"No Known Cure" Could Be No More

House Bill 1138, legislation written to help regulate and revamp the state's controversial sex offender management program, passed the House Judiciary Committee along party lines last week.

Republicans have the majority in the House and used that extra seat to push the bill through to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Democrats have the majority, for further debate.

Last year a similar bill sponsored by the Democrats was vetoed in the eleventh hour by then Governor Bill Ridder. The Governor objected to last minute changes made to the bill after it had unanimously passed full votes in both the House and Senate.

This year promises to offer the same drama, with Democrats and prison reform advocates saying the bill doesn't go far enough, while Republicans and private treatment providers, who have a financial stake in the bill, will say it goes too far. At the heart of the controversy is what to do with the divisive words, "there is no known cure for sex offenders.'' No known cure is the foundation of the Lifetime Supervision Act. For some these words have justified the lifetime incarceration of hundreds of nonviolent offenders, for others it means intensive supervision and registration in the community.

Depending on ones perspective these words can mean very different things:

• CDOC Therapeutic Community: There is no known cure because it is not a disease like the flu that can be cured. · Prison Reform Advocates: The words are unnecessary - we don't recognize in legislation a cure for alcohol abuse, drug abuse, robbery, or murder why should we for crimes that vary so much from one to another?


• Greig Veeder - Outspoken private treatment provider: "More importantly it means 'fix' - and that is what the citizens and victims care about and what is impossible to do because there is no end point to the management needs of adult sex offenders. The lack of cure underscores that there is no final fix or solution." (In recent years Veeder has advocated for an all-inclusive sex offender camp, run by him, where he can exact the "final solution" to the state’s sex offender management problem. So far that idea has not gained traction with the legislature.)


• Parole Board: The board does not comment on public policy, but their views are evident by their actions - only 0.78 percent were released in the first 10 years of the Lifetime Act, and only after serving over 100 percent of their sentence. Just 5 percent were released in 2010. To the board no known cure means lifetime incarceration regardless of the judge's sentence.

The real push back to the change in legislative wording may be more financial than philosophical or a real concern for public safety. According to Veeder, "The professionals (therapists, polygraphist, parole officers, parole board, and law enforcement) gain revenue streams and receive professional opportunities (benefits) from citizens via the court." Veeder goes on to warn that if no known cure goes away there could be no justification for the cash cow Lifetime Supervision Act that spawned the sex offender containment industry, "without the no known cure language in statute there is less or no justification for the lifetime supervision legislation."

The current version of HB 1138 replaces no know cure with, “there is currently no way to ensure that adult sex offenders with the propensity to commit sexual offenses will not reoffend.'' This vague language is sure to charge the debate as the bill moves further along the legislative process.

No one knows how this new wording might influence the implementation of the Lifetime Supervision Act in the future. Maybe the parole board will start releasing inmates who have served 100 percent of their sentences. Maybe the period in Colorado history that advocated lifetime imprisonment for nonviolent offenders is over. Maybe the year after year anguish of the indeterminate sentence will end, maybe one day it will be seen for what it is - inhumane.

Or maybe not. Colorado does seem to like its prison industry, and nothing has made it grow or required so much taxpayer funding than no known cure and the Lifetime Act. Maybe this is the state's legacy, only time and legislation will tell.

Editor's note: Parenthetical information inserted by writer.