Sex Offender Programming In Iowa Starts at Mount Pleasant

See also: Iowa Preparing For Huge Increase In Sex Offenders Entering Probation, Parole. Given Iowa is a civil commitment state, prison programming may limit the number of folks ending up in civil commitment.

8-17-2014 Iowa:

The programming hub for incarcerated sex offenders is at the Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility. The medium security prison houses men and women, and specializes in treating male offenders with substance abuse problems and sex offenses. It always is filled to capacity, which caps at 250 for inmates in sex offender treatment, corrections officials said.

All of Iowa’s prisons offer more generalized programs for inmates, including basic education, vocational and social skill building and work force development. Once a year, many of them hold a three-day program called the Alternatives to Violence Project, a non-profit aimed at providing non-violence training. Victims also speak during the program about offenders’ impact on their lives.

Greg Ort, deputy warden at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville, said inmates are housed in other prisons and placed on waiting lists because high demand for sex offender treatment at Mount Pleasant. Prisoners are transferred to Mount Pleasant for specialized programming roughly a year before their discharge date.

Sean Crawford, associate superintendent of treatment at Mount Pleasant, said the sex offender program has a three-track model ranging from six to 15 months long. He said the tracks are based on offender risk assessments.

All tracks share the same foundational model of helping the offender deal with deviant thoughts, feelings and behaviors. The program is based on workbooks from the Safer Society Foundation, a group that works with survivors, offenders, treatment professionals and family members to find ways to prevent sex abuse. The treatment in Iowa consists of group therapy and individualized counseling.

Crawford said Mount Pleasant has an additional model for sex offenders with special needs, which is typically full and treats offenders with developmental and reading comprehension disabilities. ..Source.. by Gabriella Dunn/IowaWatch and The Gazette

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Heroux: Facts, myths and sex offenders

10-17-2011 Massachusetts:

The best time to address an atrocity is before one happens. Sensational media events often bring out the fear factor and lead to over reaction and ineffective solutions. But I'm not talking about natural disasters; I am referring to sex offenders.

First let's work with facts. 1) According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics, 75 percent of sex offenders' victims are people that they know. 2) According to recidivism reports available on the Massachusetts Department of Correction website, contrary to conventional wisdom, sex offenders have a less than 1 percent for a 'new sex offense.' And 3) there are 75 Level 2 and 25 Level 3 registered sex offenders in Framingham.

Crime policy should be based on "evidence" of what is effective. But numerous laws are based on what people think might be effective, and when measured for effectiveness, the laws are found to produce no effect on public safety. The most common form of post incarceration sex offender prevention is community notification laws. However, recent research published in the journal "Criminology and Public Policy" states that: "The data presented here do not support the claim that the public is safer from sex offenders due to community notification laws. The data do, however, provide modest support for a key assumption of notification laws: that children receive more protection against victimization when their families know about a high-risk sex offender residing nearby. What is unclear is the quality and relevance of this increased protection."

This is not to suggest we should not have sex offender registries. What it suggests is that sex offender registries may provide a false sense of security, and so other strategies are necessary.

Civil confinement is one option to protect the public but it is important to know that civil confinement is about four times more expensive than regular incarceration.

In-prison sex offender treatment programs can reduce recidivism up to 15 percent, and post-release supervision can further reduce recidivism up to about 30 percent. Housing, job placement and drug treatment/medical care are perhaps the most important elements to successful re-entry for any ex-offender. These things are what the government can do to help protect citizens. While I am a strong proponent of in-prison and post-release programs, more needs to be done.

Concerning children, we should not worry about sex offenders as a broad category; we need to worry specifically about pedophiles.

Pedophiles are a certain type of sex offender. Pedophilia is a specific mental disorder classified in the DSM, and to be clear, acting on impulses is also a crime. Research shows that only about 1 in 20 sex offenses on a child are reported by the child. The reason for this is because child victims often don't know they have been victimized, and other times they are too embarrassed to address it. Today, the best place for a pedophile to find a child to build a relationship to exploit is online. Pedophiles don't wait in the book stacks at the local public library to surprise attack a child - 60 to 70 percent of victims of a pedophile knew the offender. Pedophiles patiently build a rapport and a trusting relationship with a child. They use their adult status and exploit trust.

