
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 20, 1995                   TAG: 9506210055
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SEX OFFENDERS ASK ALLEN TO SAVE THERAPY FUNDING

With time running out on a prison program that treats sexual offenders, a group of inmates has invited Gov. George Allen to visit the Bland Correctional Center and reconsider his decision to eliminate funding for the program.

In a letter to Allen, 25 members of the Bland Sex Offender Therapeutic Community implored the governor to "make a decision that is morally correct instead of politically advantageous."

At Allen's suggestion, funding was eliminated earlier this year for a program at Bland that treats sexual offenders in a therapeutic community where they are housed separately from other prisoners and receive intensive counseling.

Prison officials have said the $220,000-a-year program is not a cost-effective way to deal with sex offenders, who have a high risk of recidivism.

It is unlikely that the Allen administration will reconsider its position before June 30, when the program is scheduled to close down. "The budget process has been completed, and there are no funds for the program," said Bill Cimino, a spokesman for Secretary of Public Safety Jerry Kilgore.

Cimino could not say Monday if the inmates' letter, dated June 10, had reached the governor's desk. But a visit by Allen seems unlikely, since Kilgore toured the program during a recent trip to Bland.

In addition to making a last-ditch plea to Allen, the inmates also are seeking a solution in court. U.S. District Judge James Turk has denied their request for a temporary restraining order to keep the program open past June 30, but a lawsuit is still pending.

The sex offenders argue that without the treatment program, they will return to the general prison population and quickly revert to their old ways.

The therapeutic community - the first of its kind in Virginia - is based on many of the same principles as substance-abuse treatment and has been successful in lowering recidivism rates in other states.

But it is being eliminated after less than two years, the time required for an inmate to complete the program. "Unless you change your mind and decide, by executive order, to save this program, you ... will never know if our program is effective or not," the inmates wrote to Allen.

The letter takes issue with the argument that the program is not cost-effective.

"If this treatment program has prevented even one man from committing another sex crime, have you not provided a terrific service to the citizens of our state?'' the inmates asked.

And in a motion asking Turk to dismiss the lawsuit, the state argues that affidavits outlining the inmates' concerns about returning to crime without the program are "rife with psycho-babble."

by CNB