Sarah Mises-Tam

Washington state health officials say the facility about an hour south of Seattle has been refusing entry to inspectors for the past three years.

That's despite over 3,000 complaints from detainees reporting conditions such as dirty water, contaminated food, unsanitary living conditions, and accounts of sexual assault.

Here's Governor Bob Ferguson.

The center has on average held around 1,300 detainees on any given day.

The company that owns the facility did not respond to a request for comment.

For NPR News, I'm Sarah Mises-Tam in Tacoma.