On June 23 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Kansas v. Hendricks, upheld the practice of detaining people convicted of sexual offenses beyond prison sentences under the guise of treatment.
The landmark 5-4 ruling also concluded that the Kansas law governing the practice did not constitute double jeopardy since it merely authorized “civil” rather than “criminal” commitments.
Taken together with Kansas v. Crane, a 7-2 ruling announced in 2002 that denied requiring a set legal standard for determining “behavioral abnormality” in civil commitment proceedings, the High Court in effect created a purgatory for persons who have served their sentences but are subject to indefinite detention based on fears that they are a danger to the public.
At least 20 states have involuntary sex offense civil commitment programs. So does the federal system.
A headline in Reason Magazine over a story by Jacob Sullum effectively summed up what such programs amount to: “Civil Commitment of Sex Offenders Pretends Prisoners Are Patients.”
There’s a good reason why critics refer to these programs as “shadow prisons”: They resemble prison in all but name.
In a 2015 Op Ed for the Minnesota Star-Tribune, former Minnesota State Senator Don Betzold said of the controversial Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP):
The sex offender treatment program is like a prison — only worse, because there’s no ‘out’ date. The Moose Lake building was designed as a maximum-security prison. The treatment program has been led by some state employees who came from corrections backgrounds.
Many treatment programs are located within prison complexes and refer to those detained within as “prisoners.” Some are run by private prison companies.
The civil commitment program in Littlefield, Tx., is run by Management and Training Corporation (MTC), a private prison company. The MTC calls those detained in the facility “prisoners.” The Littlefield facility was once used as a private prison, until it shut down after one prisoner committed suicide.
Some prisoners wear ankle monitors or are left in solitary confinement for months at a time.
Texas had once created an innovative “outpatient civil commitment program,” but after scandals involving the judge of the dedicated civil commitment court and mismanagement of halfway houses by the state’s Office for Violent Sex Offender Management (OVSOM), the Texas legislature created a series of “reforms” that led to the creation of an “inpatient” facility in 2015.
Shadow prisons posing as treatment are not limited to Texas.
Susan Keenan Nayda, Vice President of Operations at Liberty Behavioral Health Corporation, testified during a deposition her thoughts on the Florida Civil Commitment Center in Arcadia, Fla.:
There’s a little bit of confusion…What is this place? Is it a prison? Is it a mental health center? A residential treatment facility where people are clients? What is it? We ask that question sometimes too. We really don’t have a lot of guidance around what it is the state wants the facility to be, and we would encourage the state to look at that.
A lack of adequate treatment and a program designed to keep people detained as long as possible are common themes in civil commitment programs.
It is not uncommon for these programs to undo years of treatment “progress” for minor violations. Between 1999 and 2015, Texas Health and Safety Code §made minor program rules violations a felony offense.
In Minnesota, extremely high staff turnover rates often lead to detainees frequently starting from scratch.
As a result, few indefinite detainees are ever released from these shadow prisons.
Minnesota has not released anyone until 2015 and only due to a federal lawsuit. Since 2015, 15 people have been released from the MSOP, while at least 88 have died. In Texas, TCCO claims they have released 13 prisoners and only three died, but protesters have countered by stating the number is closer to six releases and at least 29 deaths.
Civil commitment proponents know these programs do not work but will actively suppress studies that prove the programs are ineffective. California suppressed a study by Atascadero psychologist Jesus Padilla in 2006 which found those deemed “high risk” and released from the state civil commitment program reoffended at the same rate as those released from prison but were not considered a high risk to reoffend.
Padilla’s records were confiscated, his hard copies were shredded, and he was forbidden to talk about his work.
There is a profit motive for keeping this civil commitment scheme afloat. Shadow prisons are lucrative business.
A 2021 study estimated there were 4,321 “inmates with child victims in high-security sex offender civil commitment facilities” with an annual average cost per inmate of $139,489. Civil commitment programs cost taxpayers roughly $538 million in 2021. The average cost of incarceration is far less.
As the US economy is seeing inflation at levels not seen in decades and a looming recession, Americans should be looking to trim pork barrel spending. Sex offender civil commitment programs are costly and ineffective.
These programs are merely extensions of prison intended to make people feel safe but provide no actual benefit to society. As with other sex offense laws life the public registry, these laws only serve to extend punishment beyond a court sentence.
For all these reasons, civil commitment must be abolished.
Editor’s Note: Thank you for your comments. This item is now closed to further comment.
