Anthony Jacka is a level three sex offender convicted of attempted rape and indecent liberties in Clark County in 1990. After his release from prison, Jacka spent years at the Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island undergoing sex offender treatment. When he left there, instead of returning home to Clark County, he moved to Lakewood.
According to the Pierce County Sheriff's Department, out of 29 sex offenders released from the center between 2010 and 2015, 21 have established residence in Pierce County even though only four of those 29 offenders are actually from Pierce county.
“This is a very important, significant Pierce County issue,” said State Rep. Christine Kilduff, D-University Place. Kilduff wants to stop what she calls the dumping of sex offenders in Pierce County by requiring they be returned to the counties from which they were tried and convicted.
When offenders are released from prison and moved to the Special Commitment Center, they are under the control of the Department of Social and Health Services, not the Department of Corrections. DSHS isn’t required to return offenders to their home county the way DOC is required to do with release prisoners.
Kilduff has authored a bill that would require DSHS to return sex offenders to the county in which they were convicted, instead of allowing them to remain in Pierce County.
“Here in Pierce County we’re about 12 percent of the state’s population and we have more than our fair share of folks that have been convicted of sex offenses,” said Kilduff.
Kilduff says she has bi-partisan support for the bill. It will be introduced to the state Legislature on Friday.
KIRO
