Matthew T. Mangino: The enormous cost of civil commitments

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6-9-17 National:

Earlier this year, The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld a Minnesota law that provided for the indefinite detention of sex offenders after completion of their prison sentences.
U.S. District Court Judge Donovan Frank wrote that the Minnesota Sex Offender Program violated the due process rights of the people it involuntarily detained in prison. The Eighth Circuit disagreed.

Pennsylvania currently has eight men locked-up who have served their complete sentence for a crime committed years ago. These men are sex offenders. They are sexually violent predators, as determined by a civil court, and are being detained indefinitely. Pennsylvania is one of 20 states that provide for the civil commitment of sexually dangerous offenders. There are more than 3,600 men, and some women, committed or detained across the country.

There are 231 sex offenders currently being held indefinitely in New York, who have also completed their criminal sentences. Civil commitment is not new. The procedure has been used for decades with regard to the mentally ill and those with highly contagious diseases. More recently it has been applied to sex offenders with a diagnosable mental abnormality with likelihood to re-offend.

Cherokee’s CCUSO serves to rehabilitate offenders

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4-11-17 Iowa:

What happens when a sexual offender have served his prison term, but is deemed likely to commit further violent sexual offenses? The Civil Commitment Unit for Sexual Offenders (CCUSO) provides a secure, long-term, and highly-structured setting to treat sexually violent predators (SVP) who have served their prison terms, but who, in a separate civil trial, have been found likely to commit further violent sexual offenses.

The Civil Commitment Unit for Sexual Offenders (CCUSO) program was created by the 1998 Sexually Violent Predators Act of Iowa to provide secure, inpatient treatment for sexual offenders who are believed to be a high risk for sexually re-offending. Inpatient treatment is indefinite, with the length of commitment dependent upon the time required for each individual to complete the criteria for advancement through five treatment phases. It went in to effect in April of 1999.

The CCUSO is located on the campus of the Cherokee Mental Health Institute. A unit has be remodeled to accommodate 150 inpatients in a highly secured environment. CCUSO provides secure treatment to individuals who have been committed by the court for treatment purposes. It has a five-phase treatment program which includes group and individual therapy, educational programming, physiological assessments, and a transition program.

Sex Offender Treatment Costs Skyrocket, Records Show

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12-11-2007 South Carolina:

More than $82 million has been spent over the past 10 fiscal years to treat designated “sexually violent predators,” while offenders in the program have paid virtually nothing toward their involuntary commitments, state records show.

Offenders in the treatment program run by the S.C. Department of Mental Health collectively were billed an average of about $8.3 million annually from fiscal year 2002 through last fiscal year, which ended June 30, according to The Nerve’s review of a DMH spreadsheet provided under the S.C. Freedom of Information Act.

The total tab for treatment during the 10-year period was $82,755,902, while offenders paid a total of only $753 as reimbursement for the costs, the spreadsheet shows.

The overall annual amount billed to offenders has sharply increased in recent years, from about $6.5 million in fiscal year 2006 to nearly $11.6 million last fiscal year, according to the spreadsheet. That’s an overall hike of 78 percent, or about 59 percent after adjusting for inflation.

The number of offenders in the program has grown sharply in recent years, according to agency records, from 94 as of June 30, 2008, to 138 as of Dec. 12, an increase of about 47 percent.

Kansas bill removing legal rights from confined sex predators scrutinized after state audit

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4-29-2015 Kansas:

Some Kansas lawmakers on Wednesday expressed concern over legislation they say would make it more difficult for sex offenders who are civilly committed to treatment to appeal for their release.

The bill follows a state auditor's report that found flaws in the sexual predator treatment program and said its costs are soaring. The measure also would remove language from Kansas law requiring the state to provide some educational and rehabilitation services for those committed to the involuntary treatment.

Offenders deemed to be sexual predators are committed to Larned State Hospital after serving their criminal penalties and are released only after completing a seven-phase treatment plan. The legislation would remove those offenders' right to legal counsel when filing grievances and petitioning for release. And those proceedings would be moved from a court setting to a meeting with a state administrative lawyer who could decide the case by phone or video conference.

Kim Lynch, senior litigation counsel for the Department for Aging and Disability Services, which runs the program, said she hopes the changes will streamline the process in a positive way for all sides, noting that there is a backlog of cases from the program in Pawnee County court — some dating back to 2009.

Workers’ Memorial Day pickets bring attention to ongoing safety concerns at Security Hospital

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4-28-15 Minnesota:

Picket signs and disgruntled Minnesota Security Hospital employees hit Minnesota Avenue Tuesday for the annual Workers’ Memorial Day.