The most important thing that can be done is for parents to educate their children about what constitutes inappropriate contact (i.e., "Good Touch, Bad Touch"); to say no when boundaries are crossed; and to report inappropriate contact to a parent or another trusted person.

It should also be made clear to the child that inappropriate contact can come from strangers and someone known and trusted by the child, and that child-adult secrets should be reported to the child's parents.

It is extremely important to let the child know that anything that happens to them is not their fault; that they have done nothing wrong; and they are not going to get in trouble for reporting any and all inappropriate contact.

And unfortunately, teachers and other child care givers need to be trained in looking for indications of a child being abused by a parent. As rare as it is, it does happen.

Kids don't come with instruction manuals. Parent education on important points to address with their children about pedophiles is something that the city should offer. I am sure there are qualified professionals who can offer workshops or draft brochures pro bono.

We have not heard of any sensational atrocities in the media as of recent. Now is the time to take appropriate preventive steps to make sure we don't hear of any such stories. ..Opinion of.. Paul Heroux is a Massachusetts native. He is a former director of research and planning of the Massachusetts Department of Correction and holds a master's in criminology from the University of Pennsylvania.

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Lawmakers back choices for sex offenders

5-14-2010 Colorado:

Bill headed to governor would let sex offenders choose treatment program

A compromise was reached over a controversial bill that would allow sex offenders to choose the court-ordered treatment program they wish to attend, sending the bill to the governor on the last day of the legislative session.

The intent of House Bill 1364, sponsored by Rep. Sue Ryden, D-Aurora, is to extend the state’s Sex Offender Management Board. But an amendment would allow sex offenders the right to select which court-ordered treatment program they attend.

Critics say offenders will only choose the program that is the most lenient.

The House on Tuesday rejected the Senate amendment, requesting a conference committee, which met yesterday.

Lawmakers believe they reached a fair compromise yesterday. Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, who participated in the conference committee and is chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said the compromise involves allowing sex offenders to choose the treatment program, but from a much smaller list put together by the offender’s parole or probation officer. The list would include three options chosen by the offender’s supervising agency.

“I think the compromise we struck recognizes that offenders do need some choices because the program’s components, or the style of the program, or the mission of the program may not necessarily suit them,” said Levy. “So, the way we struck the balance is that the supervising agency … is going to present them with a choice, with a list of options, and so they don’t just get to go through the (entire) list and pick and choose.”

Opponents don’t believe the compromise truly strikes a fair balance. They believe presenting sex offenders with a choice of any kind will result in them choosing the most lenient of treatment programs.

“The sex offender will choose the program that holds him the least accountable,” said Greig Veeder, executive director of Denver-based Teaching Humane Existence, an organization dedicated to developing strategies to control and treat sex offenders. “It will pressure treatment programs to cater to repeat adult sex offenders who have no inclination to change their behavior.”

Veeder points out that the majority of sex offenders are repeat offenders who have been committing sex crimes for an average of 16 years. Sixty-percent of convicted adult sex offenders receive probation instead of going to prison.

“It is absurd to give the sex offender a court order for treatment that he does not want to follow in the first place, and then ask him to decide where he wants to go to get this court order filled,” said Fred Tolson, managing partner of Denver-based Sexual Offense Resource Services.

Critics also objected to an amendment of the legislation that would remove language that “no known cure” exists for repeat sex offenders who commit sex abuse.

“The simple fact is if the House bill removes the three words ‘no known cure’ it diminishes the strength of our ability to treat, manage and contain convicted, adult repeat sex offenders,” said Veeder. ..Source.. Peter Marcus, DDN Staff Writer

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Sex Offender Treatment wait list effects judges sentencing decisions

5-12-2010 Colorado:

The Mesa County District Attorney says sex offenders are getting off easy. In 2008, only 40% of convicted sex offenders were sent to prison.

