Minnesota House files amicus brief in sex offender program appeal

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12-29-15 Minnesota:

The Minnesota House of Representatives filed an amicus brief Tuesday in the state’s appeal of a judge’s ruling that the state’s Sex Offender Program is unconstitutional.

The brief, which argues the program is constitutional, is a show of bipartisan unity in the face of a June ruling from U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank that the program violates constitutional rights by confining offenders indefinitely even though they have already served their sentences.

Frank ruled that a program designed to treat offenders for their sexual disorders had become punitive in nature, wrongly confining the offenders behind razor wire even when they could be treated in less restrictive community settings such as halfway houses.

The judge gave the state until the end of 2017 to conduct independent risk evaluations of all 720 offenders now confined in the program and to create a road map for release.

The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals gave the state a victory this month when it ordered a stay until it hears the state’s appeal. Oral arguments are set for April.

Sex offender reforms are put on hold, but why?

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12-29-15 Minnesota:

Eighth Circuit halts progress and fails to provide an adequate explanation.

In the flurry of pages that typically accompany a court’s decision — within judges’ long and sometimes long-winded justifications of their legal reasoning — lies a critical source of our divided government’s legitimacy.

The courts are given great power. While there are many reasons judges’ determinations are respected, it is in no small part due to this: When judges rule on a substantive issue, they don’t simply announce their decision. They detail how they reached their conclusion within the lawful framework of constitutional safeguards, precedent and procedure. The more important the matter, the more important it is to have an explanation.

It is for this reason that a recent major ruling on Minnesota’s costly and controversial sex offender civil commitment program is deeply disappointing. Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit put a hold on implementing long-overdue reforms to the program, which locks people up for “treatment” for years, even decades after they’ve served their jail sentences.

DHS will evaluate Kewanee woman charged with sexual assault

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12-22-15 Illinois:

A Kewanee woman charged in Henry County Circuit Court with sexual assault will be remanded to the Illinois Department of Human Services for a civil commitment evaluation.

Destiny E. Palmer, 19, was charged May 4 with three counts of Class X felony predatory criminal sexual assault of a minor under 13. The counts allege activity with a boy on three different dates between Dec. 1, 2014, and May 1, 2015.

Henry County public defender Nate Nieman said Ms. Palmer's family believes she is availing herself of social services and making progress. “I've explained to her it's within the court's discretion what's to be done in this case,” he said.

Henry County State's Attorney Matt Schutte told Judge Terry Patton on Monday that he was filing the motion for civil commitment. Ms. Palmer was ordered to return to the courthouse Jan. 11 to be picked up by DHS officials, who will have seven days to evaluate her for civil commitment.

State appeals court reverses release order on twice-convicted sex offender

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12-19-15 Texas:

Court reverses order for first man released under civil commitment

AUSTIN — A twice-convicted sex offender who became the first person fully released from Texas’ controversial civil commitment program was back under state supervision after an appeals court’s reversal of the order that freed him.

An appeals court in Beaumont reversed the release order late Friday, and Alonzo May, 56, was picked up after spending the week at his mother’s home in Grand Prairie, near Fort Worth, state officials said.

Marsha McLane, executive director of the Texas Civil Commitment Office, said May soon would be headed to a former private lockup in Littlefield, which is in remote West Texas. The judge who released him had said the the lockup looked more like a prison than a treatment center.

Court orders sex predator back in custody

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12-18-15 Texas:

AUSTIN -- A twice-convicted sex offender who became the first person fully released from Texas' controversial civil-commitment program was back under state supervision Friday night following an appeals court's reversal of the order that freed him.

A Beaumont appeals court reversed the release order, and Alonzo May, 56, was placed back under state supervision after spending the week at his mother's home in the Fort Worth area, state officials said.

Marsha McLane, executive director of the Texas Civil Commitment Office, said May soon will be headed to a former private lockup in Littlefield, in remote West Texas, which the judge who released him said looked more like a prison than a treatment center.

In ordering the immediate freedom for May in a Conroe courtroom on Monday, visiting state District Judge P.K. Reiter declared that key revisions to the state's civil commitment program by the Texas Legislature earlier this year were unconstitutional.

Monday's ruling came after May, ordered into civil commitment in 2013, challenged his transfer from a Dallas halfway house to Littlefield, about 40 miles northwest of Lubbock.

Reiter's decision, expected after he questioned the legality of the Legislature's reforms at a previous hearing, struck a blow to the state's efforts to correct acknowledged legal flaws that had threatened to derail the continued operation of the civil commitment program, which already was facing several federal court challenges. ..Source.. by Mike Ward

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Public Defenders Office Questions Sex Offender Housing Bills

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12-18-15 Wisconsin:

Proposed Changes Would Set Distance Requirements From Schools, Other Public Places

An attorney from the Wisconsin State Public Defender's Office wants changes to a bill that would restrict housing options for released sex predators, saying it could put the state's civil commitment law in constitutional jeopardy.

If it passes, the bill would bar the state from placing patients released from the Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center from living within 1,500 feet of schools, parks, churches and daycare centers. Communities across the state have passed local ordinances that are even more stringent.

Attorney Robert Peterson, who heads the SPD's sex offender unit is pushing for language to be included in the bill that would pre-empt those local rules.

"To allow local municipalities to overrule state law and frustrate these placements and keep people institutionalized, I think, is constitutionally invalid," Peterson said.

Why Texas' civil commitment program was found unconstitutional

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12-16-15 Texas:

from Grit for Breakfast

After Nancy Bunin did such a great job of analyzing Texas' sex-offender civil commitment legislation this spring, I asked her to author a guest post explaining the import of a recent, widely publicized ruling declaring the program unconstitutional and releasing the first Texas sex offender ever from civil commitment restrictions. Here's that she wrote. Thanks Nancy for agreeing to do this.

Recently the Honorable P.K Reiter made headlines by finding Chapter 841 of the Texas Health and Safety Code unconstitutional. On Monday, December 14, Judge Reiter agreed with Defense Counsel Bill Marshall’s conclusion that the involuntary commitment of Alonzo May under the recently amended law was punitive and a denial of the man’s due process rights under both Texas and U.S.