It’s labor’s commemoration honoring all workers who have been killed or injured at work, according to Tim Headlee, security counselor lead and president of the AFSCME Local 404, which represents some 800 union employees.

But in St. Peter, Headlee knows it’s much bigger. Safety concerns at the Security Hospital and within the Minnesota Sex Offender Program have prompted calls for change. Local 404 officials have sounded the alarms for several years, long before the Jan. 22, 2014 murder of Michael Francis Douglas by fellow patient Darnell Dee Whitefeather.

The picketing, Headlee stressed, is more a sign that the issue has finally bubbled to the surface and is getting the attention of Security Hospital and Minnesota Department of Human Services officials. But Headlee says there’s been little to no change at the St. Peter facility. In fact, he claims that there’s a growing staff shortage. And that means additional safety concerns, according to Headlee.

News 2 Investigates: Convicted rapist committed to Sexually Violent Predator Program 23 years later

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4-22-15 South Carolina:

On Wednesday night, News 2 dug through the 23-year-old case and investigated why a Moncks Corner man has now been committed to the South Carolina Department of Mental Health's Sexually Violent Predator's Program.

This case goes back to 1992, when a mother was violently raped in her own home. The man convicted of the crime, Michael Myers, was scheduled to be released from prison back in February. But a mental evaluation was in order to see if this man should be let free.

Today, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced that a jury found that Myers was too dangerous to be out of prison. Instead he's been committed to the Sexually Violent Predator Program.

Back on the night of February 16th, 1992 Myers went into a 30-year-old woman's apartment in Berkeley County and raped her at knife point. Officials say he made her 9-year-old son watch.

Texas faces deadline to relocate sex offenders after prison

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4-4-15 Texas:

A Texas agency is scrambling to relocate more than 100 sex offenders after two companies backed out of a contract to provide post-prison housing, but officials say inquiries about shuttered jails, holding facilities and numerous other options have left them no closer to a solution.

Marsha McLane, executive director of the state’s Office of Violent Sex Offender Management, is looking for land — either public or private — that could hold the 185 former inmates who are currently under the state’s care.

Felons convicted of at least two violent sexual offenses are given a judicial hearing as their prison sentences conclude. A state judge can determine that they remain a threat to public safety and commit them under the care of the agency, which has just 25 employees and a $6.9 million budget.

Beyond the 185 men currently in the program, another 178 prison inmates have been ordered to be placed in it upon their release — including 22 by the end of the year.

“This is not the most popular clientele to work with, but the state has tasked us by statute with the long-term supervision and treatment of civilly committed sex offenders,” said Jessica Marsh, general counsel for the Texas agency. “And we take that responsibility very seriously. Especially the supervision.”

The office has received praise for modifying operations that under a previous administration had drawn broad criticism for mismanagement. But state lawmakers and others say more needs to be done, pointing out that no offender in the civil-commitment program has been approved for release in its 15-year history.

Texas faces deadline to relocate sex offenders after prison

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4-3-15 Texas:

A Texas agency is scrambling to relocate more than 100 sex offenders after two companies backed out of a contract to provide post-prison housing, but officials say inquiries about shuttered jails, holding facilities and numerous other options have left them no closer to a solution.

Marsha McLane, executive director of the state's Office of Violent Sex Offender Management, is looking for land — either public or private — that could hold the 185 former inmates who are currently under the state's care.

Felons convicted of at least two violent sexual offenses are given a judicial hearing as their prison sentences conclude. A state judge can determine that they remain a threat to public safety and commit them under the care of the agency, which has just 25 employees and a $6.9 million budget.

Beyond the 185 men currently in the program, another 178 prison inmates have been ordered to be placed in it upon their release — including 22 by the end of the year.

Padded Walls, Not Prison Cells, For Some Missouri Sex Offenders

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12-26-2013 Missouri:

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Missouri locks up its violent sex offenders but not all of them are behind prison bars.

Some offenders are sent to mental hospitals to take part in a program aimed at treating the worst of the worst. It’s called SORTS, Sex Offender Rehabilitation and Treatment Services.

Currently, nearly 200 men are part of the program, not for what they’ve done but for what they might do in the future. SORTS is a civil involuntary commitment for those the state deems to be sexually violent predators.

How Do Our Neighboring States Handle Sex Offenders?

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3-2-15 Minnesota:

For more than two decades, Minnesota’s most dangerous sex offenders have been locked up a second time after serving prison sentences. They’ve been committed to indefinite detention in treatment programs.

