OVERCOMING CORRUPTION ENCOURAGING ALL NATIONS (OCEAN)
The following content was created by using OCR software to read printed documents. It is in the process of being edited to correct scan errors. Expect to see this content in the future as posts with one article per post.
The following articles were written by two civilly committed men at the Minnesota Sex Offender Program
(MSOP) in gulag:Moose Lake Minnesota. These articles were reformatted to be scanned and put onto internet sites
like https://ajustfuture.org.
Contact OCEAN at:
OCEAN
1360 University Ave. W.
Box #145
St. Paul, MN 55104
You can leave a voice message at the facility for the OCEAN founders:
Russell J. Hatton: (218) 351-1900 Ext: 70887
Daniel A. Wilson: (218) 3 51-1 900 Ext: 106021
Aug. 1, 2019: Vol. 1, Issue I
1. WHAT IS OVERCOMING CORRUPTION ENCOURAGING ALL NATIONS (OCEAN)?
2. MSOP VARIANCE: A MALICIOUS ACT TO DELETE A MEDICAL MODEL
3. CLIENT INTERVIEW
4. MSOP REPUTATION [STRATEGY] IS TO MAINTAIN PUBLIC AND POLITICAL SUPPORT
5. INTRODUCTION TO COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE-OCEAN
WHAT IS OVERCOMING CORRUPTION ENCOURAGING ALL NATIONS (OCEAN)?
OCEAN is an acronym that stands for, Overcoming Corruption Encouraging All Nations.
The institutional organization of OCEAN is a new creation, received through prayer. However, OCEAN – the
concept – has been alive forever.
As humans, one primary quality we share with each other is our ability to overcome our own impurities,
disabilities and shortcomings. Our restrictions and our limitations. Our anger, our lust, our depression and our
addictions. Whatever it is, we are all able to overcome the corruption within us. When we do this – when we
overcome – we become an encouragement to each other. Victory of this kind transcends racial, political and
religious barriers. The OCEAN is all around us, and within us. Those who understand our ability to change, no
matter how far off the mark we have drifted, are Overcoming Corruption Encouraging All Nations.
OCEAN – the institution- was developed by 2 men civilly committed for sexual issues. We wish we had
received help before we hurt others, but we didn’t. We wish we would have made better choices, but we didn’t.
Now our mission is to prevent and eradicate sexual violence, using the proven science of neuroplasticity (also
known as neurogenesis) and the timeless power of God’s Word.
We believe that we have been redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, who has designed our brains
for restoration.
We now have an urgent message for those who continue to suffer under the bondage of compulsive, and
selfish decisions:
You were never “volitionally impaired,” YOU HAVE A CHOICE!
MSOP VARIANCE: A MALICIOUS ACT TO DELETE A MEDICAL MODEL
Rule 26 was established to govern MSOP as a hospital. However, there is an option to ask the Department of
Human Services Division of Licensing for accommodations in the event that MSOP cannot follow the Rule 26
called a “Variance Request.” the MSOP petitioned for more than one Variance Request to Rule 26, which
moved the facility away from a medical model and the constraints of following the various state codes outlined
at, Minnesota Rule, Chapter 4665, Department of Health, Supervised Living Facilities, because the MSOP
administrators know that the clients are not mentally ill. These Rule 26 Variance(s) are “NON-PUBLIC,”
stealthy arrangements. These Variances admit, “The vast majority of patients committed to the Minnesota Sex
Offender Program do not experience symptoms of mental illness that requires psychiatric treatment .. .” 1 The
MSOP Executive Director, Nancy Johnson, gave testimony on March 2, 2015, before The Honorable Donovan
W. Frank, about the Rule 26 Variances.2 In addition, The MSOP is not a hospital, nor is it calculated to follow a
medical model or to administer to ill people. In addition, The Clinical Director of MSOP, Jannine Hebert, gave
testimony on March 5, 2015,3 before The Honorable Donovan Frank, and explained that the MSOP has not been
a hospital since at least 2008. The MSOP does not work with patients needing medical care; rather, there is an
important distinction in her opinion: the MSOP is a “treatment program” that deals with folks who are “not
sick.” Also, MSOP does not use any “independent” Practitioners and does not provide hospital services.
No one can receive medical care and attention at a facility that does not provide medical services. MSOP
should be investigated by an independent party, and shut down. Here at the MSOP facility, we are all well
aware of what is going on here, we hope the public will soon understand the gravity of this situation. This may
only affect those who’ve committed sexual offences today. But tomorrow, anyone can get committed.
FOOTNOTES
1 Variance Request: Department of Human Services, Division of Licensing, 4444 Lafayette Road, St. Paul, MN
55155-3842 OR PO Box 64242, St. Paul, MN 55164-0242, Bob Chilberg, DHS Licensor (218)728-3210,
Variance #3, (3030-2), Aug-30-05, signed by Dean Mooney on Mar-4-2005. Also see 2nd Variance signed by
John D. Erskine on Apr-4-2008, License number of program: 830611 and 810838
2Court Trial Proceedings, Vol. XV, dated March 2, 2015, pp. 3198, 3199, 3201, 3336, 3428, 3429 – Case No.
11-CV-3659 (DWF/JJK)
3Court Trial Proceedings, Vol. XVIII, dated March 5, 2015, pp. 3957, 3958, 4001, 4002, 4203, 4204- Case No.
11-CV-3659 (DWF/JJK)
“It is difficult to get a man to understand anything if his paycheck depends on him not understanding it.” -Albert
Einstein
CLIENT INTERVIEW
If the public and the state authorities are going to keep us locked up forever, they are at least going to know how
we’re getting along. After praying for an interview, God provided.
Q: “How do you cope with the surroundings in which you live to maintain a level of sanity?”
