MN- Building sought for sex offenders

9-4-2009 Minnesota:

The administration of Gov. Tim Pawlenty is to decide in the next several months whether to seek $300,000 in funding to design a new residential facility that aims to help certain court-committed sex offenders at the St. Peter Regional Treatment Center to reintegrate into the community.

The money is being sought by the Department of Human Services in anticipation of a growing number of sex offenders gaining approval for participation in the Community Preparation Services (CPS) program.

If Pawlenty includes the request in his list of bonding proposals, and the Minnesota Legislature approves it, construction funding of $3 million would be sought in 2012. The funding would construct a residential facility on the treatment center campus but outside the secured perimeter of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program.

The CPS program began early this year but currently houses just two Minnesota Sex Offender Program residents who have been approved to begin the process of reintegration into the community. A Special Review Board decides whether sex offenders have made sufficient progress to participate in the reintegration program.

“MSOP anticipates that the Special Review Board will grant approval for approximately 18-25 residents over the next 6 years,” according to documents submitted with the request for design money.

The two residents currently in the program are being housed in the century-old Halverson House on the treatment center’s northeast corner, but that house is licensed for just five residents. The new larger facility would be located on the treatment center’s west side.

The Minnesota Sex Offender Program attempts to provide treatment to people committed by courts as sexual psychopathic personalities or sexually dangerous persons. They typically are committed as they near the end of a prison term following a criminal conviction.

Participants in the CPS program are the ones “who have completed primary treatment requirements and have demonstrated meaningful change” and who receive the approval of the Special Review Board.

“The CPS program is designed to assist with the reintegration of MSOP residents from a secure setting on campus to a more homelike setting located outside the secure perimeter,” according to the documents. “... The CPS program will provide specialized programming to prepare residents for successful community reintegration.”

Staff will monitor patients in a number of ways, including “electronic monitoring, intermittent staff surveillance, GPS tracking and drug and alcohol screening.” Residents who make adequate progress would eventually have opportunities to work in the community and have “other community involvement.”

Whether or not the design funding will make the cut will be decided by the Pawlenty administration as it prioritizes hundreds of requests for funding through the bonding bill, which typically provides for approximately $1billion in construction around the state.

“It is important to note that none of the requests have been approved by the Governor’s Office or Minnesota Management and Budget ...,” said Bonnie Martin, project information manager at the Department of Human Services. ..Source.. by Mark Fischenich, Free Press Staff Writer