Fed Judge Orders Mn to change SO Program

http://www.startribune.com/local/166497216.html

**SNIPPED:


A federal judge has ordered Minnesota to reform its system for civilly committing and confining paroled sex offenders to indefinite treatment, a controversial practice that has drawn international criticism because almost no one has gotten out.

Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan on Wednesday ordered state Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson to convene a task force of experts to recommend options less restrictive than the state's prison-like treatment centers and to suggest changes in how offenders are selected for civil commitment, as well as how they might earn release from the program. The order came during pretrial discussions in a class-action lawsuit brought by patients who argued that their indefinite detention after completing their prison sentences is unconstitutional.

Critics of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP) hailed Boylan's order as an unprecedented and significant step toward changing a system that has been a magnet for controversy since its creation in 1994 with the construction in Moose Lake of a sprawling campus surrounded by razor wire.

The program was created to treat small numbers of the state's worst sex criminals who had completed their prison sentences but were deemed too dangerous to release.

The families of Mickey Shunick, Chelsea King, Amber Dubois, Sarah Foxwell, Justin Bloxom, Jessica Lunsford and many others could give Judge Boylan good reasons why sex offenders shouldn't be released back into society.

I totally agree with you J4a.

Mama, I'm going to bring over a post by KZ from the Sandusky thread which I agree with 100%. I remember reading it and wishing that all states had a program like this. It's too bad that the feds often stick their noses in when a state comes up with a tough, yet effective solution to an ongoing problem.

http://www.realitychatter.com/t4029p150-jerry-sandusky-trial-2#157443

KZ wrote:There is no real "cure" for pedophiles. The urges and fantasies remain for their entire lives. Therapy doesn't remove urges and fantasies. Medications don't remove urges and fantasies. Chemical castration only blunts the urges and fantasies. As a society, all we can really do is lock them away, and if they must be released, to insist on lifelong close monitoring/ probation. In MN, they are locked up "forever" at a special sex offender prison, after they complete their regular prison sentence. No one has ever been released from this hospital prison, and quite frankly, I'm just fine with that. The protection of the public, imo, is a higher priority than the freedom of these perverts to go out and hurt more people. True sex offenders (not a 20yo male who dated a 17 yo), imo, should be permanently removed from society to a humane, secure setting, where they can live out their lives. Pedophiles are the most vile of all sex offenders, imo. There is no justification for releasing them unsupervised back into society-- even after their sentences are complete, imo.

Do pricey TVs treat sex offenders? Article by: MIKE KASZUBA , Star Tribune
Updated: October 19, 2009 - 10:29 PM

Moose Lake sex offender program officials say the new plasma-screen TVs have some clinical benefit. Some offenders say they waste a lot of tax money.

http://www.startribune.com/local/64859722.html?refer=y

Pawlenty orders removal of sex offenders' big-screen TVs by Martiga Lohn, Associated Press
October 20, 2009

St. Paul, Minn. — Gov. Tim Pawlenty called the purchase of big flat-screen TVs for a Minnesota sex offender treatment facility "boneheaded" and said Tuesday he wants them removed, sold and replaced with smaller sets.

"They don't need 50-inch, flat-screen plasma televisions for sex offenders," the Republican governor said outside his official residence after an unrelated meeting with lawmakers.

He added: "Clearly, somebody just made a bonehead decision, and I'm going to reverse it."

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/10/20/sex-offenders-big-screen-tvs/

http://sexoffenderresearch.blogspot.com/2009/10/mn-do-pricey-tvs-treat-sex-offenders.html

Since Minnesota decided to commit sex offenders to civil treatment programs after they had served their criminal sentences, .the number of sex offenders has risen to 566 patients and is expected to nearly double in seven years. .So far, no patient has been successfully treated and released by the courts.

Two weeks ago, state legislators toured the Moose Lake facility and heard program officials urge that money be appropriated to build another new wing at a projected cost of $96 million. Officials said it may include more big-screen TVs.

Remember that this was in 2009.

A lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Minnesota's sex offender treatment program took an important step forward Tuesday, when a federal judge ruled that it can proceed as a class-action case representing more than 600 individuals detained by the state.