Now, more than 700 sex offenders are suing the state saying that’s unconstitutional.

So we wondered: How do our neighboring states handle sex offenders? Do they get out? And what happens when they do?

Seven-hundred-and-nine of Minnesota’s worst sex offenders call Moose Lake or St. Peter’s treatment programs home.

Two have been granted provisional release in the civil commitment program’s 20-year history.

But when WCCO checked neighboring states, we found big differences in how they deal with their most dangerous sex offenders.

Facility holds sex offenders who've served their time

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2-22-15 Virginia:

CHESAPEAKE

Rodney Bernard Jones has a history of grabbing young women's buttocks.

A clinical psychologist said the 52-year-old felon has a mental disorder that makes it difficult to control his predatory behavior and "makes him likely to engage in sexually violent acts," according to court documents.

After nearly 15 years in prison for sex assault, Jones was scheduled to be released April 1.

But the state attorney general wants him to be civilly committed to a state facility that houses sexually violent predators after they've served their time.

Once again, Jones must go before a judge or jury who will decide his fate.

Each year, an average of 132 inmates like Jones are evaluated for potential commitment. Of the cases the attorney general brings before the court, an estimated 90 percent end up being admitted to the state facility in central Virginia, according to state figures.

The Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation in Nottoway County houses 367 residents who are considered likely to re-offend and therefore unfit to re-enter society.

Sex offender trial opens with contrasts

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2-21-15 Minnesota:

The trial in the lawsuit against Minnesota's program for treating its most dangerous sex offenders opened with contrasts: how two very similar states can have such dramatically different results in treating offenders.

About 20 years ago, Minnesota and Wisconsin established programs to treat sex offenders who seemed likely to recommit crimes. But where Minnesota's program has more than 700 offenders confined its facilities in Moose Lake and St. Peter, Wisconsin's Sand Ridge facility is home to 362 committed offenders, Deborah McCulloch, head of the Wisconsin program, said in court as the trial opened this week. It could stretch for several weeks.

Wisconsin's program has discharged 118 people; Minnesota's program has never unconditionally released someone back into society. Wisconsin has put 135 offenders on supervised release over the last two decades, but Minnesota has only given two people provisional release.

Minnesota's program is home to more than 50 men who have no adult records, meaning their only offenses were committed before they turned 18. Wisconsin has two, maybe three, individuals like that in its program, McCulloch said.

McCulloch's testimony was the first used by attorneys arguing the Minnesota Sex Offender Program is unconstitutional because it offers the promise of treatment to offenders, most who have already completed their prison sentences, but rarely lets anyone out of the prison-like facilities once they've been committed.

"Of course (the program) is hopeless, the door only swings one way," Dan Gustafson, the attorney for MSOP clients said in a packed St. Paul courtroom as offenders watched the trial streamed live 112 miles away in Moose Lake. "It's easy to get in, it's impossible to get out."

Part-3: Minnesota Sex Offender Program Likely to Be Declared Unconstitutional

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Part-1 ... Part-2 ... Part-3

2-12-2015 Minnesota:

Many Minnesotans may not like the fact that convicted sex offenders have rights, but the reality is that they do. While civil commitment is a viable option for keeping people who are considered too dangerous to be living among the general population off the streets, the state and federal courts have determined that a set of criteria must be followed for the commitment process to be lawful. This is where the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP) has come into question.

For a civil commitment program to be considered lawful it must provide adequate treatment, and the goal of that treatment must be the eventual release of those in the program. The state of Minnesota never intended for anyone to leave the MSOP, so there was no real reason to provide long-term treatment.

According to the Duluth News Tribune, a client in the state’s sex offender program spends an average of six hours in treatment each week. In contrast, Washington State requires inmates in the state’s sex offender treatment program to take six to ten hours of treatment per day. Even the sex offender program for the Minnesota Department of Corrections requires inmates to attend ten to fifteen hours of treatment a week. Clearly the MSOP is falling short of any acceptable standard.

Part-2: Minnesota Sex Offender Program Faces Unfriendly Fire in Court

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Part-1 ... Part-2 ... Part-3

2-11-2015 Minnesota:

Yesterday, Minnesota found itself on trial, attempting to defend the state’s Sex Offender Program (MSOP) before federal court Judge Donovan Frank. Dan Gustafson, an attorney representing clients in the program, depicted the treatment environment as “hopeless” with a “climate of despair” existing at the two facilities.

