Criminals who commit sexual offenses often suffer from mental illness and deserve treatment as much as punishment. But if they are allowed to run wild in the facilities that house them, there is no practicality in having lenient prisons.
In the Florida Civil Commitment Center, sex offenders party with each other and employees instead of receiving therapy. According to a March 5 New York Times article that exposed these disturbing events, just one resident showed enough improvement to merit a release, and 35 percent of the sex offenders regularly skipped out on counseling sessions.
This all began when Florida hired the Liberty Behavioral Health Corporation to run the facility. The state’s intentions are valid in wanting to treat the sexual criminals rather than just put them in jail — these people deserve help.
But most states operate their own centers. Florida and a few other states decided to contract with private management companies like Liberty. When Liberty was founded, it had no experience treating sex offenders and jumped into the business when the market called for it, as reported by the Times.
These types of treatment centers, although twice as expensive as prisons, are beneficial. But if residents are drinking, abusing drugs and having sex with inmates and workers, there is no value to the rehabilitation.
By hiring private management, Florida created more of a headache for its leaders and created an opportunity for both sides to blame the other instead of working toward actually helping the sexual predators overcome their problems.
A psychiatrist who worked at the facility told the Times the state did not provide adequate funding. The state puts culpability on the manager’s shoulders.
Either way, sexual offenders are continuing to live it up in these private facilities. The state should accept responsibility. It hired Liberty. If Liberty is not doing what it needs to, then Florida must find a new solution for dealing with these criminals. Under the current state of affairs, taxpayers are funding good times for sex offenders.