Families of SOs Community Group
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Does sex offender treatment in prison offer real help? Also does an inmate have to participate in order to be released or receive parole? My son's public defender said he would be going to a prison that offered SO treatment but it anybody to goes to it is unwise because they will be seen coming and going and could be targeted.
In Colorado, there is only one designated prison that has SO treatment. Hence, just by being transferred to that prison, one would already be easily identified as a SO. However, since there are so many SOs, there's not much danger.
Actually, my son has been staying safe in his current prison (not the treatment facility) for three years, even though everyone knows he's an SO. There are so many of them in his prison, it's no big deal. Additionally, the prison officials have been very quick to transfer any troublemakers (i.e. white supremacists) out of the prison. This keeps things much safer for all the SOs.
Personally, with the exception of a couple of intensive drug programs I have seen, I don't think any programs in prison are beneficial or help an inmate. Funds are short and the DOC is unable to spend the money for a competent instructor or for any intensive treatment; the funds are just not there. I do think SOTP programs can help, but not the ones in prison.
If an inmates admits guilt by either pleading or just admitting it, then most prison systems will force him to take the SOTP. They will put it on his paperwork at his initial, reception prison and if he refuses, he will receive a program failure and his inevitable release date will be pushed back.
The problem is that these programs will not allow an inmate to enroll if they are innocent or will not admit guilt. If an inmate maintains his innocence and goes to trial, then loses, they still will sometimes ask him to enroll in the course. Of course, he cannot if he continues to maintain his innocence. So you have a dilemma there.
Many of the guys I knew who maintained their innocence------and still do----were asked to take the course, but refused to admit guilt. As a result some lost some good time---there were good time credits back then----some were stuck in the hole for several months----as I was----and sometimes the prison staff just dropped it. Most of the guys eventually received all their good time credits back though. In my case, once they let me out, there were no more repercussions and it was never mentioned again. I also did not have to mess with it again as I was never on any paper time---probation or parole----discharging my entire sentence in prison.
Usually only one or two facilities in the system offer the SOTP. If an inmate decides to enroll in the program, he will be shipped to that prison and be placed in a special area, dorm, or pod with all the other offenders. Usually the word on the yard is that if one finger is laid on one of these sex offenders by the other inmates, the inmate would be shipped to the maximum security facility within that state----no questions asked. That usually ensured that the SOs taking the course would not be harmed.
Some states due to funding problems no longer offer a SOTP. Oklahoma is one of these.
My advice is if your son is innocent to inform them---his case manager---- at the initial classification at the reception prison----that is the very first place he goes after he leaves the county jail------that he is innocent, is not even eligible for the course, and has no intention of taking it. By doing this, his first case manager will not usually put it on the list of required programs he must take while in prison.
This SOTP is always a tricky proposition in prison. Sometimes the DOC will come back and tell the inmate that it is court ordered and he must take it. That is what they did to me. He must hold his ground and just refuse. Most of the time, they won't mess with it any more, although they will probably never allow him to make parole without taking the SOTP. But guess what? He is very unlikely to ever make parole anyway with a sex offense.
The best advice is for him to plan out ahead of time how he wants to handle this. When I was convicted at trial, I had nobody to explain any of this to me, I was blindsided, and had to figure it out on my own.
God bless you and your son. I am happy that you have found a place to get some of your questions answered.
rewdiazepam
So, yes, there is sex offender treatment offer in prison. The quality varies. If their are more (un-adjudicated crimes your son has not been charged with he absolutely should not discuss incriminating stuff regarding anything in any treatment "program" in or out of any prison.
That said, I think most guys who do attend treatment do what is called "program". They say the right things at the right time so they can be reported to be attending and "improving" and so that sort of information will be sent to the parole board if and when they get a "date" to possibly parole out OR that sort of a report will be sent to the Parole Office when they decide what "level" (1,2,0r3) of parole supervision should be required on the outside.
