Sexually violent predators

offenders living and working in el paso county. some are in prison, some live in their own homes, and some are in monitored and controlled halfway houses. but there’s a category of particularly violent sex offenders the state has been scrambling to figure out what to do with — after the company providing the halfway-house service announced it no longer would. abc-7’s andrew j. polk investigates in tonight’s special report — only on abc-7 :15 :35 1:14 intro there are more than a thousand registered sex offenders living and working in el paso county. some are in prison, some live in their own homes, and some are in monitored and controlled halfway houses. but there’s a category of particularly violent sex offenders that the state has been scrambling to figure out what to do with.. after the company providing the halfway-house service announced it no longer would. abc-7’s andrew j. polk investigates what happens next, in tonight’s special report. pkg: “it’s just tracking an verifying their information, pretty much their life.” sheriff’s detective eduardo gutierrez works in the sex offender registration and tracking office, keeping an eye on the many registered sex offenders living and moving around our region. “think about the offenses that these individuals have committed. about 90 to 95 percent of them are against children.” bu there’s a particular kind of sex offender so dangerous, and with crimes so vile… “to put it into simple terms, they’re the worst of the worst.” “and there are 19 of them livin right here in el paso, at this facility on horizon boulevard. they’re called sexually violent predators, sex offenders who are so dangerous that even though they’re out of prison, they can’t be let out into the general population.” that process called “civil commitment,” was create in 1999… the legislature acknowledged there is a small but “extremely dangerous” group of predators with a “behavioral abnormality” that can’t be treated as a regular mental illness. that quote “…makes the individua likely to engage in repeated, predatory acts of sexual violence. ” “you’re talkin about very… sometimes very horrendous crimes. and how do you handle that when someone’s released and back into the community?” el paso state representative joe moody dealt with this issue in the last legislative session… voting on an overhaul of the sexually violent predator program, which now has 347 offenders statewide. while the numbers grow, the state isn’t sure what to do with the violent predators they have now. the current facility out here in horizon is run by avalon correctional services, an oklahoma based company. but in may of last year, avalon said it would stop housing these dangerous predators on august 31st, leaving the state scrambling to figure out what to do.” avalo declined to answer our questions, and directed us to the state office that oversees sexually violent predators. previously, they’ve said the system became too expensive and couldn’t afford to transport detainees to the only court that hears their cases in east texas. the texas civil commitment office wouldn’t answer any our questions, either, saying the state is evaluating proposals to take over those services… something they asked for just two months ago! the state hopes to have a new company contracted by the 24th. but with just over a month until avalon stops providing services, things will have to move very quickly as the state works to eliminate problems that plagued the program. one fix: allowing other courts to review the cases of these violent offenders. “the idea that that need to b in place isn’t changed. but the way in which it’s delivered is definitely changed. this bill completely overhauls that system to make sure we’re doing a better job, and ultimately making sure our community is safe.” andrew j. polk, abc-7. while the state figures out this problem, if you want to see where sex offenders are in el paso, you can search the information on our website, k-v-i-a dot com. the u-s house today passed a bill meant to punish so called “sanctuar cities.” el paso is one of those cities and las cruces says they, too, have some sanctuary city rules. the bill would deny local governments federal law enforcement grants and funding if those governments have