Being a Bible-Thumping Born Again Christian here, this is a very difficult question. There are many tricks I
see other people doing to cope; i.e. video gaming, movies, etc … to do battle with these unhealthy and demonic
surroundings. We are a goal-oriented species. We have to have some sort of goal-set. Some only have shortterm
goals. This may even include most people. I have short-term goals too. But they are matched by, and line
up with, my ultimate long-term goal of staying true to God and getting out of here. I have not given up.
Therefore: I choose to fight.
I choose this fight willfully and with pride. Just under my surface, there is always this searing hot anger
directed at my captors; what they are doing to me and to my family through their unlawful acts of deceit and
unrighteousness. Fighting back alleviates some of the appetite I have for this anger and penchant for violence I
have toward them.
So I cope by trying to right this clearly wrong act committed against my humanity. I read legal materials,
psychiatric & psychological journals that deal with sexual violence and any corresponding treatment for it
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relentlessly. The documents I read is where the truth is told, where their scam falls apart; and through the
knowledge I gain, where my fight against them takes place.
I choose to fight by bringing the truth to them-allowing them to experience my knowledge of their
malevolent deceit, their lies; and I take them to the place where they can wallow in their unrighteousness like
pigs. Once they know the truth-have the knowledge of what harm they cause me, they can choose to go work
somewhere else. If they don’t, I am then justified to determine they are evil, or demonic beings; not worthy of
my time, effort, or patience. I can then ignore them in good conscience.
It is my belief that the education of these misguided and tortured souls is the most important Thing. It’s one
thing to stand and watch an innocent man get beat up without cause. But it’s entirely another to stand there and
beat someone without cause. Once they have knowledge of the truth, they are the ones beating me without
cause. Once I relate this, they have a choice to make: do good, or commit evil.
In reality, the staff I find easy to deal with for the most part. It is my fellow peers who cause constant struggle
for me. I don’t care about X-Box, JPay, Cable Television, or how many hours I work as a slave. I care about
one thing and one thing only and that is: GOING HOME and regaining my life! We don’t live here, we only
exist. I need to live, I can’t settle for existing. SO I FIGHT!
“It is my belief that the education of these misguided and tortured souls is the most important Thing.”
MSOP REPUTATION [STRATEGY] IS TO MAINTAIN PUBLIC AND POLITICAL
SUPPORT
MSOP knows how important their reputation is to maintain public and political support and are desperate to
protect this at all costs. MSOP is the most obvious example of what it means to put lipstick on a pig. Right
before audits and certain tours, MSOP staff is frantic to clean the facility, make sure their clients are sitting in a
tight nit circle during group and other bogus prepping, to further promote the illusion that there is some form of
treatment occurring at MSOP.
MSOP staff knows how to redirect and recreate itself to confuse and distract the public and the Clients. They
have most recently done this with the new tier system. The tier system is used to appeal to the selfish mindset of
a sex offender by offering a number of privileges in exchange for performance. This seems like an innocent
exchange. However, the incentive is meant to create an illusion that clients are participating in a meaningful
treatment. If clients actually had a treatment that helped them recover from impulsive and compulsive sexual
deviancy, with clinicians they trust and respect, they would gladly do the treatment, without any persuasive
incentive. However, the moment treatment turns into an incentive program, it’s no longer treatment because the
clinician naturally becomes skeptical of who is in treatment for the right reasons, and who is in it for the
incentives. This causes a conversation between a clinician and a client to morph into a never ending cycle of
interrogations. Whether it’s past or current behaviors or intentions, the goal seems to simply “get the truth” as if
the client will receive relief from his sexually immoral mind by simply revealing the truth about it. A clinicians
obsession with getting the “truth” reveals that they have used intimidation and incentive to promote treatmentwhich
tends to suppress the truth-training clients to tell clinicians what they want to hear. The clinicians know
that they have created an untrusting environment where the client has reasons to lie: the client believes that only
consequences and criticisms come from the truth, with the exception of small privileges for “moving forward”
in the program – although the juice is hardly worth the squeeze. In addition, the client does not necessarily
receive relief from his sexually immoral mind, by telling the truth.
It is the clinicians job to pose as a friend, but work as a spy. Every word said by the client, is recorded and sent
to the Attorney General who represents the states interest to keep the client committed.
MSOP Mission statement is, “To promote public safety by promoting comprehensive treatment and
successful reintegration opportunities for civilly committed sexual abusers.” Although the MSOP mission
statement sounds good, it is absolutely contrary to past policies that require staff find reasons clients should
NOT reintegrate back to society: “When documenting in a medical record, the following guidelines must be
adhered to: … Progress notes should include factors that justify need for continued stay” 1
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When an MSOP clinician gives credit to the MSOP system for a client that gets released, they reveal one of
two things about themselves: their ignorance or their willingness to deceive their clients. When a Client goes to
SRB or CAP to get released, the Attorney General represents MSOP and the state of Minnesota and it’s the
Attorney General’s job to argue why the client should ST A Y committed. MSOP has NEVER been responsible
for any clients release from MSOP.
In theory, clients are supposed to move to St. Peter where there is a less restrictive living environment, when
they reach certain milestones in their treatment. However, the system was never physically designed to actually
allow this. Currently, there are many clients approved to go to St. Peter. Nevertheless, clinicians are forced to
find reasons why clients should not move forward in the program because if every client that should move
forward, did, there would be nowhere for them to go. The system has bottle necked because double agent
clinicians have exhausted their excuses over the years, finding no other choice but to “graduate” clients to
“higher levels” of treatment that really lead nowhere. However, these much earned titles have come with no real
privileges for the clients.
With any other profession consisting of “sick” people, if the clients do not get well, it is the fault of the
doctors and nurses, not the clients and. Any clinician who decides to get an education to help others, should
expect to see the results of their hard work. However, MSOP is like the surgeon who simply leaves his patients
on the operation table to die because no client ever gets rehabilitated at MSOP. However, in the scheme of
MSOP civil commitment, clients do not work with clinicians, therapists or doctors, but government agents in
sheep’s clothing. Without growth, there is no life and those that work at MSOP are satisfied with their work
environment and its lack of life, vitality, or joy.
