CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – Gov. John Lynch championed a crackdown on dangerous sexual predators last year and law-and-order sentiment in the Legislature overcame concerns about civil liberties and costs.
The resulting Sexual Predators Act now lets the state keep its most dangerous sexual predators behind bars even after they complete their prison sentences. But deciding who qualifies, verifying it through hearings and reviews – and then providing the beds, programs and other needs for those committed – is costly and will become more so, according to those involved.
No sexual predators have been civilly committed since the law took effect in January. But if New Hampshire’s experience tracks that of the roughly 20 other states with similar laws, once committed, few will ever be released.
“Basically they come in, they don’t get out,” said John Wallace, New Hampshire’s associate commissioner of health and human services.
Wallace said Washington state, which passed the first commitment law in 1990, now has several hundred predators in custody.
A 2005 national study showed the cumulative release rate for all states, 12 percent, dropped to 3 percent when the three states with the most liberal policies are excluded.
That means housing and treatment costs – estimated at roughly $100,000 per person per year in New Hampshire – will grow exponentially over time. The state eventually will have to build at least one facility separate from the state prison to hold the predators, most agree.
Lynch included only a relatively small sum for treatment in his budget this year and nothing for new housing.
Outgoing Health and Human Services Commissioner John Stephen questions Lynch’s leadership for pushing through a politically popular law without simultaneously starting to prepare for the millions of dollars in costs ahead.
“You can’t just pass the Sexual Predators Act and not have a place or a plan on where to put them,” Stephen said.
Lynch insists the numbers of predators likely to be committed in the next year or so will not strain the state’s capacity to house and treat them. There is room for 10 or so at the state prison’s secure psychiatric unit, but if more room is needed, Lynch believes there is money in the capital budget to create an interim facility.
“I think there will still be money there a year from now to accommodate that,” he said in a recent interview. “My first priority is to protect the children. The cost to children is immeasurable.”
Corrections Commissioner William Wrenn also is looking to the secure psychiatric unit for now. Longer term, he said there are perhaps 500 inmates statewide who potentially could be committed after they complete their sentences. He believes “true” predators are a fraction of that number, but he has no way of knowing.
Wrenn agrees with Lynch the state will have enough beds until a study of the prison system is finished in about a year. That’s too long for Stephen, who leaves office this month and is expected to run for Congress.
Stephen says designing and building a facility could take two years or more. He is pushing the state to spend $24 million to renovate a building near the state mental hospital to house 72 predators and others detained under other civil commitment laws.
In time, even that might not be big enough.
Since the law took effect in January, prosecutors have asked Stephen’s agency to evaluate 10 inmates. Four qualified as sexually violent predators; one did not qualify; four requests were withdrawn; and one review is pending.
Of the four that qualified, three cases are pending and one – that of William Decato – was dropped by the prosecutor. Stephen said another 86 inmates who will complete sentences within the two-year budget cycle potentially could qualify as sexually violent predators.
Providing housing and programs for them is only part of the cost.
“Each one, in a sense, is like a homicide case in the amount of effort that goes into preparing and trying them,” said Christopher Keating, director of the New Hampshire Public Defenders. “The trials are an examination of the whole life of the individuals. We have to hire experts, investigators to hunt down school records. We need to show the jury this is a human being not worthy of a lifetime commitment.”
The story is similar on the other side of the table. Hillsborough County Attorney Marguerite Wageling said she gets a list from the state each month of inmates to evaluate as potential sexually violent predators. She then assigns teams of attorneys to spend hours reviewing old files, often scattered in boxes in different buildings.
“It’s boxes, literally boxes,” she said.
Sources: Civil Commitment of Sexually Violent Predators: Issues and Strategies for Identification and Assessment by Robert J. McGrath of Middlebury, Vt.; Departments of Corrections and Health and Human Services.
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