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) - The Mesa County District Attorney says sex offenders are getting off easy. In 2008, only 40% of convicted sex offenders were sent to prison.

The District Attorney says there's a glitch in the corrections system. A waiting list of years for the Sex Offender Treatment and Monitoring Program. That's the program that sex offenders must complete to be considered for parole. The large waiting list is persuading judges to think twice about sending sex offenders to prison.

Monday, in the Jonathan Roy case, he was sentenced to five years at community corrections for having sex with a 13 year old girl and disobeying a court order. Mesa County Judge Deister wanted to send him to prison, but decided against it. All because if Roy would have gone to prison he would have had to complete the sex offender treatment program before he could get out.

And with a backlog of years, Judge Deister said Roy could've been waiting behind bars to take the course for the rest of his life.

"In the best of all possible worlds he would do five, six, seven years in prison as a punishment for his bad conduct, but that's what Judge Deister was concerned about.

If I send him to prison he may never get out because of this log jam at the counseling program," says Hautzinger, District Attorney.

Hautzinger says it's a result of numbers, primarily the state's budget crisis because one of the first things to get chopped in prison is treatment programs.

According to the Department of Corrections in the span of ten years, only fifty-six inmates have made it through the sex treatment program. ..Source.. by Ashley Prchal

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State cuts sex offender rehab

Alaska cut its prison SO Treatment in 2003, when it had a very low recidivism rate. Then recidivism rates rose, and finally in 2010 they have again budgeted to include prison SO Treatment, obviously because of the difference in recidivism rates. When will lawmakers understand, that they are supposed to do, whatever it takes to save one child? AND NOT, whatever it takes to save one child -if we have the money-.

3-12-2010 Oklahoma:

OKLAHOMA CITY -- State prisons are eliminating treatment programs for sex offenders, forcing convicted criminals to seek treatment on their own. Specifically, 20-year-old Ashton Tyler, who pleaded "no contest," Wednesday in Major County to rape by instrumentation of his 9-year-old adopted sister. The judge gave him two years in prison and ordered Tyler to complete a treatment program.

Last month, Tyler's family was given suspended sentences for child abuse and assault and battery.

Ashton admitted to investigators he raped one of five young girls the family adopted from Liberia.

Department of Corrections officials say with only a two-year prison sentence, there's a chance Tyler would not have received sex offender treatment behind bars.

However, he may have at least been prepared for therapy through a prison education program.

But even that's now impossible; the Dept. of Corrections announced last month they're canceling the sex offender rehab program due to budget cuts.

Dr. Richard Kishur helped design the original sex offender treatment program for DOC two decades ago.

"We're (now) letting people out of prison, basically, that don't have the skills to function," he says.

Did the program really help reduce the number of repeat offenders? Kishur says according to district attorneys across the state, the answer is yes.

"One of the questions I typically ask is how many guys who have been convicted, who have had high quality treatment and finished treatment, have re-offended?" Kishur says. "Have you prosecuted for a new offense? The answer is usually zero."

DOC spokesman Jerry Massie says within this fiscal year, they've had to take in 800 additional inmates while slashing their budget $48 million.

So the odds are against Tyler receiving any reinstated treatment during his incarceration.

"If he has a two-year sentence, I don't see our budget improving in the next two years to any great degree," Massie says.

Tyler and his probation officer will have to eventually find treatment for him, which he'll pay for himself.

Dr. Kishur says the state could save money if they only used rehab resources for inmates who are "especially dangerous."

That could be accomplished, he says, if better risk assessment was used in the court system.

Massie says many of the programs DOC kept were funded by grant money. ..Source.. Ed Doney, KFOR

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Prison sex offender programs - Judge wants Becker to get more treatment

3-8-2010 Wisconsin:

The judge who sent Gary Becker to prison hopes the Department of Corrections will place the former mayor in sex offender treatment programs.

