MN Sex Offender Program costs $70 million a year but rehabilitates no one
Friday, November 13, 2009 at 9:39 am
- 31 Comments
By any reasonable standard the Minnesota Sex Offender Program has been an unmitigated failure. In its nearly two decades, it has failed to rehabilitate a single patient. The only people who have graduated from the program have done so in body bags. Since its establishment in 1993, at least 26 patients have died while civilly committed to the program.
“It’s like a roach motel,” says Phil Duran, an attorney with OutFront Minnesota, who has been an advocate for individuals committed to the program. “People check in, but they never check out.”
Gov. Tim Pawlenty and his Republican allies in the Legislature have repeatedly stated that spending on health and human services programs is out of control. He returned to the theme last week in announcing a proposal for an amendment to the state constitution to cap spending. “The health and human services budget is growing at rates that are just absolutely unsustainable,” Pawlenty stated.
But while politicians rail against the purported runaway costs of welfare spending and slash health insurance for some of the state’s poorest residents, the program with the most rapidly rising cost never merits mention.
Since 2003 the budget for the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP) has increased by almost 400 percent, mushrooming from $18.5 million annually to $71.6 million in just six years. The program is a budgetary black hole, but legislators don’t seem to care.
“It’s very difficult to get people to engage on it,” says Linda Berglin, who chairs the Health and Human Services Budget Division, and has sought changes to the MSOP for years. “Nobody wants to be associated with sex offenders. Nobody wants to be responsible for something that might cause a problem later on.”
But while the MSOP is largely ignored during budgetary debates, it recently garnered headlines because of the controversial purchase of two dozen flat-screen televisions for the facility in Moose Lake where the bulk of the patients reside. After the purchase details were outlined in the Star Tribune, Pawlenty immediately ordered that the televisions be removed. The plasma screens are now to be utilized by veterans’ homes and the Minnesota National Guard.
The televisions, however, are a fiscal red herring. Even at the extravagant cost of $2,282 to purchase and install each screen, they represent a rounding error in the overall cost of the sex offender program.
MSOP population mushroomed following Sjodin murder
The reason for the skyrocketing cost of the MSOP is simple: The number of sex offenders civilly committed to the program has surged dramatically in recent years. In 2003 there were 199 men (there are no women) being held at facilities in St. Peter and Moose Lake. But in the ensuing six years the population has nearly tripled, with 547 sex offenders currently being held for an indeterminate period of time. Each person enrolled in the program costs the state $134,000 annually.
The timing of this explosion in cost and sex offender commitments is by no means coincidental. In November 2003, Dru Sjodin, a 22-year-old college student, was murdered by a sex offender named Alfonso Rodriquez, Jr., who had been released from prison earlier that year after serving 23 years for stabbing and attempting to kidnap a woman. He also had a previous conviction for rape.
In the wake of that high-profile crime, the Minnesota Department of Corrections began referring all Level III sex offenders — those deemed most likely to commit additional crimes — due to be released for consideration of commitment. In addition, Pawlenty ordered that no civilly committed sex offenders be released unless required by law or ordered to do so by the courts. Under state law, the authority to provisionally release an offender who has met all the treatment requirements rests with a three-judge panel.
The ramifications of these changes were twofold: the pool of offenders being considered for civil commitment was dramatically expanded, and the odds of patients being released from the program were greatly reduced.
“Before Rodriguez the referrals that we were getting as examiners were really very, very dangerous sex offenders,” says Paul Reitman, a forensic psychologist who has screened candidates for civil commitment for roughly two decades. “Typically they had 10, 15, 20 victims.”
In some instances, individuals who have never committed violent offenses have gotten swept up in the program. The changes implemented to the program have also increased the number of people facing civil commitment who have only committed crimes as juveniles or suffer from developmental disabilities.
“We started getting a whole different group of people,” says Reitman.