Earlier this year I submitted an article contemplating the proposed changes pending in the 84th Texas Legislature concerning amendment of the Texas Health & Safety Code Chapter 841, the law providing for the civil commitment of repeat sex offenders. Unfortunately, though extensive changes in the law put into effect on June 17, 2015, the law is still problematic. The new laws failed to adopt many suggestions, calculated to address many of the significant problems with the civil commitment program, offered by attorneys that represent men in civil commitment.

Sex offenders to be shipped elsewhere before sentences up

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12-16-15 Arizona:

Medium-security inmates not eligible for work release

KINGMAN - The GEO Group expects to reach the 1,400-bed inmate limit at the Hualapai Unit by the end of March as it transitions from general population medium-security inmates to sex offenders in the same security class.

The news has sparked a couple of concerns in the communities of Kingman and Golden Valley, where Arizona State Prison-Kingman is located.

They are:

• That sex offenders who finish their sentences with no home to go to would be released in the Kingman and Golden Valley areas and might decide to stay.

That won't happen, according to DOC spokesman Andrew Wilder. "As the release date nears for an inmate who is housed at the Hualapai Unit, they will be transported to a (DOC) state facility outside of Mohave County for processing and release."

• That sex offenders will participate in work programs outside of the prison.

"Hualapai Unit is medium security, so inmates there cannot participate in work programs outside of the prison, nor are sex offender inmates eligible for early release through the transition program," said Wilder.

GEO spokesman Pablo Paez told the Miner the private prison operator - which took over for ousted Management and Training Corporation Dec. 1 - is "comfortable" with the Arizona Department of Corrections' decision to house sex offenders at the prison's Hualapai Unit, which has been essentially shut down since a series of riots destroyed four of five housing pods in July.

The riots led to MTC losing the contract it held for more than a decade. Gov. Doug Ducey awarded it to GEO Group.

Paez said GEO Group has a successful track record of managing sex offenders.

"We currently manage a 1,280-bed (Sex Offender Treatment Program) facility in Florence and are working to put SOTP resources in place in Kingman," he said.

The minimum-security Cerbat Unit that sits adjacent to Hualapai will remain a minimum-security general population prison.

A reader told the Miner that inmates at Cerbat who are involved in work programs are concerned residents believe they are sex offenders, and that some have been verbally harassed with comments that lead them to believe the aggressor believes they are sex offenders.

Only certain minimum-security inmates housed at Cerbat are eligible for work programs with city and county entities. Medium-security inmates are ineligible for the program, as Wilder said.

The vast majority of Hualapai inmates were moved to other institutions following three riots that occurred over the first four days of July. The first took place in Cerbat, which moved 40 inmates from the 2,000-bed prison in July, and more than 1,100 were taken from Hualapai.

Inmates did an estimated $1.9 million in damage to the Hualapai Unit, which is on track to reopen next month after six months of repair work.

The same inmate guidelines are in place for the sex offenders who replace those who rioted. No murderers or attempted murderers, nobody with more than 20 years left on their sentences, and nobody with a history of escape or attempted escape will be housed at the Hualapai Unit, according to Paez.

Also, Wilder said the prisoners at Hualapai are classified as "general population sex offenders," as opposed to protective custody sex offenders, which require a higher level of security. Wilder said this class of inmate is often easier to manage than others. ..Source.. by Doug McMurdo, Miner Staff Reporter

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Order Halts Changes to Minnesota Sex Offender Program

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12-16-15 Minnesota:

A federal appeals court has granted a full stay of a judge's order requiring changes to Minnesota's sex offender program.

In a one-page order Tuesday, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put the ruling on hold while it considers the state's appeal. The court scheduled oral arguments for April 12 in St. Louis. The court granted a temporary stay earlier this month while it considered a full stay.

U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank declared the program unconstitutional in June, citing how rare it is for anyone to get released from it. In October, he ordered changes including risk assessments of all the more than 700 offenders in the program to determine which should be put on a pathway for release.

For the first time, a Texas judge frees sex offender from civil commitment

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12-14-15 Texas:

A visiting judge in Conroe set free a twice-convicted sex offender the state had classified as too dangerous to live in society without supervision Monday, the first time anyone has been fully released from Texas' controversial civil commitment program in its 16-year history.

In ordering the immediate freedom for Alonzo May, 56, visiting state District Judge P.K. Reiter declared that key revisions to the state's civil commitment program by the Texas Legislature earlier this year were unconstitutional.

His order denied the state's request for an emergency order keeping May in custody pending an appeal.

Monday's ruling came after May, ordered into civil commitment in 2013, challenged his transfer from a Dallas halfway house to the former prison in Littlefield, about 40 miles northwest of Lubbock, which Reiter's order noted "has two chain-link fences topped by concertina wire around its perimeter."

The decision, expected since last week after Reiter questioned the legality of the Legislature's reforms, struck a blow to the state's efforts to correct acknowledged legal flaws that had threatened to derail the continued operation of Texas' civil commitment program, which already was facing several federal court challenges.

Even if Reiter's decision is overturned by higher courts, it could trigger additional litigation from other offenders, who, like May, were forced to participate in the new program, officials and attorneys familiar with the program warned.

Within hours of the judge's decision, May was in Houston to catch a bus to Grand Prairie, where he plans to live.

"He can't wait to get home and start helping care for his elderly mother," said his attorney, Bill Marshall of Houston.

Due process hearing

In his ruling, Reiter said the Legislature rewrote the law to change the program from outpatient treatment to inpatient and then unconstitutionallyapplied that change retroactively to cover May and others already in the old civil commitment program.

Governor McAuliffe Announces $2.43 Billion Bond Package to Fund Key Research and Economic Development Projects

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12-10-15 Virginia:

RICHMOND – Governor Terry McAuliffe announced today that the Fiscal Year 2017-2018 budget he will introduce on December 17th will include a $2.43 billion bond package to support key capital projects that will enhance Virginia’s technological research and economic development infrastructure.

The bond package represents the largest research-oriented capital investment in the Commonwealth’s history as well as the largest state investment in Virginia’s state parks.

The chief focus of the bond package will be strengthening research and workforce development in high-demand fields at Virginia’s four-year institutions of higher education and community colleges.

The bond package will also include funding for other key priorities like strengthening the Port of Virginia, serving Virginia veterans, enhancing Virginia’s state parks, transforming Virginia’s approach to juvenile corrections and protecting the Commonwealth’s natural assets.