If the DOC does, he will spend between four months and three years in therapy sessions, counseling and doing homework designed to help him recognize and address unhealthy sexual behavior.

Becker was sent to prison Thursday evening, to start the three-year sentence he was given Wednesday afternoon. He had earlier pleaded guilty to sex charges related to his January 2009 trip to Brookfield Square Mall to meet a fictitious teenage girl for sex.

Like almost every man sentenced to prison, Becker first went to Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun. He will be assessed, to determine what kind of programs he needs, and then DOC staff will decide where to send him. Judge Stephen Simanek, who sent Becker to prison, said he believes Becker needs more treatment.

No one knows yet where Becker will serve the majority of his sentence. If the DOC agrees with Simanek that Becker needs more treatment, he will likely end up at one of eight state prisons where they offer sex offender treatment programs. The Racine Correctional Institution is one of those prisons.

Julie Wurl-Koth, director of the office of program services for the Division of Adult Institutions, said sex offenders go through a "rather thorough" psychological assessment to determine if they need sex offender education or just an after-care program when they get out.

Sex offender programs require inmates to meet for several hours each day, for group sessions and individual therapy, where they work on denial, victim impact, cognitive distortions, their attitudes toward sexual offending, preventing re-offenses, controlling their anger, criminal thinking, honesty, and impulsivity.

An important aspect of therapy is honesty, Wurl-Koth said.

"One of the things we know is an important part of sex offender treatment is full disclosure," Wurl-Koth said. "The person really needs to own up to everything. If they're able to hide any of their sexual deviancies, then it's almost like an enabling factor."

To do that, she said, staff may use lie detectors or other devices to measure someone's truthfulness and the extent of their disclosure.

That was an issue with which Simanek expressed concern.

The DOC interviewer that completed the pre-sentence investigation report given to the court "knew what kind of questions to ask," Simanek said. But Becker didn't answer them satisfactorily, he said.

"He has not been outgoing and responsive to the inquiries that were made," Simanek said, reading from the report. "It's that very emotionally closed attitude that makes him dangerous and a risk to re-offend."

Simanek said he believes Becker still needs treatment, and that he needs the kind of intensive treatment he could get while in prison.

If the DOC agrees, Becker would join the list of people waiting to get into a program.

Wurl-Koth said there are typically more people waiting to get into a particular program than there are slots available. They try to place people in programs close to their release date, so someone with a 20-year sentence may have to wait a long time before admission, while someone with a shorter sentence could be admitted right away. ..Source.. JANINE ANDERSON

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Lemon Creek (Correctional Facility) hosts sex offender treatment program

3-6-2010 Alaska:

The Department of Corrections has started the state's first sex offender treatment program in a prison in seven years at the Lemon Creek Correctional Center.

There has not been a similar program in Alaska since funding for sex offender treatment was cut in 2003 under former Gov. Frank Murkowski's administration. The Legislature last year approved roughly $200,000 for a pilot program for 24 inmates.

"It's a real comprehensive, intensive program and it's meant to run for roughly 18 months," said criminal justice planner Rose Munafo.

Fourteen inmates were transferred to Juneau last month and joined 10 offenders already at the prison in a separate secured living unit. The 24 inmates have undergone assessments and began group therapy last week, Munafo said.

"We do have offenders coming there that didn't start out in Juneau because for awhile that will be the only institutional program that we have and it's also in the most secure programming facility we have at this point in time," she said.

The 14 offenders transferred to Juneau will be sent back to the facilities they came from after completing the program, Munafo said.

"They are not allowed to be released in the Juneau halfway house or community unless that's where they came from," she said.

Most people don't have a real good idea of what sex offender treatment is supposed to do, Munafo said. It does not entail a "soft and warm therapist" that tries to make the offenders feel better about who they are, she said.

"One of the main things you do in sex offender treatment is learn as much as you can about that offender because they are never cured," Munafo said. "So in order to manage them you want to know as much as you can about them. That is what sex offender treatment does."

