A state audit is critical of a Kansas program where some convicted sex offenders are sent for treatment after they serve their prison sentences. The audit says the involuntary program doesn’t offer individualized treatment and most people don’t complete it. Kari Bruffett is secretary of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, which runs the Sexual Predator Treatment Program. She says the audit doesn’t take into account recent improvements they’ve made.
“Some of the findings that we see in this report actually are different from the way we’re conducting the program or managing the program even right now,” says Bruffet.
The audit says nearly 250 residents were enrolled in treatment as of December. Only three offenders have completed the program and been released since it was created in 1994. The goal is to treat sex offenders so they don’t later commit more crimes in the future.
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A state audit has found deficiencies in a program aimed at rehabilitating sexual predators before they are released back into society. Under state law, some sex offenders can be sent to Larned State Hospital for involuntary treatment after they serve their prison sentences. As KPR’s Stephen Koranda reports, the audit says around a dozen people are sent to the Sexual Predator Treatment Program every year.
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The audit says the program doesn’t offer individualized treatment and few people get beyond the first steps, meaning the population continues to grow.
Kari Bruffett is secretary of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, which runs the program. She says the audit is a snapshot from the past and doesn’t take into account recent changes. She says they’re working to continually improve the program.
“It’s not likely to be at any end point any time soon because there are a lot of developments in the field and we always want to stay in front of the developments in the field so you are providing the best treatment available to the residents,” says Bruffett.
The audit says nearly 250 residents were enrolled in treatment as of December. Only three offenders have completed the program and been released since it was created in 1994. The goal is to treat sex offenders so they don’t commit more crimes in the future.