you broke a rule, your family could be kicked out of their home.
In the graphic memoir Prison Island, Colleen tells her story of growing up on the McNeil Island. Beyond the irregularities of living in a company town near a prison, remote island life posed other challenges to Colleen and her sister. Regular teenage activities like ordering a pizza or going to the movies became extremely complicated endeavors on the island, and the small-town dynamics were amplified by their isolation from surrounding cities. Prison Island tells the story of a typical girl growing up in atypical circumstances using stark, engaging graphic novel panels. It's a story that is simultaneously familiar and foreign, and readers will be surprised to see parts of themselves in Colleen's unique experience.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lerner Publishing
• Release date: Aug 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781541581951

Colleen Frakes

Colleen Frakes is a Xeric and Ignatz award-winning cartoonist and a graduate of the Center for Cartoon Studies. She has made comics for Zest Books, Koyama Press, the Graphic Canon series, Mirage Studios (Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Dark Horse, and many others. She grew up all over Washington State but currently lives in Seattle with her spouse, daughter, and just one cat.

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Reviews for Prison Island

[jennybeast · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A memoir about growing up on McNeil Island in Washington state, which housed a prison, a nature preserve, and the residents to support the prison. Pretty interesting local/historical subject, and talks a little about the ghost town that is left now that the prison is closed and all of the residents have moved off. Its got some funny moments, and in general is a gentle memoir of early middle school and ferries and island life. Enjoyed it, but it's a pretty quiet story.

[villemezbrown · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The back cover says, "The story of a perfectly ordinary childhood in a perfectly extraordinary place..." and the book seems to take that as a mission statement. This is a perfectly ordinary graphic novel with perfectly ordinary art and stories. Not bad, not great, just mild and good.

It was a little odd that in a book called Prison Island, I think there may have only been a single illustration of the actual prison. I guess I was expecting equal amounts of prison and life after visiting Alcatraz last summer and learning about children living on that island during the tour. By keeping the book's perspective firmly fixed to her own childhood view of the island, Frakes leaves me feeling mostly satisfied but wishing for more.

[ecataldi-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A cute, eye opening graphic novel about what it was like growing up on a prison island. Nothing profound or amazing, but it's a quick informative read that teens and adults will both enjoy. Plus, it's a little snapshot of history, it's a mini-memoir about a time past, and quite recent as well. While it is told through the perspective of a girl, boys would still enjoy it too. There are also several funny moments that made me smiles. The prison island was just closed in 2011. For fans of graphic novel memoirs, and prison history.