Title: The Minnesota Sex Offender Program, explained | MinnPost
Headings: The Minnesota Sex Offender Program, explained
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The Minnesota Sex Offender Program, explained
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Briana Bierschbach

Content: Her murder horrified the public and alarmed politicians, who subsequently cracked down on sex offender confinement in Minnesota. How are offenders released from the program? Treatment in the program is “indefinite,” and MSOP technically does not have authority to let anyone out. Clients must petition the Supreme Court Appeal Panel — commonly called the “SCAP process” — before they can either move to CPS or be discharged from their commitment altogether. As of June 30, 26 clients have successfully petitioned to move into the final phase of treatment, but the panel has never granted anyone permanent release from the program. Wait, so nobody has ever gotten out of MSOP? Not unconditionally. One person, Clarence Opheim, was provisionally released from the program in 2012, but is still under the state watch in a halfway house. Opheim first went to prison in 1988 for molesting an 11-year-old boy, and later admitted to molesting 29 children. How much does the program cost taxpayers?