Lawsuit targets Missouri sex offender treatment

ST. LOUIS -- New filings in a class-action lawsuit challenging Missouri's treatment of convicted sex offenders seek the release from custody of more than 200 men in the program.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the legal challenge to the Missouri Department of Mental Health claims its Sex Offender Rehabilitation and Treatment Services program is mismanaged, overcrowded and essentially a prison disguised as a mental hospital.

The program was created to treat sex offenders who complete prison sentences but are deemed unsafe to be released. They are held indefinitely as mental health patients at secure facilities in Farmington, Mo., and Fulton, Mo.

Since the program was started 14 years ago, no one has successfully completed treatment. The suit was first filed in 2009. Missouri is among 20 states with similar treatment programs.

------

Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com