9 sex offenders near freedom

5-10-2010 Iowa:

Eddie Risdal calls himself the Million Dollar Man.

The 61-year-old figures that's how much taxpayers have spent to keep him locked up since he was convicted of felony sex abuse involving two teenagers in 1986.

And that cost will only grow: Risdal spent 20 years behind prison bars, but he and 79 other sex offenders have been judged such a risk to society that they're now being held indefinitely at the Civil Commitment Unit for Sex Offenders in Cherokee.

"I will probably die here," he conceded.

To date, no patient in the 12-year history of Iowa's civil commitment program has "graduated" from treatment. But that could change soon.

Nine patients housed in the secure unit at the Cherokee Mental Health Institute have progressed enough through the program that they have earned permission to start leaving its razor-wire confines to try a slow transition back to the community, according to Dr. Jason Smith, who runs the program for Iowa's Department of Human Services.

Over the years, judges have ordered the release of 13 sex offenders after deciding for different legal reasons they should not be there. But no patient has been deemed safe enough to graduate in the eyes of judges and those who run the program.

"It's all based on their level, which has to do with how they conduct themselves, and ... how they are progressing in treatment in terms of their sexual deviancy issues," Smith said. "The final stage is learning how to balance treatment and work."

Polygraph tests, physiological tests and professional evaluations are used to verify results at each of five phases of treatment.

The class of likely first-time graduates is influenced by time and numbers: As the unit's population has grown, more patients have progressed through treatment and become eligible for release.

Resettlement of the patients into communities around Iowa will pose additional risk. By definition, the offenders are violent sexual predators. They include convicted rapists, child molesters, and perpetrators of incest and a wide array of other sex crimes. Each has a roughly 14 to 20 percent chance of reoffending, Smith said, citing some studies of recidivism rates.

But Smith also pointed out that thousands of sex offenders already live throughout Iowa with varying levels of supervision. The ones poised for release from the civil commitment unit, at least, will have demonstrated physical and behavioral changes that make them less likely to reoffend.

"The people we don't have control over are the ones released by judges," Smith said.

Several studies, like one in 2007 by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, suggest sex offenders' likelihood of being convicted for a crime after release is much lower, at least in the short term, than the average for all criminals released from prison.

However, recidivism rates vary widely depending on the time frame of studies; whether repeat offenses are defined by convictions, arrests or self-reporting; and other factors.

One controversial Canadian study that attempted to measure offenders' undetected crimes found long-term recidivism could be as high as 88.3 percent. Another study found those who completed treatment had much lower recidivism rates than those who refused treatment or dropped out.

Iowa's civil commitment unit is one of 20 such programs for sex offenders around the country. A judge or jury has to agree with state prosecutors that offenders are at such high risk to reoffend after their prison terms end that civil commitment is warranted.

Iowa's offenders do not have scheduled release dates. They work their way through five phases of treatment, which includes undergoing therapy and monitoring their behavior. In the final phase, they can be released entirely, with or without supervision.

"All of our guys are subject to lifetime registration" with law enforcement, Smith said. "And we always want them to be supervised so we can monitor how they are adapting."

Regardless of how well they respond to treatment, all patients in the unit are entitled to an annual hearing before a judge. By law, the patients have a legal right to be released if they are no longer considered "more likely than not to reoffend."

But no patient in Iowa has ever completed all phases of the program and consequently been released unconditionally by a judge.

One reason prompting the releases: In 2003, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that a person who was "presently confined" for a non-sex offense could not be civilly committed without a showing that the person had committed a "recent overt act."

One of the released offenders was Loren Huss Jr., who was accused of killing and mutilating his girlfriend, Marilyn Sheets, in Des Moines in 1986. The Ankeny man, who has bipolar disorder, spent 19 years in state custody after he bit off Sheets' nose and killed her during a religion-fueled hallucination.

He was later deemed insane and set free. In 2003, he was committed to the unit. But a Polk County jury set him free again in 2005, ruling he was not a dangerous sexual predator. Huss was subsequently arrested for operating a vehicle while intoxicated in 2009 and completed his sentence at the Fort Des Moines correctional center in December.

The offenders now preparing to graduate fully from the program have made substantial progress, Smith said.

Already, the nine are being released for periods of time during the day under supervision before returning to the unit. All are required to look for work, find additional treatment, and try to reconnect with friends and family.

Where the offenders resettle will be limited to communities where they can get ongoing treatment, but they will not be restricted to a certain area. Victims will be notified of their release in advance. ..Source.. LEE ROOD