So what exactly is Minnesota getting for its $70 million-a-year sex offender program? Duran, of OutFront Minnesota, doesn’t believe the MSOP has any credible means of treating patients. He points out that in response to the flat-screen television flap, the head of the program argued that the large-screen televisions were part of the treatment program.
“Then there are millions of Minnesotans every night who receive sex offender treatment,” Duran notes. “Who knew? If that’s the quality of decision making, then you know something’s wrong.”
Duran further points out that residents of the facilities are subjected to rules that even the most diligent patient would find exasperating to follow. For instance, he says, a ban on physical contact even extends to a prohibition on shaking hands.
“Shaking hands? That is a dangerous activity?” he wonders. “Help me understand in what context that makes sense.”
The systemic problems with the program are not a new development. But Berglin notes that primary oversight rests with the Minnesota Department of Human Services and that the Legislature’s authority is somewhat limited.
Last legislative session, for instance, Berglin sought what she thought was a fairly anodyne change. She introduced a bill that would have allowed felons facing potential civil commitment to voluntarily remain in prison until they had completed a sex-offender treatment program, thus potentially decreasing the chances that they’ll be subject to indefinite detainment.
“The Department of Corrections went bonkers,” she recalls. “They just went ballistic. I could not get that bill out of the judiciary committee because of the extreme position of the Department of Corrections.”
Little political will to reform program
Even when legislation has been pushed through it’s proven ineffective in breaking the patient logjam. Two years ago Berglin sponsored legislation changing the administrative process through which civilly committed sex offenders can be released. The sign-off previously had to come from the top official at the Minnesota Department of Human Services, a political appointee. Under the new legislation, the final call on whether a patient is released after completing treatment is made by a three-judge panel. But it made no difference in whether individuals were ultimately released.
Reitman and others stress that lower-cost alternatives exist that would be just as effective in protecting the public from people who have committed heinous crimes. In states such as Wisconsin, Washington and Texas, for instance, sex offenders have routinely been released from civil commitment programs and not committed additional crimes. The key to success: intensive supervision and continued treatment. If the offenders fail to follow through on any aspects of their therapy plan, they again lose their freedom.
“The research tells us that what really keeps these guys from sexually recidivating is being under intensive supervision,” says Reitman. “In reality the treatment model is there for us to follow.”
Margretta Dwyer, a former head of the sexual therapy program at the University of Minnesota, agrees that much cheaper alternatives exist to effectively treat sex offenders. She notes that it costs the state $134,000 annually to keep an offender civilly committed. “You could hire two guards in 12 hours shifts for $50,000 per year, per person and still save money,” she says.
But Dwyer believes the will to have a meaningful discussion about how to effectively deal with sex offenders is lacking at every level of the government. “Everyone’s afraid,” she says. “Every judge is afraid to step forward. Every representative and senator is afraid to step forward.”
31 Comments
Comment posted November 13, 2009 @ 12:35 pm
This is exactly why I haven’t paid taxes in 20 years. Suckers!
Comment posted November 13, 2009 @ 4:11 pm
This issue is another opportunity for uninformed critics to spout off.
Comment posted November 13, 2009 @ 6:11 pm
It is not the Governor, but the Nanny State legislators that fund this debacle.
“Granny B” (a State legislator?) fails to comprehend the magnitude of this problem, for it is even the “infomed” critics that are “spout(ing) off”. For instance, Margretta Dwyer, “a former head of the sexual therapy program at the University of Minnesota”, offers (no doubt with tongue-in-cheek) a simplistic alternative for reducing costs in the program. She, however, is clearly as poor at estimating costs as our legislators. As no State employee would be willing to work a 12-hour shift, it would take many more than “two guards” to provide continuous surveillance of an offender. In fact, given a normal 40-hour work week with vacations, holidays, sick days, FMLA, etc., etc., it would take at least 4.4 full-time equivalent employees to provide such surveillance. At annualized salaries of $50,000, the cost of her alternative would be $220,000 per year, making the current expenditure a bargain.