Judge plans to release Texas sex offender from civil commitment

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12-10-15 Texas:

He says leaving man in program unconstitutional

A visiting district judge in Conroe intends to release a man from Texas' controversial civil commitment treatment for sex offenders, on the grounds it would be unconstitutional to keep him in the program, a defense attorney and state officials confirmed Wednesday.

When the expected order is signed in the matter of Alonzo May, it will be the first time a judge has fully released someone from the program, which is based on a law that allows the state to keep those it deems violent sex offenders under supervision after their release from prison.

To date, only one person has been released from the program on a provisional basis since it was created 16 years ago. Another left the state after his civil commitment order was overturned by an appeals court.

Bill Marshall, May's attorney, said that during a Tuesday court hearing, state District Judge P.K. Reiter told attorneys that he believed applying the statute in its current form to May would be a violation of the Texas Constitution and is ordering his release from the program.

Latest sex offender placement rift pits Milwaukee vs. small rural town

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12-9-15 Wisconsin:

The problem of where to release Milwaukee County sex offenders is like the can that keeps getting kicked down the road — and now the can has banged all the way to the Town of Eldorado, a small community three counties away.

More than 200 residents of Eldorado packed their town hall one night this week to object to news that state officials want a violent sex offender to serve his court-ordered supervised release there.

"People are more than willing to take their own," said Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney. "But we don't want to become a dumping ground, the Guantanamo Bay for Milwaukee sex offenders."

The not-in-my-backyard fight over sex offenders is a recurring tale in Milwaukee County. A rash of local ordinances purporting to sharply restrict where offenders may legally reside only concentrated the problem to fewer and fewer spots until officials say there's nowhere left.

This month's political football is Clint Rhymes, 51. He was convicted of a violent sexual assault, served a long prison term and then in 2009 was committed under the state's Chapter 980, which allows for indefinite, secure confinement of those found to be sexually violent offenders. More than 300 such offenders reside at the Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center in Mauston.

Minnesota's new DHS commissioner must prove herself in difficult and vital job

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12-9-15 Minnesota:

Emily Johnson Piper takes over the state's largest agency.

The newly appointed head of Minnesota’s largest state agency — the Department of Human Services — clearly has the confidence of her boss, Gov. Mark Dayton. But Emily Johnson Piper, who served as the governor’s general counsel, has work to do to convince others that she is the best person for this vital, demanding job.

Piper’s sprawling agency has a biennial budget of nearly $34 billion and more than 6,000 seasoned employees. Its responsibilities are daunting and include child protection, public medical assistance programs, services for the disabled and the state’s mental health hospitals. The agency also oversees the sex offender commitment program, which is embroiled in a legal battle over reforms ordered by a federal judge.

As the new commissioner, Piper replaces Lucinda Jesson. Jesson, who has been appointed to the Court of Appeals, served for five years and did so with distinction. Among her achievements: negotiating hundreds of millions of dollars in savings with health insurers — a reform this page repeatedly championed. She also led child protection reforms, launched the arduous process of modernizing services for the disabled and has been a voice of reason on reforms to the sex offender program.

Thissen: Split DHS into five agencies

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12-8-15 Minnesota:

House Minority Leader Paul Thissen on Tuesday proposed splitting the Minnesota Department of Human Services in five different agencies.

Thissen said the department, which has 7,000 employees and spends $11 billion over two years, is just too unwieldy. There’s no reason, he said, for the same agency to manage the Medicaid program, the child welfare programs and the Minnesota Sex Offender program.

“These programs are too important to be managed from crisis to crisis with accountability resting with a single individual,” Thissen said in a statement.

His proposal would create five agencies:

• A Department of Health Care Services with jurisdiction over operations related to MinnesotaCare, Medical Assistance, Chemical Dependency and Mental Health Services.
• A Department of Aging and Disability Services with jurisdiction over those programs.
• A Department of Human Services with jurisdiction over operations related to child welfare and childcare assistance programs, income assistance programs, and social services grants. The so-called MFIP Child-Only Program will also rest in this Department.
• A Department of Forensic Services with jurisdiction over St. Peter State Hospital, the Forensic Nursing Home and the Minnesota Sex Offender Program
• A Department of Direct Care Services with jurisdiction over the Anoka Treatment Facility and State Operated Services.

Thissen, a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, said he’s been working on this proposal for months but unveiled it today as the Department of Human Services gets a new commissioner. ..Source..

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Dayton looks to senior ranks for new Human Services chief

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Another stall tactic by the State, the result will be nothing is done. Hopefully the court will do something.

12-7-15 Minnesota:

ST. PAUL — Gov. Mark Dayton named the top attorney in his office Monday to take over the Minnesota agency that manages care for the poor and disabled as well as runs the state's embattled sex offender program.

Emily Johnson Piper, the governor's general counsel, was named Department of Human Services commissioner, putting her atop the largest and most scrutinized agencies in state government. She replaces Lucinda Jesson, whom the Democratic governor appointed to a Minnesota Court of Appeals post last week.

In a release announcing the appointment, Dayton said Piper's legal work has already made her "deeply involved in the most significant issues affecting the department."

Human Services has more than 6,200 employees, directs billions of dollars in annual spending and operates programs affecting more than 1 million people. It oversees the state's social services, including subsidized health care programs. It also directs the high-security sex offender confinement program that is under federal court scrutiny and facing a potential overhaul.

One of Texas' most wanted fugitives captured

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12-5-15 Texas:

TEXAS - One of Texas' most wanted fugitives is now behind bars after being captured Friday morning in New Mexico.

The Texas Department of Public Safety says Fernando Thompson, 57, a Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitive, was captured in Albuquerque, N.M.

Thompson was wanted for felony failure to comply with civil commitment requirements after he removed his ankle monitor on Nov. 24 and fled from an Austin halfway house.

An Albuquerque Police Department officer arrested Thompson after a random traffic stop at close to 3 a.m. Friday. The suspect was then taken to the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque.

Serial rapist who terrorized borough in 1987 faces deportation

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12-4-15 New York:

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A serial rapist who terrorized Staten Island nearly 30 years ago may finally be deported to his home country – more than three years after his release from prison.

State Supreme Court Justice Wayne Ozzi said there is no reason for additional court proceedings to keep Bourlaye Toure under civil management by authorities, since arrangements can be made to send the Ivory Coast native back to his home in Africa.