Those that currently work at MSOP fall into one of two categories: they are either new na’ive bright eyes
hoping to change a system they know is corrupt by becoming a part of it or they are the “left overs” of decades
of staff that have had the integrity to walk away from what is clearly wrong.
FOOTNOTES
1 Policy 24.1, Reissued 4/00 Reviewed 5/01, approved by Frank Milczark, former Chief Executive Officer of
MSOP. (Note: This is an old policy. However, we have yet to find a new one stating, “When documenting in a
medical record, the following guidelines must be adhered to: … Progress notes should include factors that
justify need for reintegrating the Client back to the community.” In practice, this old policy is still used.
“The right to be free from confinement is of the very essence ofa scheme of ordered liberty.” -Palko v.
Connecticut, 302 U.S. 319, 325 (1937)
INTRODUCTION TO COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE-OCEAN
We hope to soon launch our new renewal curriculum, The OCEAN 3 Degrees Renewal Course which uses the
proven science of neuroplasticity and the timeless power of God’s Word to change the way we think. Practicing
neuroplasticity to make real life changes takes motivation, discipline and dedication. However, living a healthy,
offense free life, is priceless. Neuroscience has helped us make real and permanent changes to the brain. This
change is called Neuroplasticity.
There are many different mechanisms ofneuroplasticity, ranging from the growth of new connections to the
creation of new neurons. When neuroplasticity is applied, it is believed that the change is fundamentally no
different than other forms of achievement that induce changes in the brain. In other words, consistent prompting
to think and behave differently, for any reason, will cause the brain to adapt. In addition, if the skills of
neuroplasticity are applied long enough, the adaptation of new thinking and behavioral patterns will become
second nature.
Neuroplasticity is achieved with the process of targeted, external stimulation, over a continuous period of
time, resulting in substantial changes to the physical brain. Each area of the brain is responsible for a different
kind of learning. Therefore, the impact of a shortcoming in each area of the brain is also different. Precision and
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consistency are essential to acquire progress. In the most recent studies conducted, once brain function has been
augmented, that gain is permanent and normal use offers its own stimulation. Accordingly, the changed brain
stays changed. Using the skills of neuroplasticity after 10,000 hours of consistent practice, an offender will see
significant results. After 20,000 hours, a physical change happens in the brain, making it nearly impossible to
undue the positive habits created.
10,000 and 20,000 hours may sound like a lot of time. However, practicing neuroplasticity is a lifestyle
practiced throughout the day. Assuming we are awake 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, we can make significant
changes to our thinking, in less than 90 weeks. Furthermore, in less than 180 weeks, those changes become
permanent.
We have heard that researchers have said that sex offender treatment lasting longer than 18 months can be
potentially iatrogenic. However, the OCEAN 3 Degrees Renewal Course is not sex offender treatment. The
OCEAN 3 Degrees Renewal Course focuses on positives rather than negatives. Conversely, traditional sex
offender treatment tends to use talk therapy, focusing on the past sexual history of the Client and on sexual
deviance in general. However, in this course, we will spend very little time doing this, because we know that
whatever our problem is, the solution will not change. Like the Apostle Paul, we look to the future and keep our
eyes on Christ, not on the past, ” … one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies
ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (ESV Philippians
3:13, 14)
We are not discouraged by the duration of the cognitive and behavioral process for change. The level of
difficulty, or the amount of time it takes to make changes, is not as important as the quality of the techniques
employed. Most of us will not even notice the work we are putting in, after we have built our foundation. Each
day we begin with the simple process of waking in the morning and starting the day off on the right foot. Over
time, we will recognize that we are effortlessly developing ourselves into agents of change.
Many believe that we cannot teach an old dog new tricks. However, research on neuroplasticity shows that we
remain amendable to some degree of change throughout our lifespan. Therefore, It’s vital that we maintain an
initiative to keep the mind active into old-age to prevent cognitive deterioration. No matter your age, you can
benefit from this course.
So How Does Neuroscience And God’s Word Relate?
The OCEAN 3 Degrees Renewal Course is a rigorous mental discipline and its effects on the brain will last a
lifetime. We believe that we can be released from the bondage of selfish thought patterns. We will do this by
implementing the same kind of persistence described in God’s Word and used in neuroscience.
Largely overlooked by the scientific and psychological communities, the Bible is man’s most sufficient and
effective resource for changing the brain. At its center, Jesus Christ demands our obedience to a way of life that
puts service to God and neighbor at its pinnacle. In fact, Jesus told us that this was the greatest commandment,
” … You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is
the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew
22:36-39 ESV)
Therefore, if we truly follow Jesus, we could never offend against someone again. For this simple reason,
Jesus Christ and His teachings are at the center of the OCEAN 3 Degrees Renewal Course.
The OCEAN 3 Degrees Renewal Course uses the proven science of neuroplasticity, and the timeless wisdom
of God’s Word, to create new behavioral attitudes in the participant. We do this by focusing on the heart of
God’s Word – Jesus Christ. By focusing on Christ, with the tenacity required by the Bible we will beef up the
Insula, a part of the brain that is directly associated with high states of empathy. We will also address fears that
tend to override the brains ability to produce Oxytocin, which is essential for compassion. This empathy and
compassion will make it less likely for us to reoffend.
Indeed, how else could we obtain the “mind of Christ,” than to focus on Christ? For instance, if we follow a
certain celebrity or athlete – if we do everything he or she does, if we go where they go and do what they do, we
will think like they think. Similarly, if we follow Christ, we will be like Him and our brains will reflect this
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change. In fact, God created us for this very purpose and what scientists have recently discovered about
neuroplasticity, the Bible has been telling us all along. (1 Corinthians 2: 16)
But I Thought we were saved by Faith Alone
The Bible teaches that we are to turn away from what is “bad,” and tum towards what is “good,” according to
how the Bible defines these terms. Easier said than done, right? However, before we get into how God makes
this possible for us, we find it necessary to defend the lost doctrine of repentance.
