CALIFORNIA, USA — For years, the California Department of State Hospitals has been working with a private health firm to treat and rehabilitate sexually violent predators, so they can be re-released into the community. It's controversial and many lawmakers and local officials feel the process is not transparent enough.
Many community members say they don't want people convicted of sexually violent crimes in their communities. Through the state of California's Sexually Violent Predator Conditional Release Program, people convicted of sexually violent crimes, also known as SVPs, are eligible to be treated and rehabilitated. Once they complete their prison sentence, the goal is to safely re-enter them into the community.
Through an ABC10 investigation, we found the state is paying hundreds of thousands of dollars per person for treatment and rehabilitation. That's all taxpayer money. State lawmakers are now in the process of auditing the program and introducing legislation to change what they say is a secretive process because of how difficult it is to get information from the state.
"The crimes they've committed are heinous," said Senator Brian Jones (R) San Diego. "Rape with murder, rape with an object, multiple young victims."
Jones believes this should not be happening in any community and he's introduced Senate Bill 832 to double down on the state's responsibility to monitor SVPs once they're re-released.
"The director of state hospitals has to sign off on these, that public safety be the number one concern that the bottom line is. I just want to put the responsibility of keeping an eye on these guys back on the state where it belongs," said Jones.
The California Department of State Hospitals is in charge of the SVP program. They've contracted Liberty Healthcare to lead the treatment and rehabilitation. The state is currently paying Liberty over $22 million over the course of its current two year contract.
The cost of a conditionally released SVP in the program varies every year. In an ABC10 public records request, these numbers highlight the cost breakdown:
- In 2021, the cost of one SVP totaled $386,582.
- In 2022, $403,826
- in 2023, $456,032
As of December 2023, the state says there were 572 SVP patients with another 380 patients with probable cause to be labeled as an SVP. The state says these numbers can change on a daily basis. Jones says it's unclear how the program works and how the SVPs are being treated.
"Who is Liberty Health? How much are we paying them? Why are they involved? Why is this sweet contract not bid out every so often? Why have they had it for 20 years, with no other competition?" asked Jones.
In the current 46 page contract with the state, the expectations for Liberty are laid out including: surveillance, home visits, substance abuse screenings and GPS tracking. Jones says it's still not clear how Liberty performs these duties. Because of that, he requested an audit in May 2023 with the help of Assembly Member Joe Patterson (R) Rocklin.
"Auditing what Liberty Healthcare is doing is great, and it's perfectly within the purview of the legislature," said Patterson.
In line with Jones' bill, Patterson introduced Assembly Bill 2036, focusing on housing for convicted sexually violent predators.
"What this bill essentially does is it defines what qualified housing is. And qualified housing would be essentially not be a hotel. I mean, that's the easiest way to put it," said Patterson.
This comes as Patterson's constituents fight against the release of William Stephenson, a convicted sexually violent predator, in Placer County. In July 2023, a judge granted him to be conditionally released as a transient. Placer County, the state and Liberty have been looking for a place to house him ever since.
RELATED: Placer County residents fight back at latest meeting concerning release of William Stephenson
"Mr. Stephenson has a long history of sex crimes, culminating in his convictions in 1991 for a number of assaults on women in the South Lake Tahoe area. He was ultimately sentenced to prison for 30 years in 1991. He served half that time," said Placer County District Attorney Morgan Gire.
Gire says Stephenson was released in Roseville in 2014 when a judge deemed him fit to be released after spending seven years with State Hospitals getting treatment. During a routine check up while he was conditionally released, Liberty Healthcare officials discovered he violated his terms of release by allegedly possessing child pornography. He was arrested again in 2017.
Instead of trying to convict him, Gire says the DA's office decided removing him from the community and putting him back into the SVP program as soon as possible was the best option.
"Rather than risking having to go to a jury and leaving it up to 12 community members, we were already guaranteed that he was going to be returned to custody," said Gire.
Stephenson sent a letter to ABC10 stating he is innocent because he served his time and was never convicted on the child pornography charges. A judge deemed him fit for re-release back in 2022. Gire says he understands Stephenson's arguments but believes he still poses a danger to the public.
"The best predictor of future behavior oftentimes is past behavior, and he's already violated once," said Gire. "They have a right to be free, provided they can follow through with the right circumstances and be safe. So this is a very complicated issue that gets everybody all riled up on both sides."
In a 2022 report from the California Sex Offender Management Board, made up of prosecutors and correctional officials from across the state, found that people are less likely to re-offend if they have community support upon re-entry.
"That assertion is somewhat nonsensical, to ask the community to embrace someone who has been convicted of violent sex crimes and has violated I think, is unreasonable," said Gire.
The Department of State Hospitals tells ABC10 that 55 people have been released into the community since the SVP program started in 1996. As for the rate of success of those 55 people, they say less than 11 have either been convicted or "suspected of a crime and never convicted" while participating in their program.
ABC10 asked for clarification on what "less than 11" means and asked the state to provide an exact number on how many people reoffended. The state says, "DSH cannot provide numbers that are less than 11."
As Gire continues to wait for State Hospitals to make a decision on William Stephenson, he hopes this program becomes more streamlined in the future and believes the bi-partisan legislation being introduced may be the answer.
"The law requires now a collaborative process between the local authorities and the Department of State Hospitals. And it hasn't been that," said Gire.
ABC10 requested interviews with Department of State Hospitals and Liberty Healthcare multiple times since October to try to get answers about their process, their contract and their response to criticism from lawmakers. Our interview requests were denied. A spokesperson told us it will not comment on pending legislation.
As for the state audit requested last May, it's still ongoing and no results have been released.
WATCH MORE: Placer County residents provide feedback at latest meeting concerning release of William Stephenson