The DOC has laid out a five-year plan with the intention of expanding the program to other facilities up north in the future. Part of that plan hinges on the new $240 million Goose Creek Correctional Center being built in the Matanuska-Sustina Borough that is expected to open in 2012.

"Part of the problem we have getting offenders into programming is we're so overcrowded we can't get them moved," Munafo said. "So a lot depends on getting the new prison opened so we can move these people into the places they need to be."

According to the latest DOC figures released in December, there were 362 sex offenders in state-run correctional facilities and an additional 239 offenders serving time in a Colorado prison. There were 28 sex offenders incarcerated at LCCC prior to the transfer of the 14 more inmates to Juneau.

The department was highly selective of the 24 inmates chosen to participate in the new program.

"We looked at guys that we felt were serious enough offenders that they needed some treatment in an intensive place in the institution before they got out," Munafo said.

There were certain benchmarks the offenders had to meet to be allowed into the program. They did not want anyone that had failed in sex offender treatment programs in the past or had a history of disciplinary problems while incarcerated, Munafo said. They also wanted inmates that had an extended sentence in order to complete the 18-month program, she said.

The program is initially only for men. The department is hoping to expand the program next year to include treatment for women and people with chronic mental disabilities. As of December there were eight women sex offenders incarcerated in Alaska.

However, the future of the program is still uncertain. The DOC has requested funding for the program from the Legislature but the state's budget has yet to be finalized. ..Source.. by Eric Morrison | JUNEAU EMPIRE

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Decision denies access to sex offender treatment

12-30-2009 New Zealand:

Corrections decision denies access to sex offender treatment

“The Department of Corrections decision to employ its own clinical psychologist in Nelson, forcing the Nelson Sex Offenders Programme to close, flies in the face of government’s recent announcement about tackling justice sector fragmentation”, says Kim Workman, Director of Rethinking Crime and Punishment.” He was commenting on an announcement to that effect (Nelson Mail, 29 December 2009)

“That decision not only denies access to group therapy for Corrections clients. It denies treatment to CYFS and community referrals, or from people who self-refer. Earlier this month, the Minister of Justice, Simon Power, promised that the government’s ‘Drivers of Crime” strategy would focus on improving outcomes by tackling fragmentation, ensuring ministerial and chief executive co-ordination of justice sector agencies, improving value for money, and improving the relationship between government and the community. This decision flies in the face of that.”

“Earlier this year, the NZ Taskforce on Sexual Violence proposed setting up of a community based programme which was to be available to Corrections clients, and also to people referred from within the community who had committed sexual offences but who had not been before the courts. These people are sometimes referred to as non mandated offenders as there is no court sentence mandating their attendance at the treatment programme.”

“New Zealand crime survey statistics show that only 9% of victims of sexual violence report it to the Police.”

“If the nation wants to achieve a long term reduction in sexual violence there has to be options to address sexual violence for the offenders who commit the 91% of the sex crimes not reported to the Police. We are starting to see in some areas of New Zealand, increasing confidence in the community about referring sexual abusers to community treatment organisations, knowing that they will not be subject to criminal prosecution. This is particularly so in the case of family sexual abuse.”

“Currently there is no funding stream for treatment of non mandated people who have sexually offended against adults. That is also a matter that the Ministry of Justice needs to address.” ..Source..

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MT- More prison beds needed, but so is more treatment

8-24-2009 Montana:

It was good to see that a corrections advisory group slashed a consultant's recommendation for new prison beds.

It also was good to see a new emphasis on treatment in plans for corrections growth.

The Montana Corrections Advisory Council headed by Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger says the state should in the next 16 years build a 116-bed treatment center for sex offenders, a 152-bed facility for inmates with mental health issues, 512 new beds for male prisoners and 256 beds for women.

The price tag for the projects would be a hefty $243 million, but that's less than half of what consultant Carter Goble Lee of South Carolina recommended late last year.

The firm's study projected an increase of 70 percent in the population of folks in the corrections system — both incarcerated and non-incarcerated — by 2025, translating into need for more than 3,500 new beds in prisons, pre-release centers and treatment centers.