Repentance is a conscious choice that we make, and it was the point of Jesus’ message from the beginning
(Matthew 3:2; Mark 1:15; Luke 5:32), to the end (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:47), of His ministry.
However, due to the famous Lutheran doctrine, “we are saved by faith alone” (inspired by Romans 1: 17 which
actually says ” … the righteous shall live by faith” [ESV]), we must convince OCEAN participants of the
necessary work required to change. Unfortunately, Martin Luther’s radical teaching has created passive
cheerleaders for Christ. However, scripture is clear about the importance of repentance and turning away from
sin, and other compulsive actions.
Martin Luther was not a big fan of the book of James because it clearly conflicted with his theology. In his
book, The Plain Truth about the Protestant Reformation, Dr. Roderick C. Meredith reveals that Luther had not
resolved his conflict with the book of James when he drafted his reformative ideas:
In the debates, Luther, as he always did, confused justification and salvation. He maintained that faith
alone – without any works – suffices for salvation. When confronted with conflicting statements from
the Epistle of James, he called into question the authenticity of the epistle. (Roderick Meredith 46 )
Sadly, it’s often the misunderstanding that a Christian doesn’t have to live any certain way – which causes
many unbelievers to tum away in disgust. Thus, we can see that the following adage has merit:
The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with
their lips & walk out the door & deny Him by their lifestyle, That is what an unbelieving world simply
finds unbelievable. (author unknown)
However, anyone who accepts the current canon of scripture, including the book of James, will heed to its
teaching. James 2:14-24 has given us the full explanation of true faith:
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Can his faith
save him?
If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in
peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? In the
same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I
will show you faith from my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. The demons also
believe – and they shudder.
Foolish man! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless? Wasn’t Abraham our father
justified by works when he offered his son on the alter? You see that faith was active together with his
works, and by works, faith was perfected. So the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed
God, and it was credited to him for righteousness, and he was called God’s friend. You see that man is
justified by works and not by faith alone. (HCSB)
We are to work to follow Christ, and this work will change our brains. When we do work towards salvation,
the work is considered an act of God, ” … work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God
who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12, 13 ESV)
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Our brains are actually intelligently designed – by our loving Creator – to actively challenge the temptations
of this world. Jude 4 tells us that grace is not to be used as a license to sin, ” … certain men … have come in by
stealth … turning the grace of our God into promiscuity (license to sin) and denying our only Master and LORD,
Jesus Christ.” (HCSB)
Many scriptures are misquoted when a “Christian” is held accountable for his sinful lifestyle. For example,
some will say, “well, we’ … all fall short of the glory of God … ,”‘ taking from Romans 3:23 (ESV). Of course
the scripture is true, in its proper context. However, this abuse of Scripture can be corrected if we read to the
end of chapter 3, “Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the
law.” (Romans 3:31 ESV)
Even the Christian often forgets that there is one God (monotheism). Conversely, He is not “in” everything,
making Him an empty, inanimate god. That’s animism. Also, He’s not “everything,” making all actions and
intentions permissible, as long as we are part of that whole. That’s pantheism. Instead, He’s living within His
people, working through us, when we are in Christ. 1 John 3:5, 6 further defends the doctrine of repentance and
tells us what it means to be, “in Christ”, “You know that He appeared in order to take away sins, and in Him
there is no sin. No one who abides in Him keeps on sinning … ” (ESV)
Identified Neurotransmitters
Amygdala
A kind of “alarm bell” that responds particularly to emotionally charged or negative stimuli. The olfactory,
hippocampus and amygdala are the foundation for developing and nurturing empathy through moral behavior.
Insula
Senses the internal state of your body, including gut feelings; helps you be empathic; located on the inside of
the temporal loves on each side of your head.
Oxytocin
Promotes nurturing behaviors and bonding in couples; associated with blissful closeness and love; women
have more oxytocin then men. This part of the brain is also attributed to compassion, which comes with a
spontaneous desire to relieve suffering.
Power of Prayer
Prayer is similar to meditation in that it involves focusing your mind intentionally. We agree with Christian
author and speaker Jay Payleitner, who said:
Every day of your life has 1,440 minutes, and God deserves a few of them and, you deserve the
experience of spending a few quiet minutes every morning with your Creator. So, if you haven’t
already done so, establish the habit of spending time with God every day of the week. It’s a habit that
will change your day and revolutionize your life. When you give the LORD your undivided attention,
everything changes, including you.
Aug. 15, 2019: Vol. 1, Issue II
1. MSOP CLIENTS ARE EXPECTED TO WATCH CHILD PORN TO PROGRESS THROUGH
TREATMENT.
2. MSOP STAFF … LEAST ACCOMPLISHED GROUP OF PEOPLE …
3. CLIENT INTERVIEW
4. THOSE WHO CHOOSE TO OFFEND ARE ALSO CAPABLE OF CHOOSING NOT TO OFFEND.
5. PLETHYSMOGRAPHY – WRONGLY TESTING THE WRONG THING.
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MSOP CLIENTS ARE EXPECTED TO WATCH CHILD PORN TO PROGRESS THROUGH
TREATMENT.
Whoever approved of the use of pictures of underage children, including babies in diapers, to be used in the
penile-plethysmograph (PPG) should be arrested and charged for the production and distribution of child
pornography – including the parents of the children involved.
Child porn is defined by Minnesota statute as using a person under the age of 18 to issue sexual performance
for purposes to depict actual or simulated sexual conduct. It is unlawful for a person to permit a minor to engage
in posing or modeling in any sexual performance if the person knows that the conduct intended is sexual. Any
person who violates this subdivision is guilty of a felony.
