FOr the Wisconsinites on the thread...you'll be glad to see that your fine state does lead the nation in something:
jsonline.com
State tops in release of sexual predators
Milwaukee an anomaly in community placement
By JESSICA McBRIDE and REID J. EPSTEIN
jmcbride@journalsentinel.com
Last Updated: Sept. 21, 2003
Though its failed efforts to find a new Milwaukee home for Billy Lee Morford might suggest otherwise, Wisconsin actually has placed far more so-called sexual predators into neighborhoods than any other state, accounting for nearly a third of all people nationwide who have been released under similar laws.
The placement of Billy Lee Morford, 57, has sparked outrage over the sexual predator law. He is the only Milwaukee County patient under the law to ever obtain supervised release in the county. He is in a house rented from a non-profit agency on N. 51st St.
Officials had considered placing Robert Carney, 74, with Morford. But the public outrage over the address for Morford, and two alternative sites proposed since then, scuttled that plan. A doctor recommended Carney's release even though Carney has never received treatment. Carney remains confined because a suitable residence has not been found.
While those in the treatment field consider that an achievement, others were surprised and concerned to learn of the Badger State's distinction.
While public objections have blocked most placements in Milwaukee County, state officials point to successful placements outside Milwaukee. Yet, 15 of 32 men released on supervision since 1994, when Wisconsin passed Chapter 980, the law that allows civil commitment of some sex offenders after they serve their criminal sentences, have been returned to secure facilities - or face pending efforts to return them - because of rule violations.
Seven men were discharged outright, without supervision (including two into Milwaukee County in the past year), meaning Wisconsin has released a total of 39. The release under supervision of another six is pending.
California, with nearly twice the commitments, has released only one person into the community with supervision, and 22 overall.
Laws such as Wisconsin's Chapter 980 allow 16 states to commit certain sex offenders, which some states term "sexual predators," for treatment after their criminal sentences are served. The laws vary somewhat, but they typically target those who victimize children and who suffer a mental disorder and are likely to re-offend.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled twice that predator laws in other states are constitutional, largely because they involve civil commitments designed to provide treatment, not extra punishment. But if communities continue to reject treated offenders entitled to supervised community placement ordered by a judge, such as Morford's case in Milwaukee, the laws likely will face another legal challenge.
"People in the (Milwaukee) community have got to realize we have to put them somewhere," said Rebecca Dallet, one of two prosecutors who handle such cases in Milwaukee County. If they can't, she said, it could lead to more constitutional challenges.
Numbers jumped
Wisconsin's release numbers have risen in part because of a little-known clarification in practice within the state Department of Health and Family Services, which oversees treatment and supervision of those committed under Chapter 980.
Before 2000, "there was an understanding of the law that an evaluator would not recommend supervised release until the patient had demonstrated significant progress in treatment," said Dennis Doren, evaluation director at the Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center in Mauston, and a national authority on sex offender civil commitment laws.
In 2000, Doren said, the department clarified for doctors that even if a patient has not progressed in treatment - or has refused treatment - the doctor should recommend release if the patient's needs and risks could be managed in the community.
The release rate doubled.
Doren said the move was in response to a 1999 legislative mandate that all Chapter 980 offenders start treatment in a secure facility. That effectively stopped judges from sending Chapter 980 subjects from prison directly into supervised release.
Twelve men released fromcommitment went that route before 1999. Four were later returned to Sand Ridge because they violated rules, according to state records.
Audrey Skwierawski, the other Milwaukee prosecutor who handles Chapter 980 commitments,said she and Dallet didn't know about the department's modified approach until informed by a reporter.
"I'm surprised," she said. "I personally think it would be relevant in evaluating someone's risk in the community whether they progressed in treatment to that point."
Prosecutor Dallet said Robert Carney, 74, is a perfect example. A Health and Family Services doctor recommended his release, even though, Dallet said, "he has never done treatment. He believes the girls he assaulted consented and wanted it, and they are 9- and 10-year-old girls. He does not appreciate the wrong he did."
In November, a judge ordered Carney's release, but Carney remains confined at Sand Ridge because no appropriate residence has been found.
Different in Milwaukee
Officials had considered placing Carney with Morford, 57, in a house rented from a non-profit agency on N. 51st St., where Morford has been living since June 2, making him the first Chapter 980 patient from Milwaukee County to ever obtain supervised release in the county.
But the public outrage over that address for Morford, and two alternative sites proposed since then, scuttled that plan. State officials are now trying to purchase Morford a home. The trouble the state is having finding a placement for Morford mirrors that of Shawn Schulpius. The state tried unsuccessfully for 21/2 years to find a place for him to live. Then, a judge pulled his release in 2000.