It appears that even the experts need to do more homework before an appropriate and cost effective solution can be found for this problem.
Comment posted November 13, 2009 @ 9:56 pm
“This is exactly why I haven’t paid taxes in 20 years. Suckers!”
Actually, t-bag, Lee Atwater explained how he got you guys on his side nearly thirty years ago:
Listen to the late Lee Atwater in a 1981 interview explaining the evolution of the G.O.P.’s Southern strategy:
”You start out in 1954 by saying, ‘Nigger, nigger, nigger.’ By 1968 you can’t say ‘nigger’ — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now [that] you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites.
”And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I’m not saying that. But I’m saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me — because obviously sitting around saying, ‘We want to cut this,’ is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than ‘Nigger, nigger.”’
[...]
The truth is that there was very little that was subconscious about the G.O.P.’s relentless appeal to racist whites. Tired of losing elections, it saw an opportunity to renew itself by opening its arms wide to white voters who could never forgive the Democratic Party for its support of civil rights and voting rights for blacks.
The payoff has been huge. Just as the Democratic Party would have been crippled in the old days without the support of the segregationist South, today’s Republicans would have only a fraction of their current political power without the near-solid support of voters who are hostile to blacks.
When Democrats revolted against racism, the G.O.P. rallied to its banner.
And as Atwater explained, they did it by learning to cloak their racist appeals in code terms — Atwater’s “abstractions” — to avoid being open about their actions and to, at the same time, link cutting taxes with screwing black people in the minds of bigots nationwide.
Comment posted November 13, 2009 @ 10:15 pm
The sex offender is not deemed unConstitutional because it’s NOT “punishment”.
Prison is punishment. Civil commitment is not.
So why are the TVs being taken away from people who are not being “punished”.
Comment posted November 13, 2009 @ 10:16 pm
Sorry, I should have said “The sex offender REGISTRY is not unConstitutional because it’s not “punishment”.
Comment posted November 14, 2009 @ 12:16 am
I would encourage everyone to get their facts first. If you want the ‘whole’ picture you need to talk to the people who have the paneramic view of the program, the strengths and the challenges. And it isn’t the politicians, it isn’t the assumptions of Duran, that are going to give you the picture. They each have a small slice of a very large, busy, colorful picture, but i have yet to see everyone, those who defend the program, neutral, and opposers come together to better understand a difficult, complex, population of men. There is so much at stake, and someone else seems to want other people to blame, or use the program as an outlet to complain
Take for instance the T.V.s…
The Facts: State purchased large new screen t.v.s for people in a treatment program.
And we think (opinions): sex offenders don’t deserve anything, they are throw aways. or it’s just another example of wasteful government spending, let the t.v.s go to people who deserve them. this is bull, etc.
Results: All tvs pulled from a treatment program. Some placed in vetrans homes. Governer says will eventually buy smaller t.v.s for the treatment program.
FACT: some offenders are vets. most are participating in treatment (perhaps to better themselves.) Thoughts: would the public have reacted the same way to all these t.v.s in a state run chemcial dependency program? would it have made a difference if the t.v.s were 7 inches smaller?
END result: uniformed decisions made, opinions formed on incomplete informaiton and cycle continues. it doesn’t matter what side of the fence you are on, but the foundation under both sides, the materials, upkeep, and future goal of that fence (if you even remember what you put it there for in the first place).
By the way: The photo of the correctional facility in moose lake is in not related to the civil committment program in moose lake.
Comment posted November 14, 2009 @ 12:25 am
This whole civil[sic] commitment scam is just a way for the correctional arm of the state governments to wrest money from taxpayers.
These men are held unlawfully under an ex post facto law and should ALL be released!
The sex offender is the modern day Jew, the first of many whipping boys this new regime has targeted as incorrigible, and the final solution will be the same as was chosen by a similar government under similar circumstances.