Neither consent to sexual performance by a minor or the minor’s parent, guardian, or custodian nor mistake as
to the minor’s age is a defense to a charge of violation of this section. The purpose of the law is to protect
minors from the physical and psychological damage caused by their being used in pornographic work.1
Although MSOP has immunity for them built into this law, which does not stop such material from hurting the
children in the photos. Nor does it stop the mental damage this inflicts on the client forced to endure it.
Keep in mind, the PPG required for MSOP clients to “move forward” in the MSOP program. It is used to try
to detect pedophile thoughts by using a stretchable band with mercury inside which is fitted around the subject’s
penis and the band is connected to a machine with a video screen and data recorder. Any changes in the penis
size, even those not felt by the subject, are recorded while the subject views sexually suggestive or
pornographic pictures and listens to audiotapes with descriptions of children being molested and raped, as well
as other disgusting variations of images and audio descriptions.
Our very own Daniel A. Wilson of OCEAN has taken the PPG. Here is what he said about it:
I wish I knew what I was getting myself into before I took it. This was a modern day Clockwork Orange. I’d
rather stay locked up the rest of my life than to witness those children being abused again.
FOOTNOTES
1 See Minn. Stat. § 617.246 “Use of minors in sexual performance prohibited” and Minn. Stat. §
617 .24 7 “Possession of pornographic work involving minors”
MSOP STAFF . . . LEAST ACCOMPLISHED GROUP OF PEOPLE . . .
With any other profession consisting of “sick” people, if the clients do not get well, it is the fault of the
doctors and nurses, not the clients. Any clinician, who decides to get an education to help others, should expect
to see the results of their hard work. However, an MSOP clinician is like a surgeon who leaves her patient on
the operation table to die (But not before she gets her paycheck from the tax payers). No client ever gets
rehabilitated at MSOP.
MSOP clinicians will blame the client for having an “illness,” and then also blame the client for not curing it.
This fly’s in the face of the concept of “volitional impairment” – the initial purpose for the commitment. If the
offending behavior is not a matter of the client’s will, then he cannot be held responsible for his recovery either.
However, the truth is, no one is truly “volitionally impaired.”
Among the 20 states with civil commitment programs, Minnesota has the highest number of civilly committed
sex offenders per capita I At $124,465 a year; housing one sex offender costs the tax payer three times the cost
of a prison inmate. There are currently about 755 Clients at MSOP. At $93,971,075 a year,2 (not to mention
court costs because as long as MSOP administration continues to abuse its clients, they will continue to hold
administration accountable by exercising their right to the court system). MSOP is a massive waste of
Minnesota money and this is expected to only get worse as long as no one gets released. It is projected that by
2022 the number of sex offenders in Minnesota will be 1,125.3 We will never lock up all the sex offenders as
selfish deviants are born every day. As sex offender laws become stricter – as they should- the MSOP system
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will just continue to grow (However, it will end, because it is founded on lies).
The Minnesota Commitment and Treatment Act, which is the law governing the standard for how someone
gets committed, defines that Minnesota’s interest in enacting civil commitment laws lies in both protecting the
public from sexual violence and rehabilitating the mentally ill. MSOP does neither. It does not act as a deterrent
to those who want to sexually offend, because most of the public does not even know it exists, and it surly does
not rehabilitate anyone. It does, however, lock up those who have already learned their lesson because they did
their prison time.
If MSOP staff really wants to treat and reintegrate clients back into the community, then they should be
encouraging and educating their clients about the Special Review Board (SRB) process. The SRB process
should be taught to clients in orientation upon admission to MSOP and encouraged throughout treatment.
Instead, clinicians rarely even bring it up. In fact, it is almost blasphemous to even mention any kind of legal
avenue to get released as if the ideology of psychology is at war with the ideology of the justice system. SRB
has become a mystery to many clients who actually believe that it’s up to their clinician to approve their release.
FOOTNOTES
1 Nobles, James R., Legislative Auditor, Evaluation Report, Civil Commitment of Sex Offenders, March 2011,
Office of the Legislative Auditor, Program Evaluation Division, Centennial Building, Suite 140, 658 Cedar
Street, St. Paul, MN 55155-4708. E-mail: auditor@state.mn.us, Web Site: http://www.auditor.leg.state.mn.us.
Phone: (651) 296-4708. p.x
2Rosario, Ruben. “This Judge Believes Even Sex Offenders Have Rights” Pioneer Press, Ruben Rosario can be
reached at 651-228-5454 or rrosario@pioneerpress.com follow him at twitter .com/nycrian.
3 Ibid
CLIENT INTERVIEW
If the public and the state authorities are going to keep us locked up forever, they are at least going to know how
we’re getting along. After praying for an interview, God provided. After venting to a friend via letter, he
responded just in time for this publication of the second issue of our OCEAN newsletter.
The following is an excerpt from our conversation:
It’s been 15 years since I committed my crime; 15 years that they have wanted to know why; 15 years wanting
to know what “caused” this “mental illness” I was alleged to have had; 15 years … and my primary therapist,
Ross Peterson, states that it is his professional opinion that I “do not have a mental illness nor do I exhibit
sexual deviancy.”
I have spent the greater part of these last 12 years studying psychology, through the tragedy of my uncles
stroke, we discovered neuroscience. It has been neuroscience and the power of God that I am now on a
discovery of truth.
I used to blame my past; I used to blame my alcohol and drug addictions for the harm I afflicted. But the truth
is …. these things were a choice. In order to take accountability for my rehabilitation, I needed to take
accountability for my choices and not believe it was some act stemming from a symptom.
I cannot change the past, I can only apologize, and tell you that I Am Sorry! Nor can I, or anyone for that fact,
predict the future.
The choices I make in the present moment are for understanding. To becoming a Defender. I am NOT a sex
offender, I committed a sexual offence, a choice of a criminal nature, not a symptom of some manifested mental
disorder.