Toure, listed in court papers as "Bourlaye T," was paroled in March 2012, and is currently civilly confined at Fishkill Correctional Facility in upstate Dutchess County.

"Further proceedings ... would require the expenditure of a great deal of expense to the state to prosecute, and, under the unique circumstances of this case, unnecessarily so," wrote Ozzi.

"Unnecessary use of taxpayer's money, while not controlling or paramount, certainly is a factor for a court to take into consideration in deciding whether or not to continue exercising its jurisdiction, especially where, as here, there is a viable and enforceable alternative consistent with the state's legitimate interest in protecting its citizenry," the judge wrote.

Appeals court stays federal judge's order on Minnesota sex offender program

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12-3-15 Minnesota:

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A federal appeals court has stayed a federal judge's order requiring changes to Minnesota's sex offender program.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted the temporary stay on Wednesday in a two-sentence order. The court said the stay would be in effect as it considers Minnesota's motion for a stay pending appeal.

U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank declared the program unconstitutional in June, citing problems including the indefinite detention of the people in the program and the rarity of their release. In October, he ordered changes including risk assessments for all offenders to decide which can be put on a path toward release.

The state has argued it is properly holding more than 700 offenders it would be too risky to free. ..Source.. by Star Tribune

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Minnesota House panel votes to back governor sex offender stance

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12-1-2015 Minnesota:

ST. PAUL -- A Minnesota House committee unanimously voted Tuesday to support the position Gov. Mark Dayton and Attorney General Lori Swanson are taking in appealing a federal judge's decision that a state sex offender program is unconstitutional.

The House Rules Committee, made up of leaders from both parties, approved spending $20,000 to hire a private attorney to file what is known as an amicus brief that indicates the House backs the appeal.

"Today's action by the House Rules Committee demonstrates our commitment to protecting citizens and families, as well as our support of the state’s appeal of the judge's ruling," House Majority Leader Joyce Peppin, R-Rogers, said.

In June, Judge Donovan Frank ruled the state program unconstitutional because it requires some sex offenders to take treatment indefinitely in a prison-like setting after they served sentences. State officials say state law is constitutional. ..Source.. by Forum News Service

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Potential release of sex offender from secure treatment program draws opposition in Eau Claire

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11-30-15 Wisconsin:

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — Opposition is growing in Eau Claire to the release of a convicted sex offender from Wisconsin's treatment program.

Sixty-year-old Jeffrey A. Smith has been held at the Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center in Mauston for 12 years since he served nearly 17 years of a 25-year prison sentence for the 1987 rape and strangulation death of Susan Fahrman, who was a UW-Eau Claire student.

A court-appointed psychologist says Smith meets the legal criteria for supervised release, and the Department of Human Services says he has made significant progress in treatment. An Eau Claire County judge will hold a hearing Jan. 22.

The Eau Claire Leader-Telegram reports (http://bit.ly/1YC0SZ6 ) that Farhman's siblings oppose Smith's release and plan to attend his hearing. An online petition against Smith's release has drawn over 2,400 signatures. ..Source.. by Star Tribune

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$7,500 reward offered for civil commitment sex offender who fled from Austin facility

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11-30-15 Texas:

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) has added Fernando Thompson, 57, to the Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list, and a cash reward up to $7,500 is now being offered for information leading to his capture. Thompson, who is a sexually violent predator, removed his ankle monitor on Nov. 24 and fled from an Austin halfway house. He is wanted for felony failure to comply with civil commitment requirements and is considered at high risk to reoffend. All tips are guaranteed to be anonymous.

Thompson has ties to the Austin, Beaumont/Vidor and Reno, Nev., areas, as well as Florida. His criminal history includes aggravated sexual assault of a child and sexual assault. In June 2005, Thompson was required to participate in the civil commitment program. For more information or updates in the event of his arrest, please view his wanted bulletin at:http://www.dps.texas.gov/Texas10MostWanted/fugitiveDetails.aspx?id=311.

Thompson is 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs approximately 175 pounds. He has a dimple on his chin and is known to wear glasses. Thompson is possibly driving a silver 1997 Chevrolet Lumina with Texas license plate GCL-5976.

Texas Crime Stoppers, which is funded by the Governor’s Criminal Justice Division, offers cash rewards to any person who provides information that leads to the arrest of one of the Texas 10 Most Wanted fugitives or sex offenders. ..Source.. by Austin Local News

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Minn. political leaders struggle to fix constitutionally questionable sex offender policy

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11-26-15 Minnesota:

As judge presses for reforms, even defenders admit flaws.

Two years before Gov. Mark Dayton said that he “strongly believed” in the constitutionality of Minnesota’s legally questionable sex offender incarcerations, the DFL governor just as strongly criticized the program for practices he said left many offenders “warehoused forever” beyond their prison terms.

This week, U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank rejected the state’s request that he delay his own court-ordered reforms to the controversial Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP). The state immediately filed another appeal to stay Frank’s ruling, this time to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Dayton is fully on board with the appeals, as attorneys for the state look for a higher court to overturn Frank’s June ruling that the program is unconstitutional. The DFL governor said his earlier criticisms of the program still stand, arguing it’s not a contradiction.

“Something that may not be good public policy is not by definition then unconstitutional,” Dayton said in an interview with the Star Tribune. He said MSOP “wasn’t set up with this intention of holding people indefinitely.”

Judge rejects Minnesota's bid to delay reforms in sex offender program

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11-23-15 Minnesota:

He says Minnesota did not prove changes to sex offender program risked public safety.

Minnesota’s bid to delay dramatic court-ordered reforms in its controversial sex offender program has been rejected by a federal judge.

The decision, handed down Monday by U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank, means the state must promptly evaluate hundreds of sex offenders detained at the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP) and release those who no longer meet the legal criteria for confinement.

The state must also ensure that there are less-restrictive treatment alternatives in the community for those being released, according to an October court order.

In his ruling, Frank dismissed the state’s contention that moving forward with such changes would jeopardize public safety, saying the state “failed to articulate in sufficient detail” the safety risks.

“The court’s order simply requires [the state] to establish a system through which individuals who are assessed to no longer pose a safety risk may be promptly transferred to a less-restrictive alternative … or released into the community with proper transitional services,” Frank wrote.

