An audit of Colorado’s Sex Offender Treatment and Monitoring Program found that only one-sixth of those incarcerated for sex crimes are receiving the treatment required for their eventual release, leading some lawmakers to consider changing the system to allow for outpatient therapy rather than leaving them locked up indefinitely.
More than 1,000 inmates have already passed their parole eligibility dates, but can’t be considered for release without mandated treatment. Keeping them locked up is costing Colorado taxpayers as much as $30 million per year, according to the Denver Post, which first reported on the findings.
The audit also found that what treatment was available left a lot to be desired, described by the report as a “one-size fits all approach” given to both low-level and dangerous offenders.
Boulder Democratic Rep. Claire Levy, who requested the audit, told the Post that it shows that low-risk sex offenders “can be treated as effectively in the community.”
The problem is believed to be a lack of funding for treatment coupled with a 1998 law that requires open-ended sentencing for sex offenders, requiring them to undergo treatment before their release and be intensely supervised once they’re let out.
The sponsor of the law, former Republican state Rep. Norma Anderson, sheds few tears for those stuck behind bars because therapy is unavailable, even though she told the Post that she would like to see funding for treatment increased.
“I’d rather have them there than out committing another sex crime,” she said. “I’m on the side of the victim and always will be.”
The Post seems to agree, writing in an editorial Monday that sex offenders should be treated while they’re still behind bars rather than in the community. The paper urged lawmakers who might be inclined to rework the existing sex-offender treatment system to grant a requested $2.1 million appropriation to provide more therapy options before making any changes.
Lawmakers are sitting on that request while awaiting another study.
“To deprive it of money, declare it broken and release sex offenders into communities — the direction some in the legislature seem to be headed — would put public safety at risk,” the editorial reads.
But advocates for change say the lack of treatment creates a system where low-level offenders could stay in prison indefinitely.
“It’s a disaster,” public defender Laurie Kepros told the Post. “Thousands of people are being told you have to have treatment to get out of prison. … We’re paying for this every day.”
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