As this government sends us into hyperinflation (coming soon to a wheelbarrow near you!) it will need many more scapegoats such as these.
We, who have the stones to defend the indefensible, know that our group will be targeted sooner or later. You who are the pawns of the government, who will stand with your pitchforks and call for the heads of the evil sex offenders, and whichever group is next on the list, will eventually be marched off to your doom as well, and we won’t be around to stand up for you.
America has learned nothing from history and demands that “It can’t happen here!”
Wake up; It is.
Comment posted November 14, 2009 @ 1:57 pm
Its all about the money, quite frankly. They could care less about “protecting children.” Truth @ oncefallen.com
Comment posted November 15, 2009 @ 5:28 pm
You’re correct about the photo, AJ. Apologies for the error.
Comment posted November 16, 2009 @ 9:49 am
This is why I’ve always supported shooting each and every last one of them. $9.95 for 50 rounds for a 9 mm.
Comment posted November 16, 2009 @ 11:57 am
You really want the worst of the worst living next to your kids?
What would you do then?
Comment posted November 16, 2009 @ 10:27 pm
1. Henry Bowman, Jr. — The men in the sex offender program are not victims. They all made the choice to rape little children and women. They are not victims.
2. For everyone –. Would you rather have sexually agitated men just sitting in their cells staring at the walls (which leads most men back into their cycle… aka boredom) or would you rather have them out where guards can see them watching television. Yes, you would hope that they would be able to do something constructive with their time. but that is not something that they have learned. What they’ve done pre-commit was sitting at playgrounds watching your children or they have been at bars waiting for your daughters and wives to leave. Do not forget why they are there. Do not forget that boredom leads to major behavioral problems. I believe that the treatment center made a good decision in getting those televisions, because nobody wants an idle brain.
3. If this were any other treatment center — for example for alcoholics, narcotics, etc.. it would be alright if they had the televisions. Sex addiction is all around. These men are sex addicts. There are advocates out there like the one featured in this story and they love to give the media all the information that they can about how bad it is in the treatment center. This person is getting this information from the clients. And of course, most of the clients probably feel as if they are “victims of the system” and they want the Minnesotans to have guilt and they want to cloud the Minnesotans mind with “too much money” in hopes that they will get released. It’s not going to happen, they are too dangerous until they have proven to their county of commit that they are safe again because they finished treatment.
Honestly, these men need treatment. These men should have communities that support this treatment. The Minnesotans should support what the hard working staff are doing there. I’m sure the staff there are doing everything that they can. You know, they live in Minnesota too. They have families in these neighborhoods too.
I would rather live in a community that is safe and a community that holds sex offenders that have gone through treatment.
And whoever wrote this article – you have absolutely no credibility writing this and you’re only looking at one angle. Why are you continuing to create problems for a program that you know absolutely nothing about? No one knows what it’s really like in there. Only the staff. The clients are in there because they have multiple thinking errors and they have seriously hurt innocent victims. Why would you believe something they say over anyone else Mr. Writer?
Check your facts.
Comment posted November 17, 2009 @ 1:50 am
Well, “Big Poppa Pee” how did you come to the conclusion that these are “the worst of the worst?”
If I had the room and government would allow it, I’d let them ALL segue into society though my home!
Can you possibly imagine having done your time, having your wife, mother, brothers and sisters, your children anxiously awaiting your return after sometimes years incarcerated, only to be disappointed because some shrinks don’t want to be “responsible” for what you might do in the future and so recommend you be further incarcerated for life??
Most *ex offenders take a plea to avoid a long sentence, but if they know they’ll likely get life after serving their sentence, they may as well go to trial.
And if their alleged crimes are against children and they take pleas to avoid the child having to testify, don’t you know this “solution” will end up traumatizing more children because these kids will now have to testify in court?
One assumes you have a brain.
Use it.
