MONROE — The sex offender said he found freedom behind bars.
The 22-year-old, who said he was doing time after being convicted of breaking into a home and molesting a young girl, said he’s been transformed.
He’s owned up to what he did, and said he’s learned how to identify and control the deviant feelings that might lead him to re-offend.
“I hurt a lot of people. I hurt a lot of families,” he said. “The only way I could make amends for what I did is to change.”
He was one of five inmates at the Twin Rivers Unit of the Monroe Correctional Complex who volunteered to talk with reporters Tuesday. They all asked not to be fully identified.
The man who attacked the girl said he changed during a yearlong sex offender treatment program.
The program, now celebrating its 20th year, has had 2,261 men graduate. Nine women have completed a similar program at the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor.
Of all those graduates, about 7 percent have gone on to commit additional sex crimes, said Sally Neiland, the director of the Monroe program.
That’s far below the 30 percent recidivism rate among the general population of prisoners statewide, she said.
“The reason the treatment program is here is for community safety,” she said. “We have a very high success rate.”
On Tuesday, officials invited reporters into the prison to learn more about the state’s program, which now is being expanded to double its capacity.
In 2009, a similar program for sex offenders is expected to open near Spokane at the Airway Heights Corrections Center, in a minimum-security wing.
The current program serves 200 men at a time, Neiland said. About 1,200 men are on a five-year waiting list to get in.
Men in the treatment program are given an individualized plan. Most prisoners spend about nine hours a week in group therapy and meet with a counselor.
By the time they’re finished, participants will spend as much as 500 hours in therapy.
“We’re asking them to change some really big and sometimes ingrained behaviors,” Neiland said.
One treatment, called aversion therapy, uses rancid fish oil and Limburger cheese to help the men associate inappropriate sexual arousal with something repulsive.
When the men begin to think about something that could trigger deviant behavior, they take a whiff of the stinky cheese.
To participate in the program, men must be eligible for release, have acknowledged their crimes and be motivated to change before being admitted, officials said.
It costs about $10,000 per year for each offender, said Robin Murphy, a mental health supervisor at the prison. Studies show the cost is far less than the alternative: allowing offenders back into the community where they are likely to hurt someone else.
The problem of sex offenders in communities has garnered headlines in Snohomish County this year.
Controversy over private housing for sex offenders in Everett swirled this summer when a landlord who runs several group homes for sex offenders bought a mansion in the Riverside neighborhood.
Citing threats against his family, the landlord, who rents rooms to a few dozen registered sex offenders on a single city block, said he is getting out of the business. In the meantime, the city of Everett has formed a task force on sex-offender housing and is preparing to send recommendations to state lawmakers dealing with so many sex offenders living in one place.
“I’d much rather have a sex offender in my block than living under a bridge two miles away,” Murphy said.
She was referring to David J. Torrence, who in April was released from prison with no place to stay. He was ordered to sleep under a bridge along U.S. 2 at the east side of Snohomish. He triggered a nationwide manhunt after he cut off a GPS tracking device and disappeared.
Several years ago, Torrence completed the Monroe treatment program. He has not been convicted of re-offending, but he has a history of absconding.
Last week, Torrence was convicted of failing to register and was ordered to spend another year behind bars. A Snohomish County judge said Torrence could serve his two years of probation living with family in Arkansas.
Stable environments and family support significantly reduce the risk of re-offense, officials said.
The man who molested the girl said he hopes to be released in about two years.
Herald Writers Diana Hefley and David Chircop contributed to this report.
Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437 or jholtz@heraldnet.com.
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