Morford's supervision is extremely strict. He can't leave the house without an escort. So why can't officials find a place for him to live, when dozens of Chapter 980 cases have been placed in other Wisconsin counties?
"The concentration of media is clearly a factor," said Steve Watters, the director of the Sand Ridge center. "I'm unaware of any other setting where you have television crews and newspaper reporters who sprint to the location right after the announcement."
In other communities around the state, officials often do not notify the public of specific addresses, and they do not have as many politicians eager to oppose the releases.
"Some cases we will spend months and months looking for placement outside Milwaukee County for individuals," Watters said. But, unlike in Milwaukee, placements have been found.
The Milwaukee challenge will only grow; of the 260 people confined under Chapter 980, about 57 come from Milwaukee County, and the state tries to return offenders to the county of their conviction.
About half the Chapter 980 patients released on supervision have been returned to Sand Ridge for treatment or face petitions for their return.
They include a man released into a Manitowoc County nursing home accused of touching the breast of a female patient, a man in Rock County who purchased Viagra without approval, and a Dane County man who was charged with a sexual assault while on release - a charge that was dismissed - but who was convicted of resisting an officer, state records show. Another man, granted supervised release in Douglas County, had it revoked for unsupervised contact with minors and then was released again.
Watters acknowledged that some could argue that Chapter 980 patients are being released too early by judges.
"In the long run, we shouldn't have revocations occurring," he said. "It does represent that the supervision is pretty tight and taken very seriously."
Laws elsewhere
H. Lawrence Fitch, Forensic Services director for the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, conducted a survey of sexual offender civil commitment laws in 16 states in July 2002.
He found that about 2,500 people were confined in 16 states, but only 86 had been released.
"Most states have released almost no one," Fitch said.
At the time of the survey, Wisconsin accounted for 24 of those 86 releases. Since then, Wisconsin has released 15 more Chapter 980 patients. Wisconsin and Arizona accounted for 68% of the releases in 2002. In contrast, Illinois and Minnesota each had released one; Florida, four; and Washington state - which had the nation's first law - only nine.
The majority of those released in Arizona live in a transitional building on the grounds of a state secure treatment center - not in residential neighborhoods.
"Wisconsin is doing the best job of moving people through," said Fitch. "That is what this is supposed to be about - people are supposed to be treated and integrated back into the community. In some states, people have bought into the idea that this is simply extended confinement."
Others aren't so pleased.
State Sen. Jeff Plale (D-South Milwaukee), who opposed Morford's relocation to a south side Milwaukee neighborhood, said: "It's certainly nothing that I want to go printing T-shirts up about, that's for sure.
"I'm kind of shocked, actually, that we lead the nation in this. It's troubling," Plale said.
Wisconsin's relatively high release numbers are partly explained by the fact that the state has committed more offenders than many states; it was the second state to pass such a civil commitment law.
Of all convicted sex offenders potentially eligible for commitment under Chapter 980, Wisconsin's Department of Corrections refers about 7% of them to prosecutors, who seek civil commitment for about 75% of those.
In Wisconsin, only patients who are "substantially probable" to re-offend can be denied release. Other states have lower thresholds, said Watters.
Wisconsin's law means that if an offender is 50% likely to re-offend, release is required.
California, with 432 commitments, has released only 22 since passing its law in 1995 and had released only seven at the time of the Fitch study. Most were freed by courts, but only one was released under community supervision. Plans to have him live in the San Jose area generated public outcry this summer as landlords backed out. He now lives in a trailer on prison grounds.
George Bukowski, who runs California's program, said Wisconsin's high release numbers may be due to a greater tolerance and lower population density, but they also might be the result of other factors.
"Maybe we need to talk to people in Wisconsin," he said.
Costs have climbed
When Chapter 980 was passed, officials estimated that 10 people per year would be committed and that annual operating costs would be around $3.6 million.
But now Wisconsin spends $26 million a year to detain, treat and supervise those committed, according to Watters, director of the Sand Ridge center, which itself cost about $40 million. It costs about $100,000 a year to house someone there, while the price for supervised release is about $35,000 annually.
Other states face rising costs, as well. California is scheduled to build a $350 million hospital for its committed sex offenders.
In Washington, sexual predators are first released into a transitional center on an island served by a ferry. Eight have gone on to community placement in 13 years. A judge has ordered another transitional site built on the mainland.
"I think the problem with the laws has been that the view at the time they were conceived didn't account for the whole picture, the mission of treatment and the process of release," said Mark Seling, superintendent of the current Washington facility. "That's really where the problems lie. We are all trying to learn."
From the Sept. 22, 2003 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |
