FL- Predator Program Short On Funding

12-24-2008 Florida:

TALLAHASSEE - Before Jessie Lunsford, there was Jimmy Ryce.

Like the Jessica Lunsford Act of 2005, which toughened sentencing for child sex offenders, the Jimmy Ryce Act bears the name of a young victim of a brutal rape and murder. That law, which state lawmakers passed in 1998, keeps Florida's most disturbed, violent sexual predators confined even after their prison sentences end.

Nineteen percent of rapists and nearly 13 percent of child molesters commit new sex crimes within four or five years of release, according to statistics from the Center for Sex Offender Management, a U.S. Department of Justice project.

Florida tries to prevent repeat crimes by holding its worst offenders for treatment and guiding their transition back into society. However, state officials say they may have to stop accepting offenders to the program next fiscal year if lawmakers don't provide more money.

"We are talking a lot of money, but we're also talking about a lot of sick individuals who should not be out on the streets," said Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, who co-sponsored the original legislation. "I think we have a responsibility to our children and the law-abiding residents in this state."

Under the Jimmy Ryce Act, the state transfers sex offenders deemed most likely to strike again to a civil commitment facility when their prison terms are up. The state Department of Children & Families oversees the program, which housed 675 offenders on Nov. 30 at the Florida Civil Commitment Center in Arcadia.

That's up from 568 residents just two years ago. Sally Cunningham, chief of mental health treatment facilities at DCF, who oversees the Sexually Violent Predator Program, said a new facility opening in April is expected to be filled on its first day, with more than 700 residents.

'This Would Not Be Out 1st Priority'

Faced with shrinking revenue, lawmakers have declined for two years to budget for growth in the program. Last summer, DCF officials asked the Legislative Budget Commission to bolster the $26 million program with a transfer of an additional $6 million, just to make it through the end of the current fiscal year.

The legislative panel agreed to the one-time budget patch, but the program will have to ask for that money again in 2009-10, on top of money for expected growth. All told, they say, the program needs an additional $30.2 million.

With the state facing a shortfall next year of up to $5.8 billion, "this would not be our first priority," said Durell Peaden, R-Crestview, who oversees DCF's budget in the Senate.

Families of disabled children are begging to keep their state-paid services; impoverished, chronically ill patients are pleading for treatments, he said. That makes funding for sex predators a tough sell. "This is money to keep people locked up; we're trying to keep people alive."

Yet it is also ironic, considering the cascade of bills that lawmakers have filed in recent years to crack down on sex offenders.

"Actions speak louder than words," said Sen. Nan Rich, D-Sunrise, who is vice-chair of Peaden's committee. "It's fine to stand up there and make political statements and file bills, but once you get the bill passed, if you don't provide the appropriation to implement it, it's useless."

Rich worries that dwindling funding will increase violence and security breaches at the Arcadia facility. "Eventually you reach a point of no return," she said. "You can only put so many people into a facility before it becomes dangerous."

In 2005, a scathing Miami Herald series exposed dangerous conditions and other problems in the program. The previous year, residents filed a class-action federal lawsuit against the department, citing inadequate treatment and services.

'Detainees' Strain Program

The state Office of Program Policy and Government Accountability reported in January that both treatment and security had measurably improved since DCF switched contractors in December 2006. The 2004 class-action suit is still pending.

The state office also found that a high ratio of "detainees" persisted at the facility, meaning those transferred there at the end of their prison sentences but before the state has concluded whether they need civil commitment.

Stuck in limbo, detainees accounted for nearly half of the program, straining its budget and causing crowding, the report found.

They were less likely to accept treatment, a legal option for all program residents, and more likely to cause violence and attempt escape.

Cunningham said DCF has stepped up efforts to reduce detainees. Since March, that number has dropped from 299 to 261.

Lawmakers interviewed for this report said the program's underfunding is purely a budget issue, not a reflection on the program.

Victor Crist, who oversees the Senate's criminal justice appropriations, said there may be cheaper options for housing and treating these sexual predators within the corrections system.

"We'll be looking at prioritizing spending so that we get the greatest return," said Crist, R-Tampa. "If that means cutting back on some programs and beefing up others, that's how the chips will fall."

The demise of the civil commitment program would not disappoint some civil rights advocates, who continue to argue that locking up offenders after they have served their time violates their civil liberties. The U.S. Supreme Court disagreed in 1997, finding that a similar program is Kansas was constitutional.

Larry Spalding, lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union, said admission to Florida's program is not selective enough, committing some people who don't deserve it.

"The net is too wide," he said, adding that if the program is falling on hard times, that's all the more reason to tighten criteria for commitment.

Cunningham, of DCF, said she would have to see specifics before endorsing that idea. ..News Source.. by CATHERINE DOLINSKI