Derek W. Logue is a Nebraska registrant and activist for the rights of returning citizens, and founder of the sex offense education and reform website OnceFallen.com.
18 Comments
Derek W. Logue is a registered sex offender in Nebraska and Florida. Naming him as an “expert” in sex offender cases when as an adult he was convicted of being with a child erases any credibility “Crime Report” may have had.
Hi, personal stalker. You are making my job of proving why the registry should not exist so much easier. Every time you follow me around the internet and make asinine comments, it is evidence of the true purpose of the registry, which is to cause further harm to those forced to register.
The US Supreme Court claimed the registry is not punishment but you are proving them wrong because your actions merely prove the registry was created with punishment in mind. The government feeds personal information to unhinged people like you, who in turn commit crimes against Persons Forced to Register.
The YS Supreme Court is far from infallible, and both the Kansas v Hendricks and Smith v Doe rulings are on par with the Dred Scott, Buck v Bell, and Korematsu rulings as some of the worst rulings of all time.
Val,
If you devoted your life to studying (pick your topic) and studied it and attended it and campaigned on it for decades, wouldn’t you think you’d be an expert at (pick your topic)? I don’t know how you couldn’t be.
What other criteria would make a person an expert on sex offenders?
I’ve never met Derek, but I’ve seen his name associated with many studies and I feel he has put in the time to be considered an expert.
Val, you are the thing that makes the sex offender registry cruel and unusual.
You feel that because a person is on it, they are worthless and cannot contribute to society.
Yet, you do not spend the time to realize, that most people on the registry do not provide any elevated risk, over and above the average citizen (you included).
So yea, Derek is likely no more dangerous to a child than your are. Statistically, that is backed up by decades of studies Nationwide.
Mr. Logue has paid his debt to society and continues to pay ad infinitum as a registered sexual offender with the stigma and restrictions that entails. His offense was in one state, but anywhere he moves, he must also register in that state. This does not indicate that he offended in that state. Mr Logue has never reoffended, hence, it shows me that he has learned the error of his ways and wants to lead a productive, law abiding life. When murderers are released from prison after paying their debt to society, they are done. When those who have committed a sexual offense are released from prison, their punishment is just beginning, and continues for 25 years to life. Is that not compensation enough? People have the ability to change, and many do. I am not the same person as I was ten years ago. Are you?
As a victim of sexual violence myself at age eight, I believe in forgiveness and redemption. In addition, who better to be an expert in the field than a person who has lived and breathed the experience first hand. I have read much of Mr. Logue’s extensive and comprehensive research and I find his information to be a GREAT and factual resource on all levels. [this comment was condensed for space and clarity)
Margaret, this person using the screen name Val Parkworst (a parody of another online oro-registry vigilante who passed away in 2016) is just a personal online stalker of mine. He follows me around the internet making silly comments about me in hopes of discrediting me somehow. He likes to think he is somehow causing fear, anxiety, or some other negative effect on my life when it serves only to illustrate why having a public registry is only useful for vigilantes.
Well written, but will this ever change the Sex Offenders Civil Commitment Law? This law needs to be abolished today. The injustice of holding an offender past his sentence is a lot of BS.
A lot of people are not even aware of just how insane the civil commitment statutes have become. I am currently writing a report on the Texas Civil Commitment program. I could not tell the story within the thousand word limit I get when writing a piece for The Crime Report. The mount of intrigue within this program is unbelievable. It has been riddled with scandals from the very beginning, from a poorly managed office with millions in missing funds to a corruption scandal involving the judge of the dedicated court.
These programs are just expensive ways of circumventing the US constitution, nothing more.
Derek W Logue sex offender registered in two states and an investigative reporter! Great credibility.
He’s telling the truth. In this country we should never deprive anyone of liberty out of fear for what they MIGHT DO IN THE FUTURE.
That’s a ruse to violate every principle of due process to punish these people more for what they have already done.
There’s a simple reason why I get published, “Val.” The article is based on existing facts. Links to research and existing articles are clearly added so that no one can deny it came from factual sources.
Your only response is ad hominem and a broken link to your racist and slanderous website. You’re free to submit an OpEd to The Crime Report but you likely won’t get it published because you cannot write a fact.
Seriously, though, get professional help. It is sad your whole life revolves around waiting for me to write an article just so you can post your inane and unoriginal posts.