Convicted child molester released by Orange County judge faces new charges in Pennsylvania

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11-20-15 California:

SANTA ANA – A convicted child molester who was considered by an Orange County Superior Court judge to no longer be a sexually violent predator and was released from custody was expected to appear in a Pennsylvania courtroom Monday on charges of exposing himself and showing pornography to a teen.

Alan T. Rigby, 68, made headlines in January 1989 when he pled guilty to sex crimes involving more than a dozen children and was sentenced to 19 years in prison, Deputy District Attorney Peter Finnerty said.

Rigby was a teacher and coach from 1986-87 when he “groomed” many of his victims, Finnerty said. “He would take his victims on outings and show them pornography as he tried to get them comfortable with his deviant sexual advances,” Finnerty said. “He would also expose himself to his victims and masturbate in front of them in addition to having sex with them.”

California’s dilemma: No one will take freed sex offenders

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11-20-15 California:

The plight of an unwanted sex offender is not something most people care about, but the uproar in Vallejo over the release of convicted predator Fraisure Earl Smith is the ultimate manifestation of a rehabilitation program that has failed to convince the public it is workable.

Smith, who committed five sexual assaults over 15 years and underwent intensive therapy, was released from a psychiatric hospital last month and has been forced to live as a transient.

It is an ongoing issue with California’s troubled “sexually violent predator” program, which transfers the most egregious sex violators to a psychiatric hospital after their sentences are up so they can undergo psychological counseling before their release.

Sex offender kicked out of Vallejo motel after outcry

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11-20-15 California:

A violent sex offender released from a psychiatric hospital last month and forced to live as a transient was kicked out of a motel in Vallejo this week amid public outcry, including critical statements from local police and city officials.

Fraisure Earl Smith, 51, who committed five sexual assaults over 15 years, was evicted Wednesday from the Motel 6 on Enterprise Street after police and residents discovered he had been secretly placed there, Vallejo officials said Thursday.

It appears that Motel 6 did not know that they had rented a room to Mr. Smith, the recently released sexually violent predator,” said Daniel Keen, the Vallejo City Manager. “Once they confirmed that he was staying there, they acted immediately to evict him.”

A Vallejo Police Department statement said Liberty Healthcare Corporation, the contractor hired by the state to handle the release, “concealed Mr. Smith’s identity” in an effort to obtain two rooms at the motel.

“Two men employed by Liberty gave their own names and failed to disclose the identity of Mr. Smith, who would be staying in the motel rooms,” the police statement said. “We appreciate the speedy manner in which Motel 6 acted to ensure the safety of its residents and of the city’s residents. We value their assistance in setting the record straight.”

Legislators tour Security Hospital, hear funding request

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This place is a dungeon plain and simple; created by someone who needs to be a patient!

11-18-15 Minnesota:

ST. PETER — The Minnesota Security Hospital itself — its hallways and living areas, even its décor — plays a role in the recovery of its patients, medical director Dr. KyleeAnn Stevens said.

Its newly remodeled spaces lend a residential air, while the older spaces more closely resemble a prison, she said.

Carol Olson, executive director, suggested the institutional setting and outdated furniture can exert a sort of malaise on patients.

“Everything is very tired in this building,” she said, referring in part to the fixtures that, if replaced, would make the hospital “a better environment for recovery.”

Changes to the building’s layout have also begun to separate the sickest patients, recent arrivals and those further along the recovery path.

Security Hospital, Minnesota Sex Offender Program seek $85 million in state funding

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11-17-15 Minnesota:

Minnesota state senators heard the message clearly. Facility upgrades totaling $85 million for the state Security Hospital and Minnesota Sex Offender Program are needed to assure safety for patients and staff.

Department of Human Services officials hosted a Tuesday tour for members of the Minnesota Senate Capital Investment Committee, as well as staff members and local media. Carol Olson, director of the Minnesota Security Hospital, and Nancy Johnston, new director of the state’s Sex Offender Program, outlined facility needs prior to the tour of the St. Peter campus.

The latest capital budget request by DHS comes on the heels of over $72 million already approved during the 2014 State Legislative biennium. The Minnesota Security Hospital was allocated over $56 last year, while the Sex Offender Program received $7.4 million. Phase 1 improvements on the St. Peter campus are expected to be completed by November 2016, DHS officials said.

A second phase of facility improvement requests total $70.3 million for MSH and $14.5 million for MSOP.

Cornish says legislature ready to act this spring depending on appeal of Sex Offender Program

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11-10-15 Minnesota:

The decision could come this week on a court filing last week by lawyers who represent 700 convicted sex offenders in the Minnesota Sex Offender Program.

The lawyers are asking for the process of evaluating sex offenders for release to begin right away, while an appeals court considers an appeal. The state of Minnesota has asked for a delay until the appeal is decided.

Federal Judge Donovan Frank this summer found the Minnesota Sex Offender Program unconstitutional last summer, for holding convicted sex offenders indefinitely after they have served their sentence.

“If the Circuit Court of Appeals does rule that it’s unconstitutional we have to do something then I would feel more comfortable than changing the whole system. But not yet. The court’s ruling that the MSOP, (Minnesota Sex Offender Program unjustifiably detains hundreds is troubling to me because only four-percent of the registered sex offenders are civilly committed. And of them, two thirds are psychopathic. Fourteen-percent killed or attempted to kill a victim. And one out of every ten is a sexual sadist. One half are pedofiles, and the average committed offender has 12 victims. So, when you look at these statistics, it’s very troubling when they say that hundreds could be released. Which hundred? And how are they going to judge them,” says State Representative Tony Cornish of Vernon Center.

Cornish says he expects the Minnesota Legislature will be ready to take action this spring depending on how the appeal goes.

Cornish and Governor Mark Dayton have both been at the forefront of rejecting Frank’s ruling – both say the judge is wrong and they believe the appeals court will find for the state. ..Source.. by Anthony Reinhardt

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Poll: Sex offender complexity leaves many confused about right choice

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11-14-15 Minnesota:

The moral and legal complexity of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program leaves many unsure about the right answer for the fraught civil commitment effort, according to The Free Press’ online poll.

A plurality of respondents — 84, or 43 percent — said they weren’t sure whether a recent judge’s order to evaluate inmates for potential release or discharge was the right move.

But, among those who had an opinion, voters were almost 2-to-1 in favor of keeping offenders confined rather then moving more of the roughly 700 inmates toward release, as the judge has sought. The program civilly commits sex offenders after they complete prison sentences and imposes treatment in an effort to lower their risk of reoffending.

