S.C.'s tab $7.4M for predators

For 12 years, South Carolina has tried to protect the public by keeping its most-dangerous sex offenders locked up behind concrete walls and razor wire long after their prison sentences have ended.

But that sense of security comes at a steep price.

The state shells out about $7.4 million each year to treat those confined under the Sexually Violent Predator Act, which allows authorities to lock up some sex offenders indefinitely for the purpose of alternative care. That translates to about $63,000 per offender annually for each of the 119 predators in the program.

And that doesn't include the legal costs associated with the commitment process or the money spent on food, utilities and space within a state prison, state officials said.

South Carolina is one of 20 states to enact laws under which sex offenders can be jailed for life in the name of public safety. These measures gained traction in the 1990s when growing public fears about sex offenders coincided with prosperous times in which state budgets were flush with cash.

But a recent report by the Associated Press found that the costs for this get-tough tactic have soared far beyond what people envisioned at the time. An AP analysis found that states with civil commitment programs collectively will spend $500 million this year alone to treat 5,200 offenders deemed too dangerous to return to the streets.

Those costs have put the squeeze on many governments struggling to cut expenditures in a crippling recession that has forced layoffs, furloughs and deep program cuts. Though South Carolina spends a good deal less than many other states on its predator program -- New York spends $175,000 per inmate and California, $173,000 -- the effort is still a drain on already strained coffers.

Still, there appears to be little support among lawmakers in South Carolina and other states to pull back on these programs and be seen as soft on rapists and child molesters, the AP found. While states such as Colorado have put their money into increased supervision of sex offenders in the community, officials here insist it's just not worth the risk to let these predators out.

Sen. Mike Fair, a Greenville Republican who chairs the Senate Corrections and Penology Committee, said the predator program's growth comes at a "crummy time" from a budget perspective, "but I think we will continue to do whatever is necessary to keep that program funded."

"I think the public supports that as well," he said.

The state Department of Mental Health, which runs the predator program, has seen its overall budget drop 33 percent between 2008 and the coming fiscal year, for which about $147 million has been set aside for the agency, according to department figures.

While programs and services throughout the agency have been cut or curtailed as a result, the predator unit cannot be touched because it is mandated by state law, said Mark Binkley, general counsel for the department.

"The program continues to be a growth area, and it doesn't bear its share of cuts because it can't be cut," he said. "And that just magnifies the share of cuts on other programs."

It is anyone's guess where it will end, as more offenders are added to the unit and the population ages and requires more medical care. The number of predators in the unit has nearly doubled since 2005, as has the program's budget. This has led to concerns about space constraints as well.

Most of these predators are housed in a unit deep within the maximum-security Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, in a prison wing originally designed for death-row inmates. A small group of "medically fragile" offenders are kept at Columbia Regional Care Center, a private detention health care facility.

"Space is our critical issue," Binkley said. "Between the two facilities, we have found space for all of the residents and we are providing treatment for all of the residents, but it's very crowded."

The sexual predator act requires a court hearing, similar to a trial, to decide whether a person suffers from a mental or personality disorder that makes him likely to commit sexually violent acts. Once confined, offenders receive mental health treatment, drug and alcohol counseling and other services aimed at helping them control their behaviors.

Authorities have screened 5,498 offenders since the predator law was enacted in 1998. Of those, 192 offenders -- around 3.5 percent -- have been committed as sexually violent predators, said Mark Plowden, spokesman for state Attorney General Henry McMaster.

By comparison, there were 12,244 registered sex offenders walking the streets of South Carolina as of last week, according to the State Law Enforcement Division.

The AP analysis found wide disparities among states in the amount of time predators are confined for treatment. While California has returned nearly 200 offenders to its communities, no one in Minnesota's program as ever gotten out, the AP found.

In South Carolina, the courts have released 65 people from the state's program after treatment. Six others left in caskets after dying in the program.

Those who remain are considered too dangerous to live among us. Among those sent here: Kenneth R. Whitcraft of Berkeley County, who was involuntarily committed in 2002 following a 16-year prison term for forcing a 12-year-old boy to perform a sex act; Johnny Matthews, a janitor convicted of lewd acts on children at a North Charleston Head Start Center; and James Carl Miller, who sexually assaulted a 1-year-old in Lexington County in 1998.

Charleston County Associate Probate Judge Jack Guedalia headed a statewide committee that examined the predator program in 2005. He said the program is a necessary tool to protect the public and he hopes budget and space constraints don't drive officials to set more predators loose in the community.

"The problem, of course, is that these people are such high-risk offenders," he said. "What should be the cost of protecting all the kids and women out there from them? Where do you draw the line on something like that?"