Through my study of neuroscience, I’ve learned the impacts of drugs and alcohol on the prefrontal cortex. The
Prefrontal Network plays an important role in behaviors that require the integration of thought with emotion. Its
integrity appears important for the simultaneous awareness of context, options, consequences, relevance, and
emotional impact that allows the formulation of adaptive interpretations, decisions, and actions. Damage to this
part of the brain impairs reasoning, judgment, the online (attentive) holding of information, and the ability to
9
inhibit inappropriate responses and behaviors.
I’ve learned that had I not been inebriated I would not have committed the sexual abuse. This is no excuse or
scapegoating, science does not allow for such. The truth is the truth. Nor does it allow for unaccountability. I
am accountable, and I have displayed it for the last 12 years.
I don’t spend time waiting for change, I pursue it, craving knowledge and understanding. I take
accountability through taking responsibility for my rehabilitation, I need to because MSOP does not.
So, why am I here? A long, long time ago, I realized MSOP is not about providing rehabilitation, but the
courts opportunity to reconvict the already convicted
Mr. Grisbeck, 1 994 Legislative Hearings on the Minnesota Sex Offender Commitment Bill, tells the truth:
No one has, I think, really been honest as to what we’re trying to do here. I’ve heard arguments
before the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court by prosecutors, the county prosecutor and the
Attorney General’s Office, saying that what we want to do and why we can withhold these individuals,
these sex offenders, for life is because we want to treat them, we want to make them better. I don’t
think so. I don’t think that’s the intent here at all. I think the intent is to use the psychopathic
personalities statute to get a second bite at the apple. After an individual has been subjected to the
criminal justice system, and maybe we don’t like the deals that were cut by the prosecutors, or the
length of sentences by the courts, but the fact of the matter is through the sex offender statutes, the
criminal statutes, we as a society have determined that if you commit a crime, a sex offense, you will
serve it behind bars, and after you serve that time, society deems that you have paid your debt to
society, and you shall be let free. Under the psychopathic personality statute, county prosecutors are
taking a second bite of the apple, saying, ‘that plea agreement that we entered into, the sentence that
the judge gave, isn’t good enough; we want to get you life!’ How many people who have been
committed to St. Peter under the psychopathic personality statute have been freed? Two? . . . It is
essentially a life sentence …
THOSE WHO CHOOSE TO OFFEND ARE ALSO CAPABLE OF CHOOSING NOT TO
OFFEND.
Humans are animals of progress and discovery. However, we are also afraid of taking responsibility. So
although our natural curiosity has driven mankind to progress and discover in amazing ways, our fear of being
personally accountable has hindered our mental health systems.
In relation to a propensity to sexually offend, to indoctrinate the idea that there will never be a cure, is to slam
the door in the face of a possible cure. This is essentially what the Freud’s Medical Model has inadvertently
done: suppressed a cure for sex offenders by preaching the doctrine that we have a “disease.” In other words,
there is no “cure” because there is no “disease.” Sex offending is a choice and the solution is a few years in
pnson:
… The 80% recidivism rate [ for sex offenders] is an entirely invented number. .. [it came from] a
Psychology Today article published in 1986. That article was written, not by a scientist, but by a
treatment provider who claimed to be able to essentially cure sex offenders through innovative
‘ aversion therapies’ including electric shocks and pumping ammonia into offenders’ noses via nasal
cannulas. The article offered no backup data, no scientific control group, and no real way to fact-check
any of the assertions made to promote the author’s program … But in the last 30 years since that
Psychology Today article was published, there have been hundreds of evidence-based, scientific
studies on the question of the recidivism rate for sex offenders . .. Convicted sex offenders have among
the lowest rates of same-crime recidivism of any category of offender . .. one by the federal government
that followed every offender released in the United States for three years .. … the results clustering
around 3.5% [recidivism]. .. a study by the California Department of Corrections concluded that 91 % of
sex offenders returned to California prisons were returned for. . . technical violations, while only 1.8%
1 0
were returned as a result of having committed a new sex crime.1
Sex offenders don’t need intense drawn out treatment because good old fashion prison is effective. This is
because sex offending is a choice and if the punishment is severe enough, the offender will think twice about
sexually offending. Personally, I believe a 1st time offender should get at minimum 2 0 years in prison. But a
lifetime in prison, while being tricked into believing you can work your way out, is not only cruel, it’s
unnecessary and expensive for tax payers.
As long as clinicians insist that clients are victims to external stimuli that enter the mind, causing the thoughts
and emotions that lead to offending (ignoring the theistic belief in freewill), clinicians will never understand
their clients. I agree with Dr. Jay E. Adams who wrote:
.. . the mental health viewpoint [is] plainly wrong in removing responsibility from the sinner by locating the
source of his … sexual problem in constitutional or social factors over which he has no control.. . the Medical
Model took away the sense of personal responsibility. As a result, psychotherapy became a search into the past
to find others (parents, the church, society, grandmother) on whom to place the blame. Therapy consists of
siding against the too-strict Super-ego (conscience) which these culprits have socialized into the poor sick
victim.2
People no longer consider themselves responsible for what they do wrong. They claim that their problems are
allogenic (other-engendered) rather than autogenic (self-engendered). And when people seek help from
mainstream sources they run the risk of experiencing iatrogenic (problems caused by treatment) symptoms.
Excuses have coddled our society even in recent events. School shootings are the fault of musical performers.
Bombings are the fault of religious ideology. And sexual offending is the fault of early exposure to porn,
“negative emotions” caused by others, or one’s own experience of being sexually victimized. The idea is that
one or all of these external influences somehow cause “volitional impairment” (an impairment in one’s own
voluntary choice to act). “He couldn’t help it” has become the default go to since Freud. Richard T. LaPiere
exclaims, ” … Freudian assumption [is] that it is entirely natural for the criminal to act as he does and quite
unreasonable for society to make him stand trial for being his antisocial self.”3
Dr. Jay E. Adams tells us how this allogenic mindset causes an iatrogenic outcome:
.. . personal helplessness, hopelessness, and irresponsibility are the natural results of the Medical
Model. If a person’s problems in living are basically problems of disease and sickness rather than
problems of behavior, he has no hope unless there is medicine or therapy which can be applied to his
case. Since there is no medical cure for people in such trouble, they move from despair to deeper
d . 4 espair.
