New Program Holds Sex Offenders Indefinitely for Treatment After Prison Sentence

A controversial New York program indefinitely extends the incarceration of rapists, child molesters, and other sex offenders by keeping them in lush mandatory "treatment facilities" (which resemble small shopping malls) at a cost of $185,000/year, for months or years after their prison sentences have ended. The program is controversial not only because of its cost, but also because it allows states to keep inmates locked up after their sentences have ended.

Given the recidivism rate of sex offenders, I believe the program makes a certain amount of sense in some cases--certainly the revolving-door approach we're currently using with respect to child molesters isn't working. My primary concern is that these programs, if left unchecked and unregulated, could be expanded to serve a purely punitive function. Could citizens face indefinite mandatory "treatment" after serving prison terms for marijuana possession, or tax evasion, or writing bad checks? The possibilities are endless.

On the other hand, there are also aspects of the program that actually make much more sense than the current model, from a civil liberties perspective. In particular, this program calls attention to the failure of the current U.S. prison system to rehabilitate inmates. There was a time when all prisons were considered rehabilitative; the original meaning of the term "penitentiary" comes from the word "penitence," and the objective was to produce repentant ex-cons who would go out and sin no more. If prisons are no longer intended to serve this function, why are 2.2 million American citizens currently being incarcerated? Why not put every ordinary offender in a "treatment facility," and reserve prisons for those offenders who are beyond rehabilitation?