Other states with similar programs have more oversight and inspections of their civil commitment centers. Washington has a local advisory board and a nationlly recognized contract evalator from another state who reviews treatment, medical care and other services at its center.

The state also has a legal ombudsman who is available to counsel staff and offenders and ensure that state and federal laws are followed.

California, which runs its program inside a state hospial, also has a local board that oversees the operations there. It The state requires that the facility be accreditation accredited from by a nationally recognized health- care association, and it issues a state license to the facility.

In August 2003, the Florida Statewide Advocacy Council -- created by the Legislature to monitor the quality of life for people living under state care -- issued a white paper that detailed problems at the facility.

Among those cited by the council:

• Backed-up sewers and leaking pipes that hadn't been fixed in more than two years.

• Inmates with serious and terminal illnesses transferred to the center from the Department of Corrections with no advanced warning about their conditions and no medical records.

• A lack of medical and legal oversight to ensure compliance with Florida law.

• The failure to post the phone number for the Florida Abuse Hotline so offenders housed in a quad for the severely mental ill can report abuse and neglect, a violation of Florida law.

• No policy to review deaths inside the facility. Two years later, internal records and interviews show: that plumbing problems con- tinue.

While advanced warning is now given to the center about inmates with serious medical conditions, former staff and outside experts say the facility remains ill-equipped to deal with serious illnesses.

Offenders in the quad for the severely mentally ill say there are still no postings for the state's abuse hot line.