Now you know why MSOP is stacked to the ceiling with despair: because clients are taught that they are
victims of their sexual impulses. They are victims of their “cycles” and “triggers.”
FOOTNOTES
1 Feige, David. “When Junk Science About Sex Offenders Infects The Supreme Court.” The New York Times,
12 Sept. 2 017
2 Adams, Jay E. Competent to Counsel: Introduction to Nouthetic Counseling. Presbyterian and Reformed Pub.
Co., ©1970, pp. xiv, xvii-5
3 Ibid
4Ibid., p.7
“Convicted sex offenders have among the lowest rates of same-crime recidivism of any category of offender. ..
Sex offenders don’t need intense drawn out treatment because good old fashion prison is effective.”
1 1
PLETHYSMOGRAPHY – WRONGLY TESTING THE WRONG THING.
Just as with the polygraph, penile plethysmography has grave problems as to its unscientific nature. The lead
article as to these problems is the first one below. Excerpts from: Max B. Bernstein, “Supervised Release, Sex
Offender Treatment Programs, and Substantive Due Process,” 85 Fordham Law Review 261 (2016, Issue 1,
Article 11 ); http:/ /ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol85/iss 1 /11 Abstract: p. 261: ” .. . This Note argues that mandated
PPG testing should be eliminated as a condition of federal supervised release. The test infringes on a
constitutionally protected liberty interest against unwanted bodily intrusions and, as only the Second Circuit has
held, any condition of supervised release that infringes on a constitutionally protected right may be mandated
only where it is narrowly tailored to serve a compelling government interest. Because there are a number of
viable, less intrusive alternatives, PPG testing as it stands today is not narrowly tailored enough to serve a
compelling government interest.” Text, p. 266: ” . . . [E]ven sex offenders retain at least some level of
humanity, and testing methods should not be unnecessarily intrusive or humiliating. The federal supervised
release statute codifies this sentiment by explicitly barring any condition of supervised release that
unnecessarily infringes on the liberties of the offender.19 p. 268: “Freund’ s PPG testing is commonly referred
to as the ‘volumetric method.’37 Freund’s machine was a glass tube that went over the man’s flaccid penis.
The tube was filled with air and sealed with the ‘ominous-sounding “locknut.”’38 After being ‘strapped in,’ the
subject would be shown suggestive pictures or reading material, and as blood rushed to the man’s penis it would
enlarge and displace the air in the tube.39 Electric wires attached to the tube measured even slight changes in
the air volume inside of the glass, signifying to the clinician that the subject was aroused.40 Levels of arousal
could be traced to the volume of air displaced.41 “Bancroft invented what he considered to be a less
cumbersome and cheaper PPG testing method that is referred to as the ‘circumferential method.’42 Bancroft’s
test used ‘ a mercury strain gauge inside a stretchable band.’43 The band is usually a silicone ring wrapped
around the penis.44 The mercury in the band surrounds the flaccid penis and is plugged with electrodes.45 As
the penis’s circumference expands, the mercury is thinned out against the ring and increases the resistance,
which the electrodes pick up to measure expansion of the penis.46 “The volumetric method is considered to be
the more accurate and sensitive of the two, as it can detect even ‘the smallest changes in penis diameter.’ 4 7 The
volumetric method, however, is more expensive and cumbersome to administer.48 Thus, the circumferential
method is used more frequently.49″Regardless of the method employed. There is a documented lack of
standardization in the administration of PPG testing. SO p. 269: ” … There is great variation among operators
as to what stimuli they present to their subjects.60 Some offenders are even shown real child pornography.61
A number of treatment centers obtained confiscated visual images from law enforcement; however, this was
unsurprisingly met with resistance and is now uncommon.62 Other treatment centers have used photos of nude
children who were ‘reared in a nudist environment,’ with written consent from the child’s parents.63
… However, the use of computer-fabricated images of children64 or nonsexual photographs of clothed
children65 are becoming more common in the administration of PPG testing.” p. 271: “II. THE SCIENCE
BEHIND PPG TESTING “Despite the widespread use of PPG testing as a condition of supervised release, legal
scholarship on the test is practically nonexistent. There has been only one in-depth review of PPG testing – a
2004 article in the Temple Political and Civil Rights Law Review written by Jason Odeshoo, which has since
become the leading (and only significant) legal scholarship on the PPG.82 Other legal scholars have provided
cursory critiques of the test, but have failed to meaningfully engage with the test’s utility or limitations, The
same cannot be said, however, of the scientific community.” p. 272: “A. What Does PPG Testing Measure and
What Do Its Results Say About the Risk of Reoffense? ” . .. [S]ex offenders will express ‘a preference for these
cues or for behaviors motivated by the stronger sexual arousal.’ 86 Because people are more likely to perform
behavior that optimizes rewards or personal satisfaction, it follows that men with sexually deviant preferences
will act on those preferences.87 [But this is actually a non sequitur.] In short, sex offenders are aroused by
deviant acts and are more likely to act on their arousal. ” … [A]ssuming that PPG testing can accurately
determine a test subject’s preference for sexually deviant material, what does that tell us about the subject’s risk
of acting on that behavior? Or, what can PPG testing tell us about the risk of recidivism?” pp. 272-3: ” I . Can
PPG Testing Accurately Measure Sexually Deviant Arousal? “As stated above, the short answer is that PPG
1 2
testing can measure sexually deviant arousal. However, the test has significant limitations. “PPG testing’s
effectiveness rest on the premise that a man’s level of tumescence is an objective measure of his sexual arousal
to stimuli. Erectile responses, however, are not based on a stable individual trait, and thus it is hard to directly
correlate tumescence with arousal.88 Erectile responses are the result of a number of factors, including arousal,
but also the subject’s emotional state, fatigue, intoxication, recency of an orgasm, and other unknown endocrine
factors.89 Even the gender of the clinician may affect the subject’s level of tumescence.90 “Moreover, sexual
stimulus is actually compound stimuli made up of multiple components.91 For instance, a subject may be
presented with sadomasochistic sexual scenes that also include explicit descriptions of foreplay and
intercourse.92 If the subject reaches 40 percent of full tumescence, was that a result of the violent depictions,
the foreplay, the intercourse, or some combination of all three? That 40 percent may be a result of arousal to
the violence. Or it may be a result of the intercourse, which would normally arouse the male to 8 0 percent, but
his arousal was partially inhibited due to the violence. Based on the problem illustrated by this hypothetical,
PPG test results can be unambiguous only when at least two depictions are shown, when all extraneous
elements are similar as possible, and when there is only one key difference.93 “The selection of stimuli has a
tremendous impact on the erectile response measures.94 For example, some studies have found that audio
stimuli present different and more consistent results than videos,95 while other studies have found that only
when the stimuli depict particularly violent scenes can the data be useful.96 Indeed, the selection of stimuli has
such a great impact on the erectile response measures that ‘an experimenter could construct stimulus materials
for use in a study in which any desired result could be obtained. ’97 “Understanding that the clinician exhibits
such a great degree of control over the test makes it troubling that there is practically no standardization in the
administration or scoring of PPG testing. 98 PPG testing was originally created as a research tool, not a method
of clinical assessment. Thus no manual or standard practices were developed.99 pp. 2 74-5: “The lack of
standardization across PPG testing leads to serious questions regarding the procedures of scientific reliability.