Comment posted November 17, 2009 @ 9:48 pm
Mr. Bowman… do you understand some of those men have been to prision, many many times for same type of sexual crime? some have been through therapy, on ISR, and still committed those same crimes afterwards? would you want to have those ones in your home? some may have offended family members, and some may even admit they need this type of help, although most most likely will not. I would hope if i had a problem which I could not control, maybe not really admit to yet, someone would help me, to protect others from me and to protect myself from me.
Either way, it’s a difficult situation, there is no easy solution, no ‘one-shoe-fits all’ ending to this. Different people require various interventions, and humanity is a complex thing. I think the question should be; what solutions do you have/are there for these human beings who need treatment, keeping in mind the various factors of public protection, many various/diverse treatment needs and a way to please everyone? (except i don’t think the last part exsits). It is isn’t easy.
Comment posted November 25, 2009 @ 7:01 pm
It is not about the criminals and their incarceration. It is about the Department of Corrections and their lack of proper and effective rehabilitational programs of these people. It has been proven to be possible in other states, why can’t these idiots get their over-inflated heads together and form a solution from the models available? No one wants to be held accountable if a few offenders fall through the cracks? God forbid, but we all know it may happen. Then get people in there that know how to make informed decisions based on common sense and experience. Obviously these officials know the program itself is a joke if they refuse to stand behind it. SO CHANGE IT! Duh…. What a damn joke that the government is absolutely ok with turning there heads at funneling millions of dollars for something that helps NOONE, while the rest of the state is losing their homes to job crisis and forclosure. Children go without food and people die because they cannot afford medical insurance. What the hell is going on here? DAMN!!
Comment posted November 30, 2009 @ 10:23 am
Dezzamn,
This sounds like it’s about money to you. Yes, people are losing their jobs and homes, but that is not because of the sex offender treatment centers. People are losing things all over the nation, so that argument doesn’t make sense to me. I do understand that they have gone to prison, but studies show that it takes approximatley 3-5 years to treat sex addiction. These men have much more than sex addiction, they have many other issues they’re dealing with.
Bottom line, people don’t want innocent children and women getting hurt. These men are repeat offenders. Repeat offenders. I believe that they need to go through treatment and apply that in the community before they are officially released.
How could we support anything other than that? Let’s not set up our community for failure. Let’s support the VICTIMS and not the OFFENDERS.
Comment posted December 26, 2009 @ 11:56 pm
sorry… tabbed and ended up submitting:
as far as the TVs go… each patient is allowed to have a tv. Both parties must pay for cable or neither gets it… cost of cable to facility is 14$ per room tvs not provided. cost to patients is 28$ each down from a few years ago. They had 5 tvs to a section of these tvs in question. 1 level was not yet completed and had no patients. On the floor of the patient i know, one of the TVs never did work from the start. Patients wish they were in prison. They had more freedoms. Last spring, they had treatment class involving family tree… all well and fine but how much can you learn about your family tree without outside resources that requires 4 months to cover? some stir must have been made cause now he has a few classes. cost. They have work available at minimum wage but limited to i believe 5 hours per week. Of this money,half is taken before they get it for charges. they are planning on chargeing them in the near future for room and board to the tune of $200 per month. They dont make that much so the cost carries over from month to month… so they are better off getting county welfare which cant be taken so at least they have money for personal effects like shampoo, shaving supplies,paper, etc. I guess if it was my say so, the best way to find out what is for really really going on, is get someone from like 20/20 or 48 hrs or something to go in there undercover as a patient for a while and report what happens to them…and then tell the world! Cause when the big guys plan on comming in and evaluating the facility, you bet they are on their best behavior and stuff is spit shined to pass protocol!
My question is, why cant they with the 100 million they spent on a facility of cells,(they have cell blocks a,b,c,etc) make it self-sustaining? Let these guys raise the food they eat? make the tools they use, give them work ethic and pride in themselves so they can get out of the life they came in with? There are alot of guys in there that dont belong there… and not all for rape they committed….alot of girls now adays are screaming rape when they get upset in the relationship!