And, never fear, therapy will be required by the parole department (sometime for life) or at least for the life of his parole supervision. And the parole must pay for that too ($100 dollars a pop in this state or les per session for group SO therapy which may or may not replicate the programing an offender chose to do during prison therapy. And everybody (all therapists are mandated reporters if any "new" stuff comes up or any new incriminating details come up at any time. (It's sore of a damned if you do and damned if you don't system that makes it very hard for "offenders" who want to come to terms with what they did and want make sure they have a real plan for staying away from situations in the future that might endanger then to re-offend and in the process harm and victimize others. (like the guy from the federal system said about his own worries about his own situation etc. ) If your son's public defender warned him about the "treatment" offered in the prison he's going to, you might ask him what will happen if your son refuses that prison's "treatment" and if your son knows to just "program" will that be better especially if the public defender knows there might be grounds for additional charges if your son is open about his offending etc.
I know this all sounds too complicated for words but...it's been my family's "experience.
Since both you and he are "newcomers" to both the "justice system" and the prison system (and the Parole system you will also find yourself subjected to) I caution you never to write or suggest programing during treatment because you may be paying for the phone calls or talking through glass at the holding facility...BUT there are others listening and recording and reporting. So keep you own mouth shut about specifics and learn the ropes. It's safer all around for every body.
That said. you might like to go (on Amazon?) and a get a book by Jill S. Levenson & John W. Moran Treating Non-offending Parents in Child Sexual Abuse cases (there's also a work book from Connections for Family Safety) The information is sometimes tangential to your/ our specific situations but it might provide you with insight about effective treatment and safety plans for SO who might someday be returning home to the outside world etc...Also the Little Book of Restorative Justice (by Howard Zehr ) gives a very good list of what "THOSE WHO HAVE CAUSED HARM NEED JUSTICE TO PROVIDE: including, 1 Accountability and 2 Encouragement to experience personal transformation including healing from the harms that contributed to their own offending...(and even SO who are "programing can get books like his in packages from home if they are interested in understanding themselves and their situations better) The important thing I think from sad experience, is not to get on the pitty pot about "How badly the justice system is treating us and our registered sex offender because then we start to think our present suffering somehow makes the harm done to others OK. This is not tit-for-tat every one need to change and heal and end up better in spite of undergoing this truly horrendous experience . Two wrongs don't end up making anybody "Right" no matter how bad we ourselves feel/felt we were hurt, no matter how unfair this all is getting through this could just tear us all down more if we climb onto the pitty pot and feel so sorry for ourselves that we forget to reach out to each other, "our" offender and yes, the persons who were harmed and haven't had a fair chance to heal from their own wound either.
Almost all inmates take all these programs to be just "playing the game" so they can hope to make parole or fulfill their obligation set forth to complete them.
They say what sounds good and what the prison staff wants to hear, but very few take these programs seriously. We all knew they were not usually beneficial, but only a means to an end.
I know that sounds blunt, but that is how prison is most of the time. With the exception of the GED programs and the vo-tech programs such as welding, most of the other programs, including the SOTP, are a joke.
rewdiazepam
Were you in the federal system? What is it like?
I declined SOMP because of the reasons I previously mentioned. Also, as cmimi45 mentioned, at Seagoville SO's can be identified. The SOMP inmates carried their classwork in a black binder. Other programs attendees, e.g., RDAP, carried their work in green, or orange binders.
BE AWARE - the therapists, and every other staff members are the cops. There is NO doctor-patient confidentiality. He can be prosecuted for anything that he says in therapy sessions. They are also the thought police, that is, any thoughts he may disclose can further prove his guilt.
What a horrible mess. The SOMP inmates with the black binders had a target on their backs placed by the prison system. It would be easy to see that another inmate was a SO by the color of his binder.
In Oklahoma, they were much more discreet.
I would not take the SOMP if they had such little regard for my safety as to do that.
rewdiazepam
Free. Confidential. Secure. 1-800-656-4673
They are part of RAINN https://www.rainn.org/get-information/types-of-sexual-assault/male-sexual-assault
and since many people on the Registry (and off) were also victims of sexual assault child sexual abuse) I think this may also be a helpful link to many dealing with the collateral damage of sexual assault/ the system etc.
Anyway, it's a resource my brother found helpful