Deputy Attorney General Nathan Brennaman painted an entirely different picture. He described the program as a “positive environment,” staffed by “caring professionals” who do their best to ensure that a therapeutic environment exists for these men. According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, he even went as far as to point out that Minnesota “does some things better than any other sex offender program in the country.”

Despite Mr. Brennaman’s positive depiction of the Sex Offender Progam, a broad-based consensus among the program’s critics suggests that the program is fraught with problems. Judge Frank himself chastised the program and its policies during a hearing last February, referring to it as “clearly broken” and “Draconian.” He implored state lawmakers to take action to change the program before the matter came before his court.

A task force of treatment and legal experts was convened earlier last year to study proposed changes that would enable program to withstand legal challenges. The committee recommended the formation of a panel to oversee the commitment of sex offenders, instead of leaving it to elected judges to decide. The group also called for the release of less violent offenders to less restrictive settings, and for a panel of three judges to be created that would determine the conditions under which patients might be provisionally discharged from civil commitment.

Part-1: Minnesota Sex Offender Program Faces Scrutiny in Court

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Part-1 ... Part-2 ... Part-3

2-10-2015 Minnesota:

Minnesota goes into the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota today to defend the state’s controversial civil commitment program for sex offenders before U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank. There are currently more than 700 “clients” in the Minnesota sex offender program. On a per capital basis, Minnesota’s civil commitment program far exceeds any of the 20 other state-run civil commitment programs. California, with ten times the population, is the only state that has more convicted sex offenders in civil commitment than Minnesota.

Minnesota was in the middle of the pack in terms of the number of civilly committed sex offenders until 2003. That changed after 22 year-old Dru Sjodin was raped and murdered by Alfonso Rodriguez, a convicted sex offender who reportedly told officials at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Moose Lake, MN, that he would commit further sex-related crimes if he were released. Neverthelesss, he was released in May of 2003, only to murder Ms. Sjodin in November of the same year. Within a week of Ms. Sjodin’s disappearance, Rodriguez, 61, was arrested found guilty in federal court of the kidnapping, rape, and murder. He is currently prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, awaiting execution.

Ms. Sjodin’s disappearance on November 22, 2003 triggered nationwide media coverage of the case and ultimately resulted in the creation of the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Registry. It also led to a drastic overhaul of Minnesota’s policies toward sex offenders by then Governor Tim Pawlenty and Minnisota Department of Health Services (DHS) officials, resulting in the widespread use of civil commitment for sex offenders to virtually incarcerte an increasingly numbers of convicted sex offenders for indefinite periods of time without concern for their civil liberties.

Trial may bring changes to sex offender program

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2-9-2015 Minnesota:

A federal court trial starting today could decide the future of the state's controversial sex offender treatment program.

More than 700 civilly committed sex offenders are suing the state claiming it's unconstitutional to keep them locked up indefinitely and that they don't get adequate treatment from the program run by the Minnesota Department of Human Services.

Most were court-ordered to receive sex offender treatment after they finished their prison sentences — a process called civil commitment. Offenders are confined to one of two treatment facilities in Moose Lake or St. Peter. The system was set up in the 1990s when current civil commitment laws went into effect. But it's been under fire for rarely letting anyone out until recently.

The program's been politically charged for years. There's no consensus among Minnesota lawmakers on how to fix it through legislation. With the federal suit pending, some in the Capitol want to let the case play out in court.

The Legislature should not act to change the sex offender treatment program until the judge decides the lawsuit, said state Rep. Tony Cornish, R-Vernon Center.

"If he does rule this unconstitutional, I would ask the attorney general to immediately appeal it to a higher, more conservative court and to have the system keep in place until we can fix it," Cornish said.


The program held 703 people as of Oct. 1. The cost per day per client is $341, according to the Department of Human Services. That amounts to more than $124,000 a year to house and treat each offender.

While the state calls it a treatment facility and refers to offenders as "clients," many of the buildings at Moose Lake look and feel more like a prison.

Civil confinement program's numbers grow

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9-2-2014 New York:

With plans for expanded housing, the state's program for civilly committed sex offenders has seen a spike in the number of newly confined offenders.

Meanwhile, the program's budget has swelled.

Now in its seventh year, the program, designed for those considered the most dangerous sex offenders, is experiencing some of the growth that critics predicted at the program's outset. Other states with decades of experience with similar programs had seen the budgets explode because of the costly psychiatric treatment for offenders and the fact that very few are released for years.

An examination of recent reports from state agencies, coupled with information provided by state officials, shows that:

• The Office of Mental Health, or OMH, budget for civil commitment has grown 45 percent in the past three years — from $44 million to $64 million.