If Montana's overall population increases dramatically — and at least one Census study suggests that it might — the additional beds recommended by the consultant could be needed.

The advisory panel's 1,000-plus-bed recommendation is more in line with a population projection that continues at the same rate as the past 16 years — assuming a constant rate of incarceration.

All the same, we'd respectfully suggest that the state put even more emphasis on less expensive — and arguably more effective — ways of handling many of its offenders.

America and Montana already lock up a higher percentage of their citizens than any other nation — a highest-ever one in 99 adults nationwide in 2008; about one in 114 in Montana.

It seems possible that the old paradigm of locking 'em up and throwing away the key isn't taking us the direction we want to go.

The advisory group's recommendation does include several hundred beds for treatment centers, and that's good.

For example, the proposed mental-illness treatment center would increase by more than four-fold the number of beds in the system for that purpose at present.

That is the proper emphasis for future growth in the system.

As Bohlinger said in announcing the recommendations, instead of putting every law-breaker behind bars, the administration wants to "help them with their addiction, help them with their mental health issues."

That approach has been shown to reduce recidivism (repeat offenses) and to cost less than the estimated $84 a day it costs to keep someone in prison.

In that connection, a trend that needs to be bucked, or at least thoroughly examined, is political pressure for longer sentences.

"The thing that really drives prison populations are longer sentences," state Corrections Director Mike Ferriter said last winter in response to a Pew Center study of prison populations. ..Source.. by Great Falls Tribune.com

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UK- Jail war on pervs

7-27-2009 United Kingdom:

PRISON officers are boycotting therapy sessions for sex offenders - because they are sick of hearing them discuss their vile crimes.

More than 30 have stopped working at the classes because they find them "traumatising".

The officers are based at specialist Grendon Prison near Aylesbury, Bucks, which holds more than 200 rapists, child-sex fiends and killers.

Last night a source said: "Officers don't want to hear these individuals talking about what they've done.

"It can be really traumatic when the horrendous detail of what they perpetrated comes to the surface.

"The effect can leave a lasting mark."

The jail's governor told an internal meeting there were staff unwilling to participate in "therapy on the wings".

A Prison Officers Association spokesman said: "We have had members suffering after listening to offenders of this kind reliving what they have done.

"Officers have quit and marriages have broken down."

The Prison Service said: "Staff are provided support to help them manage a very challenging group of prisoners." ..Source.. by TheSun.com

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IA- Programs used to help rehabilitate sex offenders

7-24-2009 Iowa:

ADA COUNTY - Sean Hale is classified as a Violent Sexual Predator but police say that didn't stop Sean Hale from committing another sex crime involving two teens from Meridian.

Three years ago Sean Hale registered as a Violent Sexual Predator in Ada County.

"He is a flight risk and a risk to the community," an Ada County prosecutor said inside the courtroom Thursday afternoon.

Hale is accused of taking nude pictures a 16-year-old girl and 15-year-old boy.

"He told the female to remove her clothing, to remove her shirt so he could take a picture of her holding her breasts."

Hale's Violent Sexual Predator classification stems from child rape and molestation convictions out of Washington in 1994. Now he's facing new allegations of child sexual abuse in Idaho.

"We really force them to look at really personal issues that the average person wouldn't want to talk about," said Sandra McCullough, a licensed counselor with Sane Solutions.

McCullough works with sexual offenders to help get them back on the right track.

When asked if sexual offenders can change and rehabilitation programs do work, McCullough responded by saying: "I think it does, I wouldn't do this work if I didn't believe in it."

McCullough says their program is centered around accountability, looking at the decisions an offender made and focusing on ways to keep them from offending again.

According to a recent report by the Idaho Department of Correction of almost 1,400 men convicted of a sex crime and released from prison, five percent actually re-offended.

McCullough says that's where focusing on every aspect of an offenders life is crucial.