Please people research!!! get upset!!! We can get more for our hard earned money…Yes some guys need to be there! But for $134000 a year we should be expecting so much more…
Comment posted December 27, 2009 @ 12:11 am
wow.. the whole first half of my comment got lost! I was saying that there are guys in there that should not be! knowing someone in the facility has given new insight! When we visited a patient in the st peter facility, there are gentlemen there who are physically unable to ever offend again. A particular gentleman whos wife was visiting him was about 70 years old and had an oxygen mask. He was helped to his seat by workers. Why is he there? Rules are made up at will. What one worker say yes to another will put a patient in PI for. Before being transported from one facility to another, patients are put in PI (private isolation) Having been transported form st peter to moose lake, one of the patients spent a year in PI before someone bothered to listen to his case and let him out. Omnisbudsmans office has given several warnings to the facility with no clout behind it to change its ways. many of you may have read a star tribune front pager (read again at the link below)
http://www.startribune.com/projects/19529344.html
Lots of intenet links on that page.
http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/2008/05/mn-judge-rules-federal-commitment-law.html
Comment posted December 30, 2009 @ 1:46 pm
We can not prove the sex offender registry has keep saved one child’s life yet we can prove the sex offender registry is in direct relationship to the death of innocent people, putting us to mind of scenes from Casablanca
People who are so obsessed with any sex they can find/unearth & the only way to deal with this kind of “hierarchy” of historic hysteria. A word taken from hysterectomy, hysteria is tied to castration used to make animals less threatening which clearly explains the atmosphere we have made for ourselves.
Anyway we are supposed to be an advanced nation and we still have a death penalty when the rest of the world except for some nations we are still warring with/selling weapons too. Our weapons dealers/torture lovers delighting in support for the death of people they don’t know or want to simply because they don’t know how to get money for telling them how to live or taking it from someone by force. Is that supposed to include mutilations? In my humble opinion that alone is a terrorist activity as much as severed hands, ears, heads, or making a case with nothing more than an obsession justified by a self inflicted wound?
People the worthlessness of the use of it and Pink Triangles has been proved so many times. The Jim Crow hanging laws that brought disgrace to our nation allowing thieves and murderous societal bigots to trash any shot at making good of a program in its design to make money destroying our nation and its people. Using this as a behavior model is backward because we are compounding the problem since the numbers are increasing to include the children they purport to protect. The idea brought us the Nerunburg trials and now America wants to upgrade the concept after fighting to protect against it? Turn ON to History channel and turn on your captions now that they are having those old speeches captioned Hitler gave. It started w/a registry, shut it down now. Lopsided Loopee the gig is up!
Comment posted March 28, 2010 @ 8:59 pm
Civil Commitment is just another way to get money from us taxpayers. The majority of the guys in Moose Lake are NOT dangerous and if the prisons released them they deserve another chance. Murders get out of prison with NO labels on their backs and they aren’t tracked down and locked up again for no reason. Half the population has never even heard of civil commitment and have no idea what is being done to these guys who did their time. There is NO treatment being given these guys and they have fewer rights than they did in prison. It’s a concentration camp and nothing more. A pathetic waste of our money and human life.
Comment posted April 23, 2010 @ 5:40 pm
The ACLU of Minnesota (Contact) represents men at Moose Lake who allege it is more like a prison than a treatment center.
The Dept of Corrections has it listed as one of it’s institutions and they name all residents in this institution ‘INMATES’!
It’s not MORE like a prison, it is a ‘PRISON’ and it’s meant to be a PRISON! Do they think American people are that ignorant!
