An audit of the Department of State Hospitals’ Sexually Violent Predator Conditional Release Program found that costs are rising and placement options remain limited.
The program is meant to safely transition people back to living in communities after prison time and inpatient treatment. The court determines their eligibility for the program. The Department of State Hospitals (DSH) contracts with Liberty Healthcare to monitor participants and conduct ongoing treatment.
The California State Auditor published a report on Tuesday. It says people who participate in the conditional release program are less likely to reoffend — 4% of program participants reoffended after their release from a state hospital, compared to 19% of nonparticipants.
Finding places for them to live takes 17 months on average. Few property owners are willing to rent to the program. In San Diego County, community opposition has also delayed placements.
The report suggested that DSH consider state-owned transitional housing.
"Washington, Minnesota, Kansas, and Texas each use transitional group housing to serve as an intermediate step between receiving treatment in a state hospital and receiving treatment in a community setting," the report reads.
In its response to the audit, DSH said people in transitional housing would still need community placements eventually, and that state-owned transitional facilities in communities would likely face opposition.
Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones, who requested the audit last year, said sexually violent predators should never be released. If they are, he said, he supports housing them on state property and not in neighborhoods.
"The examples that have been used in the past are fire camps, state prisons, on the outside of the state prison using either modular homes or RV trailers or something like that, where the state can comply with the sentencing and the parole requirements, but also at the same time, keep our communities safe," he said.
Jones also has concerns about costs. The audit said costs have gone up as rents rise, more people participate in the program and Liberty Healthcare increases its rate. Annual costs to the state grew from $6.6 million to $11.5 million between 2018 and 2023. The average annual housing cost per participant grew from $39,000 to $55,000.
DSH has contracted with Liberty Healthcare since the program began in 2003. They’ve issued at least four requests for information from other vendors since then, but Liberty Healthcare has been the only one to respond.
The audit said DSH could try contracting with different vendors for specific regions or services. Jones agreed.
"One vendor can bid on the real estate part of it, another vendor can bid on the treatment part of it, another vendor can bid on the transportation part of it,” Jones said. "There's no reason why this has to be one vendor."
DSH agreed to consider using multiple contracts. It also agreed to conduct a review of Liberty Healthcare by March to ensure its compliance with program policies, develop a more formal process to track recommendations made to Liberty Healthcare and create additional guidance for local housing committees.
