The Special Commitment Center is a treatment facility for residents who have served their criminal sentence and are being held under civil law. After being convicted of crime(s) and serving a prison sentence, people who meet the definition of a sexually violent predator must be civilly committed to SCC to receive treatment and supervision. Civil commitment is involuntary and non-punitive.
What is the Special Commitment Center?
The Special Commitment Center programs provide behavioral health treatment developed specifically for civilly committed sex offenders. When a judge sends someone to SCC, the program serves as the treatment lead of a multi-tiered system of residents living on McNeil Island and local communities throughout the state.
SCC facilities
McNeil Island’s Total Confinement Facility
Civilly committed residents first enter the SCC’s total confinement facility on McNeil Island. This Sex Offender Treatment Program consists of increasingly challenging levels of rigorous treatment.
In addition to McNeil Island, the SCC operates two secure community transition facilities. Learn more about all three SCC facilities.
Community Transition
The U.S. Constitution requires SCC residents to get a yearly evaluation to determine if they still meet the criteria for civil commitment at McNeil Island’s total confinement facility, or if a less restrictive alternative should be considered. Total confinement residents may also independently petition the court to be transferred to less restrictive alternatives in the state of Washington. In both instances, a judge decides if an LRA is in the resident’s best interest and in the interest of the community -- i.e. if conditions can be imposed on the resident to adequately protect the community.
In addition to annual reviews, any SCC resident committed to the total confinement facility may at any time petition the superior court for a conditional release to an LRA placement, or an unconditional release. While rare, courts can order unconditional releases of residents; in these cases, unconditionally released residents no longer have SCC oversight.
What are less restrictive alternatives?
A less restrictive alternative, or LRA, is a court-ordered housing option where a person lives in a setting that is not as strict as the SCC’s total confinement facility on McNeil Island. An LRA is only used when a judge authorizes it.
The rules for an LRA are set in state law.
Residents released to LRAs may transfer to state-owned and -operated secure community transition facilities (SCTFs), or they may transfer into community LRA homes. SCTFs are state-owned and state-operated LRAs, which offer additional levels of security and 24/7 intensive staffing. There are two SCTFs -- one on McNeil Island in Pierce County and one in south Seattle in King County.
Community LRA homes are run by private business providers. LRA residents of both SCTFs and community LRAs are required to follow court-ordered conditions that include sex offender behavioral health treatment and monitoring by GPS tracking bracelets.
A resident is not released to an LRA unless a court determines that release is in the resident’s best interest and in the interest of the community -- i.e., that proposed conditions can keep the community safe.
Only a court has jurisdiction of an LRA case. Only a judge can determine how long a resident must be under the court order that oversees the case. (Part of the judge’s job includes determining impacts to community safety.) Residents released to LRAs may transfer to secure community transition facilities on McNeil Island in Pierce County or in South Seattle in King County, or may be transferred to community LRAs. Learn more about the types of LRAs.
Upon completion of their prison sentence, a person identified as potentially being a sexually violent predator goes through a psychological evaluation by a licensed psychologist. The evaluation must identify that the person suffers from a personality disorder and/or mental abnormality that makes them more likely than not to commit an act of sexual violence if not confined to a secure facility. A superior court judge (court system) will review the evaluation to make the final decision. The defense attorney and prosecutor may have experts provide additional evaluations. If the court determines a person to be a sexually violent predator, the person is then civilly committed to the SCC for public safety and to undergo treatment.
Residents undergo a new psychological evaluation and a court review every year to determine whether they still meet the criteria outlined in FAQ 1. This process is outlined in Revised Code of Washington 71.09.070. Annual examinations of persons committed under chapter—Suspension of section.
Residents may be released from the SCC, per court order, either conditionally or unconditionally.
Conditional release means a resident is ordered by the court to be released to a less restrictive alternative in the community, while still under close supervision and with court-imposed safety conditions.
Unconditional release means a resident is ordered by the court to release without any additional conditions imposed by the court, the same as if they were released directly from prison and occurs when a person no longer meets criteria for civil commitment.
Once the resident is unconditionally released from civil commitment under RCW 71.09, they are no longer considered to meet the definition of “sexually violent predator.” The fact that they were once civilly committed remains on their criminal record.
Before the creation of the SCC, sexually violent predators were released into the community after their prison sentences. The Community Protection Act of 1990 created the ability to civilly commit sexually violent predators, and the SCC was established to provide inpatient treatment.