William Head Institution

William Head Quarantine Station
William Head Quarantine Station
Built	1883 (closed in 1958)
Built for	Dominion of Canada
Owner	Department of Interior (Canada)

William Head Institution
Coordinates	48°20′24″N 123°32′09″W / 48.3399°N 123.5358°W
Status	Active
Security class	minimum-security
Capacity	200
Population	125 (as of 2023)
Opened	1959
Former name	William Head Prison
Managed by	Correctional Service of Canada
Street address	6000 William Head Road
City	Metchosin, British Columbia
Postal code	V9C 0B5
Country	Canada

William Head Institution is a Canadian minimum-security federal correctional institution for men located in Metchosin, British Columbia, about 25 kilometres (16 mi) southwest of Victoria on the southernmost tip of Vancouver Island. The Institution opened in 1959 and can house 200 inmates. The institution is based on a residential design, composed of five neighborhoods of clustered duplexes; each neighborhood of four duplexes is designed to function as a community. William Head provides variety of Educations, Correctional Programs and Vocational Trainings.^[1]^[2]

Facility characteristics

Federal Institution for male offenders.

Statistics as of March 2023:

Security level: minimum security.
Date opened: 1959.
Number of inmates: 125.
Average length of sentences:
- Less than 36 months: 17 per cent of inmates.
- 36 months and over: 28 per cent of inmates.
- Life sentence: 55 per cent of inmates.
Number of employees: 101.

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^[3] and from 1917 to about 1918 as a training (drill) depot for the Chinese Labour Corps (CLC) during World War I. It is also final resting place for 21 members of the CLC, who died en route to or from the war in Europe.^[4] 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.^[2]