U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank in St. Paul concluded that addressing each case individually would be an "enormous drain" on court resources.

The Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP) has been a magnet for controversy almost since its creation in 1994, as officials sought to confine dangerous sexual predators while honoring constitutional protections against indefinite detention

.

Gustafson said the class-action suit also likely will resolve some of the lawsuits previously filed by some of the offenders in the program. More than 60 suits are pending in federal court, many of which challenge the constitutionality of the program.

Until one patient earned a provisional discharge into a Twin Cities halfway house earlier this year, none had been successfully released since the program's inception.

With 605 patients in the MSOP, Minnesota confines more offenders, per capita, than any other state in the nation.

Last month, a high court in England refused to extradite an accused Minnesota pedophile who might have wound up in the MSOP, arguing indefinite detention violated international human rights protections.

Bold by me


http://www.startribune.com/local/163607246.html?refer=y

Proving yet again that criminals have more rights than victims. Where's the class action suit for protection of the past and future victims?

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/08/16/news/sex-offender-program-task-force/

Task force to study MN sex offender program

In response to a class action suit by sex offenders, U.S. District Court Judge Arthur Boylan directed Minnesota Department of Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson to set up the task force. It could include legislators, judges, county attorneys and lawyers representing offenders who have been civilly committed to the Minnesota Sex Offender Program.

Let's hope the task force takes a long time to be formed, and a REALLY long time to study the situation.

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2011/03/03/minn-sex-offender-could-be-freed-from-program/

Minn. Sex Offender Could Be Freed From Program

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — John Rydberg showed no mercy on the night in 1975 when he broke into a rural Wisconsin home and raped a young couple as their son slept upstairs — or four years later, when he raped a Minnesota woman at knifepoint in front of her children.

On Friday, he will seek mercy for himself, trying to convince a judicial panel he is a changed man who deserves release after nearly two decades in Minnesota’s sex offender treatment program.

Yeah-- I see absolutely no problem with releasing this offender. <-------KZ said sarcastically

As part of his treatment, Rydberg has admitted to counselors that he committed more than 90 sex offenses, mostly involving voyeurism or exposing himself. About 15 involved actual physical contact with his victims, Southwell said.

Neighboring Wisconsin’s sex-offender treatment program has discharged more than 60 sex offenders since 1995. California has put nearly 200 offenders back into the community. New Jersey has freed more than 120.

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2011/03/03/minn-sex-offender-could-be-freed-from-program/

Thanks for all the info KZ.
Disgusting that they keep letting all these creeps/perverts out.

KZ wrote:

Neighboring Wisconsin’s sex-offender treatment program has discharged more than 60 sex offenders since 1995. California has put nearly 200 offenders back into the community. New Jersey has freed more than 120.

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2011/03/03/minn-sex-offender-could-be-freed-from-program/

It's not only the fault of the criminal justice system.

The field of psychology is desperately in need of a paradigm shift.

What: Murderer, rapist and sex offender, civilly committed in Minnesota, challenges his laptop being confiscated after Playboy photos are discovered on it.

When: U.S. District Judge John Tunheim rules on Sept. 26.

Outcome: Court permits sex offender's lawsuit to proceed.

What happened, according to court documents:

Christopher Ivey is a convicted rapist and murderer who has been civilly committed as a "sexually psychopathic personality and a sexually dangerous person." Ivey has been committed to the Minnesota Sex Offender Program in St. Peter, Minn., a secure treatment facility for sex offenders.

And Ivey wants Playboy on his PC.

He filed a lawsuit, representing himself, against the Minnesota state government challenging a 2004 ban denying committed sex offenders any sexually explicit, obscene or pornographic materials.

According to Ivey, his computer was confiscated because it contained "nudity," including a collection of Playboy magazine covers from the magazine's first 50 years. As a result of violating the ban, he lost access to his privately owned computer for at least one year and was precluded from using a fellow patient's computer during that time as well.

