Westmoreland County lawmakers called for significant changes to a state treatment program for former juvenile sex offenders who officials say are increasingly being released into local communities.
State Rep. Eric Nelson, R-Hempfield, said local lawmakers are not criticizing the treatment itself, but rather the concentration of releases in Western Pennsylvania.
“Our beef is not with the work they do, but it is a confirmed reality that a preponderance of these individuals are being located in Westmoreland and Allegheny counties without notification to the community, law enforcement, and in many cases, inclusion on Megan’s Law,” Nelson said.
Nelson and members of the county’s legislative conference — including state Reps. Eric Davanzo, R-Smithton; Brian Rasel, R-Penn Township; Jill Cooper, R-Murrysville; and Leslie Rossi, R-Unity — held a news conference Thursday at Twin Lakes Park east of Greensburg to address concerns with the state’s Sexual Responsibility Treatment Program. The program operates at Torrance State Hospital in Derry Township.
“Make no mistake, our counties are not a dumping ground,” Nelson said.
Authorized by state law in 2003 under Act 21, the program is operated exclusively at Torrance and administered by the state Department of Human Services. It gives county judges the authority to indefinitely detain violent juvenile sex offenders once they reach adulthood. Individuals are held in a secure unit at the mental hospital to undergo treatment, and judges must review each case annually to determine if a participant requires continued secure detention.
“Understand, these are the worst of the worst. Their conduct, risk factors and psychological risk profiles are serious enough they’ve warranted a judicial finding that they present an elevated risk,” said Rossi, whose legislative district includes Torrance State Hospital.
“And I want you to think about something when you have these folks in our community — when you suffer this kind of mental illness and being a sexual predator, you get impulses just like that. There is no pill and there is no amount of therapy, in my opinion, that fixes that,” Rossi said.
The lawmakers proposed changes to the law to tighten registration requirements and lengthen the time judges retain oversight after individuals leave secure confinement for step-down programs.
The department claims just 15 of the more than 60 individuals placed in the program since 2012 have been released. However, internal program documents obtained by TribLive suggested that as of mid-May, more than 20 people had been discharged from the program, with 14 others currently in various stages of community reintegration outside of Torrance. Their locations are undisclosed.
Program officials said judges retain oversight for up to a year following a community release. That oversight includes continued outpatient treatment, weekly staff visits to provide food and medications, and behavior and location tracking through an online app.
State officials on Thursday described the yearlong step-down process as slow and prescriptive, designed to prepare participants should a judge order their discharge from the program into the community. Officials added that participants are not strictly relocated to Westmoreland County.
“(Sexual Responsibility Treatment Program) staff and other partners are closely involved in this process and at no time during the slow release process are people unsupervised,” department spokesman Brandon Cwalina said.
Lawmakers questioned whether that level of oversight is sufficient and refuted the department’s claims that program releases have not significantly increased.
“DHS cannot have it both ways. We can’t say that on average one individual has been released a year since 2012 and also recognize 14 individuals are simultaneously in the … step-down process,” Nelson said.
Lawmakers plan to introduce legislation to tighten oversight and require all participants to register with the state police under Megan’s Law. Sex offenders convicted prior to 2012 are not mandated to register under the current statute.
“Our bill will make it more structured, not a one-year but a two-year step-down process,” Cooper said. “We will try to make it more functional and place guardrails on it. Our main focus is keeping everyone safe.”