• Between November 2012 and October 2013 — the months highlighted in a recently released OMH report — the number of state prisoners deemed eligible for the civil commitment program was more than twice that in recent years.

• While OMH psychologists had judged fewer than 4.5 percent of the eligible pool of inmates fitting for the civil commitment program in the previous four years, almost 7 percent were referred for the program in the year covered in the recent report.

Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer and the legislature created the program in 2007. Before their release from prison, sex offenders are evaluated by mental health specialists to determine whether they have a "mental abnormality" that makes them likely to commit new sex crimes.

State attorneys fighting release of Franklin County sex offender

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5-15-2014 Washington:

ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE NEWS RELEASE -- Attorneys from the Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) Unit of the Attorney General’s Office are in the Tri-Cities fighting to prevent the release of a Franklin County sex predator who has been confined to the state’s Special Commitment Center for the past 13 years.

Ronald Love, 56, has been convicted of three sexually violent offenses committed over decades. He was confined to the Special Commitment Center in 2001, when the state filed a petition alleging he is a sexually violent predator. In 2005, a trial judge agreed, and ordered Love’s indefinite commitment. Love is now asking to be released unconditionally into the community.

Under Washington’s civil commitment law, the Attorney General’s Office must demonstrate Love suffers from specific mental abnormalities and/or personality disorders that cause him to have serious difficulty in controlling his dangerous behavior and make him likely to engage in predatory acts of sexual violence unless confined to a secure facility.

Former North Kitsap man, convicted of sex offenses, asks court to release him from involuntary civil commitment

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4-1-2014 Washington:

A trial to keep a man convicted of three sexually violent offenses in Washington's Special Commitment Center began March 31 in Kitsap County Superior Court.

The state Attorney General's Office is working to keep Elmer Todd Gillis, 49, confined. Gillis is asking the court for unconditional release into the community, as allowed under law.

The Attorney General's Office must demonstrate Gillis suffers from a mental abnormality and/or personality disorder that causes him to have serious difficulty controlling his behavior and makes him likely to engage in predatory acts of sexual violence, if not confined to a secure facility.

The trial is expected to continue into the second week of April.

Gillis' record dates back to 1984 in Spokane County, where he was found guilty of indecent liberties at the age of 18. In 1990, he was convicted of second-degree rape in Snohomish County. In June 1993, he was convicted of second-degree assault with sexual motivation in Kitsap County; the assault occurred in Suquamish. He was also charged with fourth-degree assault of a Kingston woman that year.

Gillis has been confined either at the Special Commitment Center or at the Secure Community Transition Facility on McNeil Island since 1997.

Gillis was committed under a law that permits the involuntary civil commitment of sex offenders. The predator laws help "protect communities from offenders who are likely to reoffend if released," Attorney General Bob Ferguson noted in a press release.

The Sexually Violent Predator Unit within the Attorney General's Office was created in response to the laws permitting involuntary commitment of sex offenders. The unit is responsible for prosecuting predator cases for 38 counties in Washington. In 2013, the unit tried 19 cases and won 16.

As of March 2014, about 296 sexually violent predators are in the Special Commitment Program. ..Source.. by KIPP ROBERTSON

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Inmates Seek Release Amid Sex Offender Program Controversy

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3-20-2014 Minnesota:

In Minnesota, there are 700 sex offenders kept away in indefinite treatment, more than in any other state. A federal judge warned that some of those men need to be let go because parts of the program are unconstitutional.

While the offenders are technically patients or clients of the state, they are housed in maximum security prison-type settings at Moose Lake and St. Peter. WCCO-TV’s Esme Murphy went inside the Moose Lake facility to meet three men deemed sexual predators who could someday be free.

Ninety miles north of the Twin Cities in Moose Lake sits a sprawling fortress. It is home to 500 of the men that Minnesota courts have deemed sexually dangerous.

In 1992, Dennis Stiener, who is now 66, was facing charges of having sex with five teenage boys. He took a plea bargain that sent him to St. Peter for four years of treatment. But when that time was up, a court ruled he was still sexually dangerous, so he was civilly committed to Moose Lake, where he’s been for 23 years now.

“I don’t have urges anymore,” Steiner said.

Craig Bolte, 26, was sent to a juvenile facility when he was 15 after he sexually assaulted an 11-year-old female relative. “I am not the kid that I was when I committed those crimes,” Bolte said.

Court records show as a young teenager he propositioned another 11-year-old girl and threatened her father. After serving four years in a juvenile facility, a court ruled Bolte was still dangerous and he was civilly committed at the age of 19.