You can take a virtual tour through Minnesota prisons it’s listed as : tour http://www.corr.state.mn.us/aboutdoc/tour/default.htm
MCF-Moose Lake Unit 1 Hallway 3-man room in Sex Offender Treatment Wing
It looks like a DUCK, it waddles like a DUCK, Quacks like a DUCK! But, according to those producing and concocting MURDER Laws, it’s a ‘DOG’! Bow Wow, People!
Their making room for your loved ones , with your tax dollars!
Comment posted September 7, 2010 @ 8:32 pm
I find this interesting as they complain about the cost. If the person is a danger to others and himself then yes keep him. He must be mentally ill and the way he acts out is sexual. Many get violent that are mentally ill and have to be kept sedated for their protection and others. It just is. However if they are able to function and the only reason they are there is people are afraid of them that’s a different story. What is it? You can’t have it both ways. If this cost so be it.
but so many other programs cost that you could do something about and the result would save the states money. One would be to trim back the amount of sex offenders you make register. But someone would be afraid so maybe not. Even if its proven to be over blown and bulgging.But we must fear what we don’t know. Take expensive steps to continue and then complain about the cost.
When politicians run for election a lot of them will say I’m tough on crime. I will make sex offenders do more time. I will punish them more vote for me. Well hey who wouldn’t want a sex offender to do more time. To be tracked for life. Who is signing a blank check while we vote with emotion and elect people that have nothing better to promise. Remember its only money and if it save just one child its all worth it. till it doesn’t work and hasn’t and we have a system that is bleeding us dry and can’t stop it.
One approach would be to cut the registry back to the five percent that are really a danger. this would free up police to watch the ones that are. also take a lot less but hey that would put some one out of work that is part of the over head for the state/ cut state spending? never.
What we fail to understand and I’m sure that every government employee will argue this to the death is that every program we vote for adds more government. Every person that works for the government is over head. You can’t say well they pay taxes to because the money they pay it with is the same tax dollars they are paid with.so cut programs back to where they really work. Cut the number of people that are running these programs that don’t work and you save all the way around.
Fear is a very compelling way to politic. I would have to question their morals when they use the fear of something or hate to gain an election. One trait of an offender is to be manipulative to groom their victims in to compliance. Well people we have been groomed and victimized to the point where we can’t afford this any more.
Comment posted October 19, 2010 @ 9:53 am
Everyone here makes a valid point but why can’t the government come up with a viable solution? Fear is what created the program and fear can be a very powerful emotion.
The sex offender program in St. Peter is ran like a prison, right down to the razor wire on the outside enclosures. It is supposed to be overseen by the Dept. of Human Services, but I think that the DOC has alot of involvement behind the scenes. Why is it ran like this? Four men escaped with the help of 7 employees and now the rest have to suffer for their mistake. The same as when Dru S. was killed. Nobody wants to take the blame so it becomes a witch hunt for everybody that is a sex offender. There will always be a handful that slip through the cracks and not just sex offenders. I think that the problem has always been around, but is now coming to light with the way news gets around, television, internet, etc.
I happen to think that people who manufature meth should be locked up and the key thrown away. They are making and selling this to our kids.
A first time offender gets 4 years in prison, gets out, gets a job, is buying a house, goes to treatment in Mankato weekly, and visits with a shrink weekly. Dru gets killed and the witch hunt starts. 2 people from human services, social worker from the center in Mankato, and his shrink alll testify on his behalf. All evidence points that he is a functioning member of society, but the judge is too afraid and commits him.
We have all lost on this. I am sorry for Dru’s family. They have lost a daughter. I in turn have lost my son to the Minnesota Sex Offender Program. The first time offender is my son and I am very proud of him.
Their treatment is a joke.
