The Colorado Department of Corrections is treating only a fraction of sex offenders in custody, and most who get treatment are kicked out of the program early, an advocacy group says.
Colorado Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE) will present a report today to the legislature suggesting that the sex-offender program needs change, said Diane Crocher, a CURE officer.
Crocher said although treatment of sex offenders is mandated under Colorado’s 1998 sex-offender lifetime supervision law, prisoners are admitted into treatment program only when they serve their minimum sentence.
For someone serving a five-years-to-life prison sentence, they would not receive treatment until they were in prison five years.
“Unless sex offenders are treated, they will never be released from prison,” said Frank Dubofsky, a retired Colorado Court of Appeals judge who wrote the forward of the report.
Corrections spokeswoman Patti Miccichi said many sex offenders deny they committed any offense and refuse to be treated. She said the state has limited funds for sex-offender treatment. Currently, offenders who are approaching parole eligibility are given treatment, she said.
However, some sex offenders who have admitted their guilt and are anxious to begin treatment have been admitted immediately, Miccichi said.
Only 3 percent of those who enter the sex-offender program have been released on parole, Crocher said.
