Oregon Public Broadcasting

Seven residents of Washington's first-in-the-nation Commitment Center for violent sex predators have been indicted for having large caches of child pornography.

Correspondent Tom Banse reports the investigation continues into how the illegal contraband got onto a heavily guarded prison island.

All seven men were involuntarily committed to the treatment center on McNeil Island after serving out their prison terms.

Now they've been re-arrested after center staff and federal agents discovered hundreds on child porn images, mostly on computer CDs or DVD's.

Special Commitment Center director Kelly Cunningham says security at the facility is complicated by the fact that the residents have privacy rights. They're technically patients, not inmates.

Kelly Cunningham: “What we're talking about here is the difference between a person under criminal legal status and civil legal status. We only have the authority to fan their mail. We can't even touch it. They fan it in front of us.”

Cunningham suspects a good portion of the contraband porn came in by mail. The residents do not have internet access.

Federal prosecutors say no guards are under investigation. If convicted, the seven sex predators could be sent back to prison for at least ten years.