11 Sexually Violent Predators Given Early Release from Prison

2-14-2013 Texas:

58-year-old John Michael Enard, a convicted rapist has a rare distinction. The state calls him a sexually violent predator.
"These are guys that have an extensive, extensive sexually violent history," said Allison Taylor, director of the state's civil commitment program.
Enard did more than just chuck his GPS tracking device last month and make a run for it.
He unknowingly brought to light at least 10 other dangerous decisions made by the state's Board of Pardons and Paroles.
"It was a discretionary decision to let 11 of these sexually violent predators out of prison," Fox 26 Investigates asked Parole Division Director Stuart Jenkins who replied, "The decision was made to release them on parole yes."
11 dumbfounding decisions you weren't suppose to know about.
"This scenario that you and Fox news has opened up as a result of Enard busting out of the halfway house has opened up the proverbial Pandora's box," said crime victim's advocate Andy Kahan.
A box full of deviant criminal minds.
"We're dealing with the worst of the worst," Taylor said. "The most dangerous population of sex offenders."
In the late 1990's lawmakers found a way to keep track of sexually violent predators after they had to be freed from prison.
It's called the civil commitment program.
"Without our program or our agency these guys would be walking the streets without any form of supervision whatsoever," said Taylor.
In the program's 14 year existence less than 300 sex offenders have ever been civilly committed.
"Since the inception of the program no one has ever been released yet," Taylor said.
First experts determine which prison inmates convicted of sex crimes have an abnormality that makes them highly likely to reoffend.
"While they may have 4 offenses of records," Taylor said. "They have hundreds and hundreds of victims they were never caught for."
Next comes a civil commitment court hearing like this one.
In these rare proceedings jurors in Montgomery County must answer yes to two questions.
"Is the person a sexually violent predator and do they have a behavior abnormality that makes them likely to commit a future predatory act of sexual violence," the program director said.
Texas is the only state where none of these civilly committed sex predators is kept in an institution.
Instead these dangerous predators live in halfway houses and wear ankle monitors.
"They're on active GPS tracking which is on real time 24/7 tracking," said Taylor.

Keep in mind lawmakers did this as a way to keep track of dangerous sexual predators who had to be released from prison.
They served all their time or they had to be let out due to the state's old mandatory release law.
"You don't knowingly parole somebody, vote to release somebody if you know they're going to re-offend again that doesn't happen," Kahan said. "I've never seen that happen before."
But get this, Fox 26 Investigates has discovered the parole board actually allowed Enard and 10 other sexually violent predators just as dangerous as he is, to leave prison early and in some cases shaving several years off of their lengthy prison sentences in the process.
"Is it a good idea to parole these people to let them out before they serve their sentence, before you have to let them out?" we asked the Civil commitment director who replied, "That's not a decision for me." ...continued... by Randy Wallace