Our View: Moose Lake situation poses many questions

2-24-2010 Minnesota:

MANKATO — The state bonding bill that came out of a House/Senate conference committee Monday did not include $89 million that Gov. Tim Pawlenty wants to build a new addition to the Moose Lake sex offender facility.

The debate over the bonding bill — which is larger than the governor wants and doesn’t include his Moose lake request — will be the center of bitter debate in the coming days. But the issues surrounding Minnesota’s sex-offender treatment program is a major, long-term problem that no one at the Capitol seems interested in addressing.

The offenders in Moose Lake (many were formerly held at St. Peter until the state opened the new Moose Lake facility a few years ago) are civilly committed there after they have served all of their prison time. The idea is that the offenders are sexual psychopaths who can’t be released back into society unless and until they are successfully treated.

But the fact is no one has ever been released from the sex-offender program. It is, in effect, a lifetime sentence outside of the criminal court system.

While most states have such programs, Minnesota locks up more sex offenders — per capita — than anyone else. Moose Lake has 552 offenders and the 400-bed expansion Pawlenty wants will fill up in just a few years. By that time the operational costs of the program alone will top $100 million a year.

Politicians in both parties bemoan the high cost of the program, but both parties contributed to the ramp-up of offenders being committed. After the horror of sex offenders committing heinous acts again, including the murder of Dru Sjodin, the Legislature and governor were quick to push for more offenders to be committed after they serve their prison terms.

Being tough on sex offenders was the easy part. The difficult part — the one that isn’t being addressed — is how to pay for it, or how to reduce the cost.

New proposals to increase the prison sentences of the worst sex offenders would certainly help. It’s far cheaper to imprison the offenders than to put them in a secure treatment facility. But the high number of offenders already in the program, and those who will be committed in the near future, won’t change because of tougher sentences.

Reducing costs by making it easier for the offenders to leave the program isn’t a choice most lawmakers want to make.

But both parties and the governor need to make a fresh commitment to looking for new solutions to the skyrocketing cost of the sex-offender program. Barring that, they need to come up with the money for buildings and operations to pay for the system. ..Editorial.. of The Free Press