Some question Va's costly civil commitment program

12-19-2010 Virginia:

BURKEVILLE, Va. (AP) -- Virginia's program to indefinitely detain sexually violent predators was made for people like Richard Ausley, a repeat child molester who kidnapped a 13-year-old boy, locked him in an underground box and raped him for a week until the boy was rescued.

But the mental health facility that houses violent sex offenders also confines dozens of convicts that state officials say could be conditionally released if they had somewhere to go.

With more than 200 sex offenders being held after their prison sentences have ended - and Gov. Bob McDonnell proposing spending millions more on a new facility to house them - some question whether Virginia's program to civilly commit the "worst of the worst" has gone too far. They also question if the state can afford the nearly $100,000 a year it costs to confine and treat each offender.

"Something is not right," said Paul Martin Andrews, whose 1973 kidnapping and assault by Ausley prompted him to lobby lawmakers in 2003 to fund Virginia's civil commitment program. "We don't have that many sex offenders that rise to the level that they should be getting commitments on them."

Virginia is one of 20 states that have a civil commitment program. An offender is eligible if he has committed certain sex crimes and a psychiatrist determines he has a mental abnormality - like being anti-social - that makes him likely to offend again. A judge or jury makes the final determination.

As of Dec. 1, 239 offenders were housed at the Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation under Virginia's civil commitment program. The 300-bed facility, which opened in 2008, is expected to be full by next year.

When the law was passed in 1999, only four crimes - rape, forcible sodomy, object sexual penetration and aggravated sexual battery - qualified offenders for civil commitment.

As part of sweeping legislation to crack down on sex offenders in 2006, the General Assembly expanded that number to 28, including statutory rape and attempted assaults. It also changed the test used to determine if an offender would reoffend, which lowered the threshold to be considered for the program.

The changes dramatically increased the pool of those eligible for civil commitment, and commitments shot up from three per month to an average of 12. As a result, the program's budget ballooned from $2.7 million in 2004 to an expected $24 million this year.

On Friday, Gov. Bob McDonnell proposed spending another $43.5 million to renovate a closed prison in Brunswick to use when the Burkeville center is full. He requested $612,000 to treat more offenders in the community.

"A law composed with noble intentions for use in a small number of extreme cases is now being overused to the point of injustice," said Charlie Burnham, a northern Virginia attorney who has represented sex offenders.

Despite the budget or moral implications, Virginia is not likely to makes changes to the program, House Majority Leader Kirk Cox said.

"The problem is the public is probably as concerned about sexually violent predators, and rightly so, than any other group of criminals," said Cox, R-Chesterfield. "We'd better not make any mistakes there."

Pamela Sargent, a senior assistant attorney general in charge of the civil commitment unit, insists the program only targets the "worst of the worst."

Only one out of every 250 sex offenders released from prison are considered for commitment, she said. Of the more than 600 eligible cases, her office has sought to have someone deemed a sexually violent predator 60 percent of the time, according to records obtained by The Associated Press through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Sargent said staff lawyers who pursue such cases try to balance an offender's rights and need for treatment against his risk to others.

"Especially with these pedophiles, if they don't get treatment they're going to do it again," she said. "That's their sexual interest. That's their sexual urge, and it doesn't go away."

Many argue civil commitment should be limited to violent offenders - those like Richard Ausley.

On the day Ausley kidnapped Andrews, Ausley was supposed to be in a Portsmouth courtroom for a hearing on the rape of another teenager. Ausley chained Andrews inside a box buried in the woods and sexually assaulted and beat him for a week until rabbit hunters heard Andrews' screams and rescued him.

Ausley never lived to be committed. The 64-year-old was beaten and strangled by his cellmate, who had been sexually assaulted as a boy.

When lawmakers passed the law more then a decade ago, they did not fund it. In 2003, as Ausley's prison term would have expired, Andrews convinced the General Assembly to fund it.

"It was for people who we have no other means of controlling," Andrews said of the law. "It is for the high-risk sex offenders, people that we know with near certainty will offend again."

But some are committed simply because they have no place to go - and few ever leave the facility once they get in.

Dr. Steven Wolf, director of the state's Office of Sexually Violent Predator Services, estimates at least 25 offenders could be released and monitored in the community if they had suitable housing. The cost would be about $21,000 per year for each offender, or or about a fourth of holding someone in the psychiatric facility.

At 19, William Dewey was charged with having sex with a 14-year-old in Delaware and raping a 12-year-old in Virginia. After spending eight years in prison, where he excelled in school and work programs and was an usher in the church, evaluators said Dewey was a good candidate for release. He had no family or friends in Virginia who could take him in, so this year he ended up in the Burkeville facility.

"That's really disturbing to me that you say that I'm OK to be released into society but then because I don't have a suitable home plan you commit me for Virginia's convenience," said Dewey, now 33.

Evan Nelson, a psychologist who has conducted about 200 evaluations of those considered for commitment, said while it's not unreasonable to want offenders to receive specialized treatment, more should be done to avoid hospitalization. He suggests Virginia either build halfway houses or provide social workers to help find community-based housing and treatment.

But he realizes that takes money, and most politicians don't want to be seen as supporting sex offenders.

"It's politically unpopular to stand up and say the SVP law needs to be brought back into balance," he said.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said he had "stopped counting months ago" about how many offenders had been committed since he took office in January. He said there's no doubt treating some offenders in the community would be cheaper, but legislators don't seem to want to do that.

"The question is does the General Assembly want to put the money into doing it in a detention environment or save the money and risk some level of in-community residency for these folks while continuing the treatment?" he said. "Thusfar, it's been a detention-only approach."

For each of the first five years of commitment, offenders go before a judge for a hearing to see if they're appropriate for release. After that, they can get a hearing only every two years.

Since 2003, only 10 offenders have been released from the treatment facility. None have committed new crimes. Another 46 offenders were deemed a sexually violent predator but conditionally released rather than being committed, and one was convicted of a new sex crime.

"I don't want to say this program is bad. This program is absolutely necessary," Andrews said. "Is it necessary that every single sex offender go through this program? Absolutely not." ..Source.. DENA POTTER