6-4-16 Texas:
LITTLEFIELD — The walls of a long, white hallway are mostly bare, except for a few motivational posters and artwork.
A small fixture with the words “prayer box” written on it is attached to one of the concrete walls — the state’s most sexually violent predators asked for it.
Inside the facility — a once abandoned
Bill Clayton Detention Center (see multiple pics
top of article HERE) that stood vacant for six years — the men sign in and sign out as they move from one room to another so staff can verify their location during the nine head counts that take place through the day. They’re not allowed to get jobs within the community and any contact with people outside the facility’s walls must be approved.
There are 215 men housed in Texas’ Civil Commitment Center for Sexually Violent Predators, which the state opened in Littlefield last September after overhauling its previously unsuccessful program. In 2014, the program was subject to several lawsuits claiming inadequate treatment and punitive conditions. A state audit also determined the director and senior staff worked out of their homes with a severely mismanaged budget.
“There was nothing we were doing right in managing money. There was no checks and balances on anything,” said Marsha McLane, executive director of the state program. “That part of it is behind us. There’s always going to be mistakes and people are going to mess things up, but we have a budget director now.”
In the program’s nearly 17-year history, no one has successfully completed the civil commitment program, despite having already served their prison sentences. Texas’ civil commitment program was instituted in 1999 as an outpatient program, but was reformed last year into a tiered program. If they ever hope to get released, they must successfully complete four tiers of inpatient therapy before they’re promoted to the fifth phase of outpatient therapy.
