Colorado Senate bill would allow community-based treatment for sex offenders
Senate Judiciary members heard testimony on a bill that would eliminate indeterminate prison sentences for certain convicted sex offenders and allow them to receive treatment in the community rather than in prisons, but did not vote on the measure at the request of the bill’s sponsor.
In addition to removing some indeterminate sentences, Senate Bill 118 would impose mandatory minimums for individuals convicted of sex crimes, mandating that they serve 75% of their sentence before becoming eligible for parole. The bill would allow offenders deemed “low-risk” to complete sex offender treatment within the community instead of prison.
According to the bill’s sponsor Sen. Julie Gonzales, D-Denver, the waitlist for convicted sex offenders to access treatment within the state’s prisons has grown exponentially in recent years. Currently, the Department of Corrections (DOC) can move inmates down on the list without any repercussions, leaving some offenders waiting for treatment long after parole eligibility has come and gone.
The bill modifies the legislative declaration in the Sex Offender Lifetime Supervision Act of 1998, also known as SOLSA or LSA, which requires lifetime supervision for most class two, three and four felony sex offenses. The revised language emphasizes that there is no evidence that life sentences for sex crimes have resulted in increased public safety. It also includes a statement that research indicates community-based treatment programs are the most effective approach to addressing the public safety risk presented by sex offenders.
“I think we’re failing survivors by not ensuring that high-risk offenders with determinate sentences receive the proper and evidence-based sex offender treatment while they’re incarcerated at the Department of Corrections,” Gonzalez said. “We fail survivors by sitting by idly as a knowingly broken, opaque global waitlist grows, clogged by people who have been determined to be low-risk who end up waiting for years to obtain treatment, and in so doing, ballooning our DOC budget that now surpasses $1 billion a year, while at the same time victims’ services face budget shortfall after budget shortfall.”
Gonzales acknowledged that the Department of Corrections has long faced challenges attracting treatment providers and proposed the bill as a way to help increase offenders’ access to treatment, which is often a requirement in order to be eligible for parole.
Jeff Pagliuca, an attorney testifying in favor of the bill, said that while a US District Court Judge recently ruled that the LSA assures inmates the right to obtain treatment if they seek it, many of the state’s convicted sex offenders do not have the opportunity to participate in treatment programs. He cautioned that this could lead to legal action against the DOC, and ultimately a court order.
“As you all know, good governance involves first identifying a problem and then coming up with an equitable solution to that problem,” Pagliuca said. “The problem, as we all know, is that the DOC is either incapable or unwilling to provide required sex offender treatment to individuals sentenced under the Lifetime Supervision Act. This is a problem that’s costing Colorado millions of dollars and is going to increase litigation against the state without a doubt.”
If the state does not address the problem, Pagliuca warned that a class action lawsuit could be coming by way of a “judicial fix.”
Other legal professionals, however, argued that the bill does not focus enough on the victims of these crimes and that even if they are deemed low-risk, sex offenders still caused significant harm.
Weld County District Attorney Michael Rourke said the LSA has already provided the justice system with adequate tools for punishing those convicted of sex crimes and expressed concern with letting convicted sex offenders into the community prior to receiving treatment.
Because of LSA, he said, “we have been able to explain to these victims that if an offender is found guilty at trial, this state takes these offenses very seriously. I read this bill, and I was sickened. This bill authorizes the release into your community and to my community those who have been arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced by a judge to prison without any treatment whatsoever.
“Do you know offenders are a high risk to their victims? Every single one of them. The message of this bill to all victims’ service providers and victims is ‘you don’t matter’, because we’re going to release [offenders] back into the community anyway.”
Fourth Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen agreed with Rourke, adding that voting in favor of the bill “equals siding with convicted sex offenders while turning your back on victims of today and tomorrow.”
Criminal defense attorney Sarah Croog said that the bill provides the legislature an opportunity to address an unintended problem stemming from the passing of the Lifetime Supervision Act. She referenced data from the state’s Sex Offender Management Board indicating that over 100 offenders deemed to be at “above-average” or “well above-average” risk of reoffending will leave prison without any treatment because of their indeterminate sentences.
“We know sex offender treatment works, and yet we are letting out the people who would benefit from it most because low-risk offenders are filling up the beds first,” she said.
After hearing testimony, Gonzales said she was “stunned.”
“I’m frustrated by the knowledge that we as a body, as a General Assembly, have known about the challenges that we have faced as a state. We’ve known about the ballooning costs of incarcerating offenders endlessly with no discernable path to treatment while victims languish,” she said. “The fact that there are over 300 individuals who leave the DOC having received no treatment is devastating to me. What are we doing?”
Gonzales requested the bill be postponed for further consideration and a subsequent vote at a later date.
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