Island’s residents say water unsafe

McNEIL ISLAND, Wash. — Scores of sex offenders ordered to live on a secluded island in Washington state say the often-cloudy, brown water there is making them sick, and records show the water system has been plagued by problems for more than a decade.

About 200 residents of the Special Commitment Center have filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the facility is violating their rights by forcing them to drink contaminated water that causes stomach pain and skin rashes and has been blamed for deaths.

The executive who oversees the center said the water turns brown periodically when the pipes are flushed, and he insisted the cloudiness is only an aesthetic effect that causes no harm.

Health reports say the facility’s water treatment plant has been “on the verge of failure” since 2013, and a former plant operator told health officials in 2015 that the water’s cloudiness readings were being manipulated to make the water look cleaner than it was.

The Special Commitment Center is home to the state’s worst sex offenders — those who have been deemed “sexually violent predators.” At the end of their prison sentences, the state convinced a judge that the inmates were too dangerous to be released, resulting in a civil commitment that requires them to undergo treatment that could someday make them safe enough to be released.

The center holds about 225 men and one woman. Another 20 residents live next door in transitional housing.