"If their doing well in their family, they have jobs that pay well, they have no problem with their probation, if they have family support, if all those things are in place the likelihood of them re offending goes down," she said.

McCullough says on average offenders remain in their program for two years, some longer.

Officials with the Idaho Department of Correction say they are getting ready to expand sex offender treatment at the Idaho Correctional Center south of Boise. Officials say this will help offenders start the intense process of treatment inside prison walls and continue the treatment once they are released. ..Source.. by Kiersten Throndsen

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OK- Few sex offenders receiving treatment in prison

7-15-2009 Oklahoma:

They number 3,000 in state prisons, but a treatment program has room for just 55.

Sex offenders are likely being released from Oklahoma prisons without any treatment to curb their criminal behavior, a state Corrections Department official said.

Oklahoma has space for only 55 inmates in the treatment program for sex offenders, who number more than 3,000 in state prisons.

"I was not prepared to hear that," said an Oklahoma City attorney, Robert Sisson. "It's appalling."

That figure came to light recently when Gilbert D. Smith, 20, unsuccessfully sought to have an Oklahoma County judge reduce his 15-year prison sentence for rape.

Sisson said the Corrections Department needs to ensure that those offenders aren't released without receiving treatment to control their sexual urges.

A Corrections Department spokesman, Jerry Massie, said resources such as bed space and manpower limit the size of the sex offender treatment program. It is not likely to expand.

Inmates who are closest to completing their prison terms are given priority when slots open, Massie said, citing research that indicates that such programs are more effective then.

"You've just got to maximize the resources that you have," he said.

Another Oklahoma City attorney, Jack Dempsey Pointer, said he plans to ask an Oklahoma County judge to release one of his clients from prison so he can continue sex offender treatment at his own expense.

The man — whom Pointer declined to name because nothing has been filed in the case — is not getting treatment
in prison.

"This is a tremendous waste of resources," Pointer said. "Plus my guy's not getting any help."

Pointer unsuccessfully lobbied the judge last year to sentence his client to probation, citing his progress in sessions with Dr. Richard Kishur.

Kishur, who created the Corrections Department's sex offender treatment program, offers similar treatment in his private practice.

Pointer said releasing his client would relieve the burden on the prison system, while allowing him to get the treatment he needs.

He said sex offenders who are amenable to treatment should be allowed to get it, even if that means not putting them behind bars.
Cheaper alternative
Randy Lopp, the chairman of the Oklahoma Coalition for Sex Offender Management, said community-based treatment is a cheaper alternative than prison.

"Punishment and treatment are two different things," he said.

Lopp said recidivism rates are low for sex offenders, which makes them good candidates for treatment instead of incarceration.

Studies show that 13 percent to 15 percent of sex offenders are re-arrested, Lopp said.

An Oklahoma County prosecutor, Suzanne Lister, favors treating sex offenders while they're in prison.

"They're a captive audience," she said. "They need to be getting some kind of treatment."

The Corrections Department does not provide treatment for sex offenders in the community.

However, Massie said, it likely would be required for anyone who is being supervised by a probation officer.

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By the numbers
Oklahoma prisons can offer sex offender treatment to only 55 inmates at a time, but more offenders enter the Corrections Department each year.

2008: 465
2007: 466
2006: 518
2005: 481
2004: 462

Officials acknowledged some of them likely will be released without getting help to curb criminal sexual urges.

The state has more than 6,100 registered sex offenders, according to Corrections Department records.

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Sex offender program
The state Corrections Department’s sex offender treatment program lasts up to 16 months, depending on the risk of the offender.

It takes a minimum of a year.

There is room for 55 inmates in the program, with more than 200 on a waiting list.

Sex offender treatment is designed to help offenders understand the effect that sexual deviancy has on victims and society, officials said.

offenders learn and discuss many different intervention strategies that they can incorporate into their lives to disrupt their sexually deviant cycle.

Psychological and psychosexual testing is used to plan treatment. Polygraph examinations help determine each offender’s progress in the program. ..Source.. by JAY F. MARKS NewsOK.com

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