As described in a 2005 court opinion, Ivey is in his mid-30s and has been in custody since 1993 for sexually assaulting multiple women and for murdering one woman. He admitted to repeatedly breaking into homes and touching women sexually, often while they were sleeping, and sometimes masturbating at the same time.

Ivey would later describe his clandestine breaking-and-entering as: "I don't know, that was my social life, that was my hobby, my way of interacting with other people without having to interact."

http://news.cnet.com/Police-blotter-Sex-offender-demands-Playboy-on-PC/2100-1030_3-6123551.html

http://www.dhs.state.mn.us/main/idcplg?IdcService=GET_DYNAMIC_CONVERSION&dDocName=dhs16_149914&RevisionSelectionMethod=LatestReleased

Minnesota Sex Offender Program Overview

Administered under the Dept of Human Services

Q. How is someone placed into the Minnesota Sex Offender Program?
A. Most MSOP clients, but not all, come from the Department of Corrections. Toward the end their sentences, all individuals convicted of sex offenses are reviewed for their potential risk for recidivism. The Department of Corrections determines which cases are referred for consideration of commitment. It is then up to the respective counties to determine if they want to pursue civil commitment for these individuals after their period of incarceration is complete.

Q. How does someone get discharged from the Minnesota Sex Offender Program?
A. Just as MSOP does not have the authority to place individuals into the program, MSOP does not have the authority to discharge individuals from the program. Clients must petition and receive approval from the Supreme Court Appeal Panel (SCAP) to transition to the MSOP Community Preparation Services (CPS), or receive a provisional discharge or discharge from commitment. In evaluating whether to approve a transfer to CPS, the SCAP must consider the following factors: The person's clinical progress and present treatment needs; the need for security to accomplish continuing treatment; the need for continued institutionalization; and, whether the transfer can be accomplished with a reasonable degree of public safety

Q. Has anyone ever been released from the program?
A. Recently, a client was provisionally discharged from MSOP and is currently living in the community under close monitoring and supervision. Prior to that, one other client was provisionally discharged a number of years ago. However, that client's provisional discharge was later revoked for non-compliance with the requirements of the provisional discharge plan (this client did not reoffend). Currently, there are 10 MSOP clients who have successfully petitioned the SCAP to transition to CPS. To date, the SCAP has not approved any client's petition for full discharge from their commitment as a sexually dangerous person or sexual psychopathic personality.

http://www.dhs.state.mn.us/main/idcplg?IdcService=GET_DYNAMIC_CONVERSION&RevisionSelectionMethod=LatestReleased&dDocName=dhs16_149915

MN statutory definition of sexually dangerous person and sexual psychopathic personality:

Subd. 18b.Sexual psychopathic personality.

"Sexual psychopathic personality" means the existence in any person of such conditions of emotional instability, or impulsiveness of behavior, or lack of customary standards of good judgment, or failure to appreciate the consequences of personal acts, or a combination of any of these conditions, which render the person irresponsible for personal conduct with respect to sexual matters, if the person has evidenced, by a habitual course of misconduct in sexual matters, an utter lack of power to control the person's sexual impulses and, as a result, is dangerous to other persons.


Subd. 18c.Sexually dangerous person.

(a) A "sexually dangerous person" means a person who:

(1) has engaged in a course of harmful sexual conduct as defined in subdivision 7a;

(2) has manifested a sexual, personality, or other mental disorder or dysfunction; and

(3) as a result, is likely to engage in acts of harmful sexual conduct as defined in subdivision 7a.

(b) For purposes of this provision, it is not necessary to prove that the person has an inability to control the person's sexual impulses.

Bold by me. That's the most valuable statement in the law, imo. I don't have any idea how they got THAT language approved, but I'm glad they did.

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=253B.02

An added thought-- I have a friend who works in the prison system in MN. He has said many times that only about half of the client/inmates in the MSOP program will agree to participate in therapy and the program steps. If they don't participate, they can never meet criteria to petition for release. There is some talk of moving those who refuse to a different setting that is cheaper than the $300 a day per client/ inmate the MSOP costs. For contrast, I think I remember him telling me that a regular prison bed is under $100 a day.