Comment posted October 28, 2010 @ 3:21 pm
So many of the guys there need so other form a treatment that place is nothing but hell. The guys can’t do anything. They don’t even have the right to talk to who they want on the phone they don’t get there mail because staff don’t think they should have it. There kids there boys that had a very bad up bringing that could really benifit from a real family some love and just some teaching but they get put in this hell and become even more messed up. I liked what someone said about a C.D. Program they all have an illness that needs treatment but yet offenders are treated so different . I’m not saying that all the men there should be released because there are some there that that place is to good for them they should have stayed in prison. But I believe that over half of them should not be there. I think they need to let them out also. I worked in moose lake for 6 months
Comment posted November 6, 2010 @ 6:31 pm
Why even have a justice system or sentencing in these cases? Just parade them in front of a judge and give them life! If people who have committed multiple crimes are so dangerous then they should be given life sentences through the justice system. That is how this country works. Well it did until these laws. With courts abandoning their duties to uphold individual and constitutional rights WE the people have NO protection.
The moment anyone of us supports a “civil” law that allows the government to keep people, of any group, confined is the moment all of society is in danger.
Government is always more, MORE, never less. Once they have made all the political hay they can off this group they will move on to another group.
As a father I am disgusted and deeply distrubed at any abuse of children but we should all be very scared of where this is headed.
Comment posted November 22, 2010 @ 3:04 pm
The men in this so called treatment facility are wrong for what they have done, and yes they have committed a heinous crime against the many young men and women that they victimized and traumatized. They have proven they need help for their sexual addiction, one that is a curable disease. But how are they being cured when they are deprived of every civil right we as Americans have had since day one? In what way are they learning they have done wrong when they are not allowed the basic necessity such as a television or being able to call their loved ones such as parents spouses and in many cases their families? Our government has taken their lives away, made them more of a of a threat then if they were actually treated in a more reasonable fashion. It has cost the taxpayers millions upon millions of dollars to house these men then it would actually cost to treat these men, what is it $144,000 per year for one individual to be civilly committed there. And who is paying that, certainly not the ones that are making the choices to keep these men away from society. If there is anyone out there that would like to help these men and their families and most of all our society my e-mail is ogichiidaa27@yahoo.com we need to stand up against these predators running our country into the ground!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! These predators are the ones deeming what is necessary to put dollars in their own pockets and not do a damn thing to help society are reform these men back into decent respectable members of our society and communities,
Comment posted November 22, 2010 @ 3:10 pm
Oh yeah doesnt these so called doctors have a pill for everything? Wheres the pill to help these guys
Comment posted December 7, 2010 @ 12:32 pm
i worked there for 3yrs… first off there is no cure.. they need seperated from society and thats wht the facility provides. period. For the patients its not a disease, illness, or treatable condition… its like being thirsty for water and the only cure is to drink… you can put it off for a period of time yes but eventually they all drink… I nor anyone I can think of would like anyone of these men living in my community ungaurded… and those of you that think they should need to wager their childrens safety on that admission… as for the things they DONT have… tvs ect… they were until the privilage was abused… hell they were aloud some out landish things up until 5-6 years ago…
Comment posted January 3, 2011 @ 3:37 pm
I want to say that my husband is in one these places all for just making a phone call over 16 yrs. ago, I’m suffering an illness and have been hanging in there without him for years, and we both keep strong for each other. There are a few guys in there that do need to come out as they do not belong there and are good people, just that comunities are too scared and prefer not to know this that some are good people, but they cross them out and right them off as dead-men “out of sight and out of mind”, there are good christain men in commitment centers, just as or better in your own church and I would trust them in my comunity.
I pray for the ones that need to be released, that god grant them out and home. As for the ones that don’t need to be out and do, well all I can say is that “If” they do bad things (as wel asl every one else on the out) they need to go back and do time.
Why catertize all in a facility as worst when this is not true (not all apples are bad in the bag), check it out and get to know the truth before judging a person, as they are Gods people too. It’s killing me to live my life without my husband, I can barely walk and do for my self and need him so much.
I just wish people could see the other side of things instead of judging, we all sin and have repeated so one day we shall see our loved ones and live in perfect love.
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