Texas trying revamped sex offender treatment program Claire Z. Cardona
Many of Texas’ most violent sex offenders have been housed for months in the Texas Civil Commitment Center, Bill Clayton Facility, a former prison in rural West Texas, which the head of the state agency who oversees the overhauled program says will lead to successful rehabilitations. (Mark Rogers/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal via AP)
From Betsy Blaney, The Associated Press:
LITTLEFIELD — Outside of a struggling West Texas town, about a mile from the high school, sits a one-story brick building, its perimeter fencing topped with razor wire. Since last fall, it’s been home to some of Texas’ most violent sex offenders.
The former prison re-opened after the state overhauled its civil commitment program for convicted sex offenders following a state investigation that found the previous operation was poorly managed and ineffective for 16 years. The men had been scattered in halfway houses across Texas, and no one in the program had successfully completed it and re-entered the broader community.
It’s at this facility, about 40 miles from Lubbock, where officials believe the in-patient treatment protocol will yield better results for those confined here by court order due to its more intensive and therapeutic nature, according to Marsha McLane, the top official with the Texas Civil Commitment Office.
“We expect people to graduate … and get out on their own and do what they need to do to be safe and law-abiding citizens,” McLane said. “This is not a warehouse for sex offenders.”
Critics, however, contend the new facility is just that. They also say the private operator is interested in only profit, not rehabilitation. Plus, the program’s overhaul will be compared against those in 19 other states and the District of Columbia, all of which permit civil commitment of convicted sex offenders who are considered likely to commit new sex crimes after finishing prison sentences.
Patient Alexander Barrera talks about life inside of the Texas Civil Commitment Center, Bill Clayton Facility, in Littlefield. (Mark Rogers/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal via AP)
Minnesota’s civil commitment program was ruled unconstitutional a year ago, and a class-action lawsuit called it tantamount to a life sentence. Seeing some similarities, Texas lawmakers closely watched that case and worked to correct problems in its own program.
About 210 men ages 27 to 78 are in the Texas Civil Commitment Center, which, though no longer a prison, looks like one with its heavy metal doors and drably painted cinderblock walls.
“It feels like a prison, but I don’t view it as prison,” said 52-year-old Alex Barrera, twice convicted for indecency with a child but is in the program’s final treatment tier. “This is the next step to get back into the community.”
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