Sex-crime treatment facility proposed

OLYMPIA – Faced with a backlog of “hundreds and hundreds and hundreds” of untreated sex offenders in Washington’s prisons, state lawmakers and prison officials want to build a 200-person treatment center at the Airway Heights Corrections Center.

“The capacity (for treatment) doesn’t meet the need,” said Maggie Miller-Stout, superintendent of the 2,100-person prison.

The $5 million center isn’t likely to boost the number of sex offenders in the prison, she and other corrections officials say.

Why? Because plenty are there already.

In general, 20 percent to 23 percent of the people in the state’s prison system are incarcerated for sex offenses, according to Anna Aylward, director of the prison-system sex-offender treatment program. If you take into account prisoners whose previous offenses included sex crimes, she said, the percentage is even higher.

“Most people are going to get out,” she said. “We want them to get out safer.”

Sen. Chris Marr, D-Spokane, a member of the committee that handles corrections, said the request came up late in the legislative session and received little discussion.

“I understand there’s a critical capacity issue with sex offenders,” he said. “You can’t just walk away from the issue.”

But lawmakers will keep a close eye, he said, on any potential increase in the number of sex offenders released into the community. A bill passed late in the session included a provision designed to more fairly distribute offenders statewide. For years, Spokane and Pierce counties have absorbed a higher percentage of released prison inmates.

“We should not become a dumping ground,” said Marr. “We should not get more than our share.”

Unlike the controversial community halfway houses for sex predators run by the state Department of Social and Health Services, the new treatment center will be part of the prison complex.

“The prisoners still live in their cells,” said Aylward. They’ll go to the treatment center for discussion groups, classes and other therapy. They try to learn to manage their behavior, she said, and try to “change or extinguish some of their arousals that are not healthy.

“It’s certainly helpful for some,” she said. “Not for everyone.”

The $5 million center would be the first time in 18 years that Washington’s prison system has expanded its sex-offender treatment facilities, and only the second such facility in the state. The only major one now is a similar-sized center at the medium-security prison at Monroe. About 10 of the state’s 25 female sex offenders in prison are in a small treatment program at the state’s women’s prison at Gig Harbor.

The project was among hundreds approved last weekend by lawmakers when they passed a two-year, 288-page construction budget for the state. It’s now awaiting the signature of Gov. Chris Gregoire.

Design work, a timeline for opening, staffing and the size of the facility are yet to be determined, corrections officials say.

Some local residents have mixed feelings about the proposal.

“The first thought is, ‘Not in my back yard,’ ” said Hugh Grim, a retired construction worker who lives about a mile from the prison. “But they’ve got to be somewhere. I don’t think I would really oppose it … We feel pretty safe.”

Dora-Faye Hendricks said she strongly supports anything that provides more treatment before sex offenders are released from prison.

“We need it desperately … the untreated ones are scary as hell,” said Hendricks, a court volunteer and retired parenting counselor in Spokane.

“Just locking them up without treatment and then letting them go is a horrible waste of our tax money. They remain scary for our children and grandchildren.”

Contrary to popular belief, Aylward said, recidivism rates among sex offenders are far lower than for most crimes. A short-term state study two years ago of 3,570 sex offenders on probation found that 92 percent hadn’t committed any new offense. Of those who had, the overwhelming majority were in trouble for failure to register with police, or for property or drug crimes. Just eight of the 3,570 on probation had been arrested for another sex crime.

Long-term studies of recidivism over 10- to 15-year periods indicate that about three quarters of sex offenders – even without treatment – do not re-offend, Aylward said.

“Outside of homicide, sex offenders are the lowest recidivism group of all,” she said.

Aylward said there are “hundreds and hundreds and hundreds” of untreated sex offenders in the prison system, although many of those choose not to volunteer for treatment.

A state report in February 2006 indicated just 16 percent of sex offenders in confinement get complete treatment within three years of their release date.

But the vast majority of the 84 percent whodon’t get treatment – more than 1,200 people – hadn’t volunteered. Those that had volunteered but hadn’t gotten treatment: 277.

Increasingly, Aylward said, the state is trying to focus on treating people in prison for short periods of time. Half the population in state prisons, she said, is serving sentences of 20 months or less. That makes it hard to get them into treatment, since the program typically takes 13 to 14 months.