King County sex predator released from state center after 20 years

7-6-2010 Washington:

A 70-year-old county rapist facing indefinite commitment at a state-run center housing sexual predators will be released.

When he was moved out of Department of Social and Health Services custody later Wednesday, Andre B. Young became the third King County offender to be released from the Special Commitment Center program based on McNeil Island.

The program was created in 1990 to keep a small number of sex offenders who'd completed their prison terms from returning to society. Those held at the center have been deemed to be violent sexual predators due to a mental defect, and can be detained their indefinitely following a civil trial.

Young, a six-time convicted rapist, was committed shortly after the program was launched and has remained under Department of Social and Health Services supervision since, according to a King County Prosecutor's Office statement issued Wednesday. He's been fighting his detention since; Young was among a first group of offenders to challenge the constitutionality of the civil commitment law in federal court.

Prosecutors were preparing to oppose Young's request for release -- what would have prompted his third trial in the matter -- but dropped the effort over concerns that it would prove difficult to show the elderly man was likely to commit a violent sexual offense if released. According to the Prosecutor's Office statement, three experts, including two employed by the state, found that Young no longer could be deemed likely to re-offend.

As part of the agreed order endorsed by prosecutors and Young's attorneys, Young will be released with a number of restrictions on his behavior, including a prohibition against possessing a "rape kit" or pornography. He's also required to register as a sex offender with Pierce County authorities after moving to a Tacoma home.

In a statement Wednesday, King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg described the dismissal as an example of how the law was intended to work.

"This law provides treatment for sex offenders within a secure setting that protects the public," Satterberg said.

"The detention is based on a medical model and is supposed to last until the subject is no longer considered likely to re-offend," he added.

Since its inception, the civil commitment program has drawn fire from the defense bar and civil liberties advocates, who've contended the center served as a prison by another name.

Speaking earlier this year, Pete MacDonald, a public defender representing 13 center residents, argued that the Special Commitment Center does not deliver the rehabilitation promised.

"It's a de facto warehouse, regardless of what the intention is," said MacDonald, an attorney with The Defender Association.

"People probably don't care about this," he continued, "but this is a civil liberties issue."

Four years into the effort, offenders housed at the facility filed a federal lawsuit that prompted an $11 million fine -- later dismissed -- and federal court oversight of the facility. Thirteen years passed before an order by U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo S. Martinez ended that oversight after the judge found the Special Commitment Center was providing the treatment required under law and a path out for offenders.

"This case is most troublesome to the court in that there seems to be no right answer, and no good fix for the situation these plaintiffs face," Martinez said in his ruling. "The court can do its best to ensure adequate treatment and facilities, but ultimately must succumb to the limitations of the law."

Prosecutors note that approximately one percent of sex offenders being released into the community are detained under the state's civil commitment law.

Approximately 290 sexually violent predators are currently detained at the Special Commitment Center. At least four have been released into the community, and more than a dozen others are living off the island either in halfway houses or private homes under state supervision. ..Source.. Levi Pulkkinen