Woman confined as sexual predator wants McNeil release

McNeil Island (Courtesy: Washington Dept. of Corrections)



The first woman ever committed to Washington's McNeil Island facility for sexually violent predators is asking to be released, the News Tribune reported. Laura McCollum, 55, is asking to be transferred to what's termed a "less restrictive alternative," likely a halfway house somewhere in Seattle. That would put McCollum close to a doctor able to provide her with sexual deviancy treatment, the Tribune reported.

McCollum voluntarily accepted commitment to McNeil Island in 1995 after serving more than five years for first-degree child rape, according to the Tribune. She was convicted in Pierce County of repeatedly molesting a young girl and later admitted to sexual assaults on other children, the report said.

Lawyers for McCollum were to ask a judge Friday for a trial to determine whether she's eligible to be transferred out of the facility.

Read more from the Tribune story here.