The poll, sent to readers by email Wednesday, asked: “A federal judge has ordered the Minnesota Sex Offender Program to put more inmates on the path to transfer or discharge. Do you think this is an improvement?”

Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF)

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About CARF

CARF International, a group of companies that includes CARF Canada and CARF Europe, is an independent, nonprofit accreditor of health and human services.

Through accreditation, CARF assists service providers in improving the quality of their services, demonstrating value, and meeting internationally recognized organizational and program standards.

The accreditation process applies sets of standards to service areas and business practices during an on-site survey. Accreditation, however, is an ongoing process, signaling to the public that a service provider is committed to continuously improving services, encouraging feedback, and serving the community. Accreditation also demonstrates a provider's commitment to enhance its performance, manage its risk, and distinguish its service delivery. ..Source..

See Mission, Vision, and Core Values

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Florida Civil Commitment Center

Illinois Department of Human Services, Treatment and Detention Facility (DHS, TDF)

More Coming

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New neighbors: Sex offender treatment center triggers mixed feelings in Littlefield

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11-13-15 Texas:

LITTLEFIELD — Their crimes range from indecent exposure to aggravated sexual assault of a child. Their victims were as young as 2.

All are classified as violent sex offenders.

Their new home is in Littlefield’s southwestern corner, a couple blocks from the town’s medical complex and less than five minutes from most of its parks and schools.

But Police Chief Albert Garcia advises not to worry. He reminds Lamb Countians security is tight in Correct Care Recovery Solutions’ civil commitment center.

“It would be very difficult for them to leave,” he said. “The Correct Care facility is doing a wonderful job on what they’re trying to achieve.”

The facility’s nearly 200 violent sex offenders wear ankle monitors, and are constantly in the presence of guards. If they can move past those staff, they’ll still have razor wire-topped 20- and 30-foot fences to tackle.

Cost of sex offender program shocks lawmakers

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11-12-15 Virginia:

Lawmakers expressed shock Friday over the exponentially rising cost of a program to keep some sex offenders locked up after they complete their criminal sentences.

The annual operating cost of Virginia's Sexually Violent Predator Program is projected to hit $32 million next year - more than a tenfold increase in eight years.

The General Assembly created the program in 1998 to keep sex offenders deemed likely to re-offend off the streets after they finish their criminal sentences. The process is known as civil commitment.

The 300-bed Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation in Nottoway County, built just two years ago for $62 million, will be filled by this fall, the House Appropriations Committee was told Friday.

Gov. Bob McDonnell has proposed spending an additional $68.5 million this year to accommodate the growing number of offenders coming into the program, including $43.5 million in borrowed money to convert a closed prison in Brunswick County into a second 300-bed treatment center.

The numbers generated bipartisan alarm on the budget-writing panel.

Is Dayton's evolving attitude toward the Minnesota Sex Offender Program personal — or political?

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11-9-15 Minnesota:

It was a cool Wednesday afternoon in November of 2013, and Gov. Mark Dayton was upset.

The Minnesota Sex Offender Program, which his administration oversees, was in the midst of a legal battle. MSOP is responsible for locking up more than 700 sex offenders for treatment after their prison sentences under the state’s involuntary commitment laws, but it had rarely let anyone out, and the state was facing a class-action lawsuit questioning whether or not the program was even constitutional.

Dayton was trying to tackle some of the problems that had led to the suit; his administration arranged for the transfer of a handful of offenders from inside MSOP’s high-security facilities into a less-restrictive environment in Cambridge, Minnesota. And now he was under fire for the move, with former Republican House Speaker Kurt Zellers, who was running for governor at the time, accusing Dayton of endangering the public.

Dayton called a press conference to announce that he had halted the transfers. He had tried to balance public safety and constitutional concerns, he said, but the issue had become a “political circus.” It was time for state legislators to do something about the sex offender program.

State should cooperate, not obstruct judge in MSOP reforms.

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11-6-15 Minnesota:

A strategy of obstruction, attacking judge’s integrity is a losing battle.

The first steps ordered by a federal judge to reform Minnesota’s controversial sex offender program sound remarkably familiar and, more important, eminently reasonable after years of debate over locking people up indefinitely after they’ve served their sentences.

State politicians have long lacked the fortitude for fixes, which led to U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank’s decisive ruling last summer that the program violates the constitutional safeguards at the heart of our criminal justice system. But Donovan stopped short of detailing reforms and instead urged state leaders to work together on change.

That approach failed. Frank was left with little choice but to take the next legal step, which came Oct. 28 in the form of the first interim relief order. The changes ordered are modest, especially given the range of remedies he could have employed to combat decades of systemic abuse. The ruling doesn’t require the state to do anything other than evaluate everyone in the program and then develop a process to release those who no longer are a public safety threat.

Violent sex offender committed to state hospital

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11-6-15 California:

Following a week-long jury trial, a convicted sex offender was found to be a sexually violent predator and committed to a state hospital, Monterey County District Attorney Dean D. Flippo announced.

In 2002, a San Diego County jury convicted then 43-year-old William Officer of committing sodomy by force on an unconscious victim. The victim was a homeless drug addict about 20 years younger than Officer at the time.

Officer met his victim at a "Labor Ready" labor agency office and offered him $500 for sexual favors which the victim refused. Officer then offered to give the victim methamphetamine, something to eat and a night off the streets in his apartment, according to the DA's office.

The victim fell asleep on the couch after eating, and Officer woke him up and told him to go into his bedroom since his roommate was coming home soon. The victim complied and fell back asleep but awoke to Officer forcibly sodomizing him, according to the DA's office.

Lawyers for Minnesota sex offenders seek to keep pressure on

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11-5-15 Minnesota:

ST. PAUL — Lawyers representing Minnesota sex offenders in a confinement program deemed unconstitutional are urging a federal judge to keep the pressure on the state to make changes.

In a brief filed Wednesday, the attorneys said U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank should deny a state motion seeking to suspend his order spelling out a list of mandated changes. The Minnesota attorney general's office and key state officials want Frank to issue a stay of last week's ruling while they appeal his order. That appeal has been filed.

Frank ordered the more than 700 offenders in two secure treatment facilities to be urgently reevaluated, with those no longer seen as a serious risk moved to lesser-restrictive settings.