Mr. Logue is not credible? I find your logic and reasoning incredible. His work in the field is highly respected by various people and organizations. But let’s cut to the chase. You attacking Mr. Logue because of his sex offense status is like attacking a black person merely because they are black. Discrimination is Discrimination is Discrimination. I don’t even know what race you are associated with, but I assure you with one thing. Mr. Logue is spot on. It will be an eventuality that our government will be tired of people like you because your actions, as Mr. Logue has spoken on, demonstrates society’s treatment of sex offenders in general, and as compensation to such treatment, will probably reduce the regulations we must face since they were born from similar hatred rather than for the protection of the weak. In other words, if you and others similarly situated continue, congress may start to offer us more protection under the laws.
The fact that the author is directly-impacted by sex offense laws doesn’t undermine his ability to comment on unjust policies. Mr. Logue supports all of his assertions that are not his own opinion with links to evidence and research. Kudos to The Crime Report for publishing articles by those most harmed and stigmatized by banishment policies. Shaming and denouncing the author because of his past only creates additional harm.
Hey Derek,
Great job as always. Haters will always be haters. Anyone with a brain will not pay attention to “Val’s” vitriol!
Roe v Wade is coming down, next Smith v Doe. Wait until that hits!
I have personal knowledge of Derek Logue’s commitment to changing draconian sex offender registries and removing the evil of so-called “post-conviction commitment” to what are essentially American Gulags with no way hope. Perhaps they should have a sign direct from Dante, “Abandon hope all ye who enter here,” because it is no less than entering through the gates of hell for so many. Just because a person has, in their life, committed some sex-based offense, is no reason to assume they are permanently mentally ill, absent something much more convincing than a state-paid psychologist’s interpretation. A prison sentence should end it, period; and some of them are far too long. Derek Logue is working tirelessly and at his own expense to help push for changes. Ignore the trolls, they will forever be a pain in the ass. Thanks, Derek, for all you do.
The fact that Derek Logue is required to register as a sex offender does not change the fact that thousands of men are being kept against their will in what some call hospitals but others, such as me who have been there, know are prisons. I have been to Coalinga State Hospital in CA several times and I have seen with my own eyes the fences, barbed wire and armed guards at that “hospital.” It’s time to face the facts.
Hospitals do not have fences, barbed wire or armed guards. If the people inside of these hospitals pose a current danger, then they should be kept in prison. If they do NOT pose a current danger, they should be released — immediately.
Very good article! I don’t know much about civil commitment in other states but here in Texas, it’s definitely a sham. So many families waiting for their loved one to come home only to learn that they will be forever incarcerated in this shadow prison.
One of 2 things needs to happen to the Sex Offender Registry, RIGHT NOW!
#1) It needs to go away
#2) All of the people who do not present an elevated risk, need to be removed . This will be about 90% of them.
Most of the true ‘high risk’ people are in prison.
Did you realize, there are people all over the U.S., on the sex offender registry for the rest of their lives, who have never touched or attempted to touch another person inappropriately?
It’s super easy to get on the registry. In most states, it’s impossible to get off.
Our inept judges declare that the registry is ‘no big deal, and no more of a burden than car registration’.
At that point, a registrant has no recourse and is stuck on it for life.
I had ‘attempted to view a nudist video’. (I didn’t view, it, I only ordered it)
Note, this is not illegal in any state, and no longer illegal under Federal law. It was only illegal under Federal law at the time, due to an overly vague interpretation of the law.
Yet, I am on the registry as a ‘worst of the worst’ for the rest of my life.
I have no recourse to get off of the registry, because when I went before a judge, the state tried to argue that being on the registry was ‘of no consequence, and I didn’t have standing to declare it punitive’.
I will not resort to name calling or defense of any given individual. That would be counterproductive to the advancement of facts regarding sexual offense policies, practices, and laws. Instead, I will point to the facts:
1) 95% of sexual abuse occurs at the hands of persons not on the register or in civil commitment.
2) 93% of sexual abuse of children occurs at the hands of someone the child knows, and registration and civil commitment do not change that.
3) Persons convicted of sexual offenses vary greatly in terms of severity of the offense, emotional impact upon the victim, and the risk to society. The sooner we learn that registration of low risk individuals is counterproductive, costly, and ineffective, the sooner we can direct our resources toward prevention, education, and treatment.
4) Recidivism by persons convicted of sexual offenses is extremely low, lower than for any offense except murder.
5) Even those identified as “high risk,” such as those subject to civil commitment, have been proven to “age out” of offending behavior.