AK- Doctors: Keep sex offender treatment

Older article relevant to Alaska's sex offender recidivism rate.

April 10, 2003 Alaska:

Some doctors are crying foul over the proposed elimination of the sex offender treatment program at Meadow Creek Correctional Center in Eagle River.

In a year when state legislators have made clear that budget cuts are a necessity to solve fiscal problems, Department of Corrections officials say that money can be saved by cutting the state's only sex offender assessment and treatment program.

Opponents of the cut say the program is essential to public safety.

"This program is effective in producing results and savings that are consistent with its mission to reduce harm to victims of sexual assault," said Dr. Martin Atrops, contract supervisor and developer of the program. "I know the administration wants to be tough on crime, but this is not an either-or issue. Incarceration and rehabilitation can work together."

The program has an annual cost of about $420,000 a year. Portia Parker, deputy commissioner of the DOC, said that cost is too high for the results the program has provided. In a year when the budget is so tight, she said the cut had to come somewhere.

"We are not going to be discharging these prisoners," said Parker of the inmates currently in the program. "We are looking at other options."

Atrops said the program, which has been at the Eagle River facility since 1984, actually saves the state money, citing cases in which program enrollees were released early saving the DOC an estimated $115 a day. He said the real proof of the program is in its recidivism rate, with none of the 40 that have completed the program or 22 that finished their sentence since 1998 havening re-offended. He said with limited access to government databases statistics for the duration of the program are difficult to calculate.

Atrops said the program cut would leave Alaska as one of only a few states that do not have a sex offender treatment program in corrections. He said a pre-treatment program exists in Lemon Creek Correctional Facility in Juneau, but does not offer a full program and cannot house the 62 current inmates enrolled in the Meadow Creek program. The current program lasts between 18 and 36 months depending on the inmates needs.

The program cut seems to become more likely each day, as the House Finance Committee moved the budget to the House floor Saturday, and the House was expected to pass the budget Wednesday. Rep. Mike Hawker, who represents an area spanning from Eagle River to Whittier, works on the Health and Social Services budget subcommittee that includes the program cut. He said he does not like the cut, but believes it will pass.

"I don't like seeing these programs eliminated. I think they work," said Hawker. "However, I don't see us putting back the cuts in corrections."

The budget moves from the House to the Senate, with the program slated to be cut on June 30.

Don Stolworthy, deputy commissioner of the DOC, said other treatment options are being explored. He said community based programs, faith-based work, and post-release programs could all play a part in the new plan.

"It is just too early to tell what we might be doing," said

Dr. David Wilcox, one of the contract therapists who works in the Meadow Creek program, said the experience that would be lost with the dissolution of the program couldn't be replaced.

"Our job is to give them the tools to self manage so they don't offend again,' said Wilcox. "Dr. Atrops leads a group of very highly trained professionals." ..News Source.. by GREG DART