Their attorney, Dan Gustafson, says suspending the ruling would only further an unconstitutional loss of liberty. ..Source.. by Mankato Freepress.com

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To Cure A Predator : SC Program For Sexual Predators Goes Private

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11-4-15 South Carolina:

A South Carolina Department of Mental Health program for what they call “the worst of the worst” sexual predators may end up in the hands of a private for-profit contractor.

The “Sexually Violent Predator” program houses hundreds of people who were convicted of sexual crimes, served their time, and were then involuntarily committed to a maximum security prison because judges and mental health professionals believe the offender is still a threat to the public.

The Sexually Violent Predators act was passed in 1998. The first resident was admitted in 1999. Since then about as many as 20 new “residents” are admitted each year. Far fewer ever leave the program. Many remain inside the Broad River Correctional Institution until their death.

SC Department of Mental Health (SCDMH) Deputy Director Mark Binkley said the people committed to the program are considered “residents” instead of inmates or patients “to distinguish them from the folks we take care of who have mental illness.”

Landlord backs out, sexually violent child predator no longer to move into unincorporated Oakley

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11-3-15 California:

OAKLEY -- Just days after a judge ruled that a sexually violent child predator would be allowed to move into a home on the 2500 block of Dutch Slough Road, the landlord who owns the property has now decided he doesn't want a convicted child molester living on his property.

So authorities are working to set a new court date to come up with a suitable location for sexually violent child predator Robert Bates, according to the Deputy District Attorney who is handling the case.

On Friday, Judge Patricia Scanlon ruled that Bates, 51, must move into the Dutch Slough Road home by Dec. 14.

It didn't take long for the news of the property owner's decision to spread among Dutch Slough Road residents, many of whom have been closely following the case. Among them is Rosa Aguilar, 33, who lives with her 5-year-old daughter at a home located roughly 15 feet from where Bates was scheduled to live.

"I am so relieved," Aguilar said after learning Bates would no longer be her neighbor.

Texas Among States Grappling with Sex Offender Problem

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11-3-15 Texas:

The New York Times reported last week on a growing problem in the US: States are struggling with what to do with sex offenders once they are released from prison. Minnesota has been detaining its sex offenders in a treatment facility after releasing them from prison, but a federal judge recently found the practice unconstitutional. Another federal judge recently struck down a similar process in Missouri, saying the state had imposed “lifetime detention on individuals who have completed their prison sentences and who no longer pose a danger to the public, no matter how heinous their past conduct.”

The program in Texas was one of the worst in the country, and was recently revamped by the Republican legislature after a Houston Chronicle investigation discovered that Texas’s outpatient program never actually graduated and released any of its hundreds of offenders after their prison sentence—and many were sent back to prison for breaking the program’s rules. Texas Senator John Whitmire, a Democrat who helped push through the state’s sex-offender program overhaul, explained: “The way it was, it just looked like incarceration with double jeopardy.” He said the new program, which included opening a former prison in remote Littlefield to house offenders who have been released from prison, “at least holds out a pathway to graduate.” ..Source.. by Jonathan Baker

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Washington's center for sexual predators under fire

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11-1-15 Washington:

MCNEIL ISLAND, Wash. The college campus-styled facility tucked inside razor-wire-laced electric fences on a restricted and tightly guarded island in Puget Sound houses some of the most dangerous and feared criminals in Washington state: sexually violent predators.

The 252 Special Commitment Center residents have completed their prison sentences but were sent to the McNeil Island facility after a judge ruled they would likely hurt someone again. To hold them under Washington's sexual-predator civil commitment law, officials must provide sex offender treatment.

The therapy offered most residents, many mental health experts and residents' lawyers say, is inadequate and the "programming" for those with mental illnesses or brain injuries ranges from "negligent" to "malpractice."

An independent inspection team that, under state law produces annual reports on the center, has repeatedly said some units provide "no obvious treatment" and one unit was "more reminiscent of a correctional setting than a treatment facility."

Disability Rights Washington, an advocacy group, has drafted a federal lawsuit claiming the mistreatment of some residents has left them languishing in the center for years, or decades, without a realistic chance of being released, violating their constitutional rights.

Mark Strong, the center's CEO, said they've taken steps to correct some of the problems, but they're constrained by a lack of resources. The Rehabilitation Administration, the agency that oversees the facility, acknowledged the center's shortcomings in its supplemental budget request, which seeks an additional $4.1 million over the next two years. The money would pay for the extra staff needed to change its focus from "safety and security" to individualized treatment and rehabilitation.

Explaining the Jacob Wetterling case: Where it stands

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10-30-15 Minnesota:

The disappearance of Jacob Wetterling remains one of the highest-profile child abduction cases in U.S. history.

Wetterling was 11 when he was abducted by a masked man with a gun on Oct. 22, 1989, in St. Joseph, Minn.

He had been biking home with his brother and a friend when a masked man with a gun stopped them and told them to get off their bikes and lie face-down in a ditch.

After telling the man how old they were, 10-year-old Trevor Wetterling and 11-year-old Aaron Larson were told to run away. They never saw Jacob again.

Hundreds of Minnesota National Guard members, law enforcement officials and volunteers searched for Wetterling in the days after his disappearance.

Timeline: The search for Jacob Wetterling

It was one of several child abduction cases that changed how Americans raised their children: Before Jacob Wetterling went missing, "stranger danger" wasn't a part of parents' vocabulary. AMBER Alerts, which broadcast urgent bulletins when a child is abducted, didn't exist in 1989, and sex offenders were not required to register with the government.

The case remains open. ..Continued.. by Meg Martin , MPR News Staff

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Dayton headed for showdown with federal judge over Sex Offender Treatment Program

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10-30-15 Minnesota:

Governor Mark Dayton could be headed for a showdown with federal Judge Donovan Frank, who ordered the state to promptly evaluate people in its Sex Offender Treatment program, and release those who no longer pose enough risk to the public to remain in custody.

The governor warns the judge’s order would result in releasing sex offenders without proper evaluation, and says he won’t take a chance on them victimizing someone else. Dayton says, “I’d never want to put a family, a Minnesota family, in that situation — and it’s my responsibility, to the extent humanly possible, to make sure that that never happens.”

Judge Frank has told lawmakers for over a year that the program violates constitutional rights, but Dayton and the legislature haven’t been able to agree to changes. ..Source.. by Bill Werner

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Civil commitment reexamined: justice for sex offenders?

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10-30-15 Minnesota:

Some state courts are reviewing civil commitment policies that have allowed for involuntary detainment of sex offenders deemed dangerous beyond the terms of their criminal prison sentence.

For decades, 20 states across the country have upheld policies of civil commitment that allow for sexual predators or those persons categorized as “sexually dangerous” to be involuntarily admitted and held indefinitely in treatment facilities, even after the offenders have completed their prison sentences. Several states are now revisiting this policy, with some declaring it unconstitutional.

While proponents deem civil commitment a necessary safeguard, opponents argue the criteria for considering someone dangerous is subjective, based on legally defined terms rather than medical science.

Judge Orders Risk Review of Sex Offenders in Civil Program

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10-29-15 Minnesota:

A federal judge ordered a risk assessment Thursday of all sex offenders in Minnesota's restrictive civil confinement program to determine which of them can be put on a pathway for release.

Judge Donovan Frank laid out what he says must be done to fix problems with indefinite detentions that he ruled unconstitutional earlier this year.

His ruling sets a swift timetable for state officials to carry out the review and start transferring lower-risk offenders. While some evaluations must be conducted sooner, Frank said he wants the full program population reviewed by the end of 2017.

Lawyers for the state quickly filed a notice of appeal with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and Gov. Mark Dayton said he hoped Frank would stay his ruling pending the appeal. State officials argue they are properly holding more than 700 offenders they consider too risky to free, even after they have served their prison terms.

In his ruling, Frank cited the state's "decades-long history of operating an unconstitutional civil commitment program, the deeply systemic nature of the problems plaguing this state's sex offender civil commitment scheme, and the minimal progress made toward remedying any constitutional infirmities since the start of this litigation four years ago."

States Struggle With What to Do With Sex Offenders After Prison

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10-29-15 National, Texas, Minnesota, Missouri:

MOOSE LAKE, Minn. — Behind razor wire and locked metal doors, hundreds of men waited on a recent morning to be counted, part of the daily routine inside a remote facility here that was built based on a design for a prison.

But this is not a prison, and most of these men — rapists, pedophiles and other sex offenders — have already completed their sentences. They are being held here indefinitely under a policy known as civil commitment, having been deemed “sexually dangerous” or “sexual psychopathic personalities” by courts. The intent, the authorities say, is to provide treatment to the most dangerous sex offenders until it is safe for the public for them to go home.

Yet not one of the more than 700 sex offenders who have been civilly committed in Minnesota over the past two decades has actually gone home. And only a few men have been provisionally discharged to live outside of state facilities under strict supervision. “You knew you were going to die here,” said Craig Bolte, a sex offender who has been held here nine years and who says he would rather be sent to prison, where “there is still hope.”

But now Minnesota’s civil commitment program — which detains more people per capita than any other state — is facing an overhaul. Earlier this year, a federal judge found it unconstitutional, calling it “a punitive system that segregates and indefinitely detains a class of potentially dangerous individuals without the safeguards of the criminal justice system.” The judge, Donovan W. Frank, of Federal District Court in St. Paul, is expected to order changes to the program as soon as this week.

Minnesota thought it locked up 700 sex offenders for life — it was wrong

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10-21-15 Minnesota:

Among Craig Bolte's earliest memories is a night of camping in his grandparents' backyard in Billings, Montana. He is three years old. The heat is suffocating.

Small hands feel along the seamless nylon walls of the tent. He is frantic to get beyond the reach of his teenage uncle. But he is too stupid, he thinks, to find a way out.

The sexual abuse wouldn't be discovered for years though his mother Michele suspects it began in infancy. Craig was an easy target for the whim and pleasure of an alcoholic young uncle and a pedophile grandfather who invaded his own kids' rooms when they were young.

Michele was only 14 when she gave birth to her son. The 16-year-old father was told not to come around, so Michele raised Craig in her childhood home.

The warning signs that all was not right appeared as he approached two. He touched himself. He tried to put his hands in a playmate's diapers.

‘Somebody needed to do it’: why attorney Dan Gustafson took on the Minnesota Sex Offender Program

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10-21-15 Minnesota:

Dan Gustafson has never been a big planner.

He certainly wasn’t planning on becoming a lawyer when he dropped out of high school, and he wasn’t thinking much about politics as he worked as a line cook at Country Kitchen in Moorhead, Minnesota. And on a recent September afternoon, as he stepped up to a makeshift podium in front of a throng of television cameras, he said he didn’t plan any kind of speech. "Fire away," he told reporters.

The 57-year-old attorney would eventually make a name for himself in antitrust and medical device cases against big corporations. Even after that, though, he wouldn't have mapped out where he's ended up today: as one of the central figures in a high-profile class-action lawsuit that could upend the way the state deals with some of its most dangerous sex offenders.

But in some ways, Gustafson's blue-collar upbringing helped prepare him to be smack dab in the middle of a legal and political debate over the constitutional rights of more than 700 people locked up in the state’s sex offender treatment program — also known as his clients.

Syracuse judge slams 'insanity' in sex offender program, supports chemical castration

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Link to search.

10-20-15 New York:

Syracuse, NY – A 61-year-old rapist who had done everything asked of him for seven years without winning his freedom shows the "insanity" of treatment in the state's secretive civil confinement system, Syracuse's top judge said.

Richard Zimmer raped two girls, ages 14 and 17, in Broome County in 1977. He spent 29 years in prison. After serving his time, Zimmer remained confined in the state's little-known system for the worst sex offenders. Meanwhile, a court battle raged as to whether he should be confined indefinitely or released to strict parole. While in the system, Zimmer was considered a mental health patient, not a prisoner, so there's no public record of his confinement.

Fifth Judicial District Administrative Judge James Tormey suggested that Zimmer had lost hope after years of accepting treatment and feeling no hope of release.

"Albert Einstein defined insanity as the repeating of the same behavior (treatment) over and over again, expecting a different result," the judge noted in his Aug. 30 decision.

Tormey ordered Zimmer released from confinement and placed on strict parole. He will be a free man after an out-of-confinement treatment program is approved by the court.

The judge's ruling is an unprecedented attack from a high-ranking judge on a controversial form of custody called "civil confinement."