Reliability refers to ‘the extent to which an experiment, test, or measuring procedure yields the same results on
repeated trials.’ I 00 ‘ [U]nless a test can be shown to be reliable, there is essentially no point in giving it further
consideration.’ I 01 PPG’s lack of reliability comes from a lack of standardization in administering and scoring
the test, and the problem of faking. In 1995, a researcher named R.J. Howes conducted a study assessing the
reliability of PPG testing and the lack of standardization in the test’s administration. 102 Howes examined
forty-eight treatment centers throughout the United States and Canada. I 03 The centers had been administering
PPG tests for an average of 5 .5 years. I 04 The clinicians administering the test had been doing so for an average
of 3.4 years. 105 Seventy-six percent of the clinicians reported that they had been trained for one week or less,
and 18 percent responded that they had never been formally trained to administer the PPG at all. I 06 A former
president of A TSA noted that the lack of training was ‘truly appalling.’ I 07 Without training and without
standard procedural guidelines, the following aspects of PPG testing vary greatly from center to center:
I ) Type of gauge used (mechanical, mercury) and transducer placement
2) Type of stimuli used (audiotapes, slides, videotapes)
3) Content of stimuli used ( differences in models)
4) Duration of stimulus presentation (2 sec to > 4 min.)
5) Length of interstimulus (detumescence) intervals (fixed time vs. return to baseline)
6) Nature of stimulus categories sampled .. .
7) Number of categories and of stimuli used for each category
8) Instructions to subjects (imagine sexual behavior with target vs. no instructions)
9) Whether a warm-up was used and number of assessment sessions
I 0) Type of recording instrumentation used …
11) Whether calibration was used to correct for any nonlinear characteristics of recording
12) Data sampling rate (every 5 sec. vs. every min.)
13) Whether methods were used to attempt to assess for faking
14) Gender and other characteristics of the evaluator
15) Type of data transformation (z-score vs. a deviance index)
1 3
16) Characteristics of the laboratory … and
17) Type of sample and setting ( outpatient, prison) .108′
“Howes concluded that such inconsistencies across treatment facilities ‘discredit’ PPG testing and cast serious
doubt on its results. 109 “Further, there are numerous documented issues that arise from ‘ faking.’ 110 As both
supporters and critics of PPG testing agree, those subjects who wish to trick the PPG will likely be
successful. 111 Individuals may fake responses by fantasizing about deviant sexual scenes while being
presented with non-deviant stimuli or may try to distract themselves while deviant stimuli are presented. 112
Even tests designed to ensure that the subject is paying attention to the stimuli are not foolproof, as many
studies have shown that men can exert control over their erectile response or suppress their response
entirely. 113 “Despite the significant limitations of PPG testing, it is still ‘generally considered the most accurate
measure of sexual arousal.’ 114” p. 275: “One meta-analysis of a number of PPG testing studies could find only
two studies in which pedophilic offenders could not be distinguished from other offenders. 120″ p. 276:
… Although a number of studies have shown that PPG testing can distinguish rapists from non-rapists, 121 a
significant number of researchers suggest that it cannot. 122 Those in the latter explain that a number of studies
have resulted in ambiguous results or even severe misclassifications of rapists and non-rapists, and thus the
studies that have distinguished between rapists and non-rapists lack reliability and should not be trusted. 123
” … PPG testing has very limited utility in measuring past offense history for rapists as well. 126 PPG tests were
unable to determine subjects’ number of victims or whether violence was used and to what extent violence was
used in the commission of the subjects’ rapes. 127″ p. 277: “2. What Do PPG Test Results Say About the Risk
of Recidivism? ” … [A] man may be aroused by sexually deviant stimuli, but engage in exclusively non-deviant
activity because he is aware of social and penal sanctions that come with acting on his deviant arousal. 138
Such concerns, among others, leave PPG testing’s ability to predict the risk of recidivism largely unsettled. 139
” … [S]ome studies found that PPG testing has a significant relationship with rates of recidivism, albeit a small
one. 141 ” … Other researchers believe the relationship between PPG testing and recidivism risk is usually
weak 144 or, further, ‘that predicting who is at risk to commit a sexual crime and who is likely to recidivate
cannot be predicted with even a moderate level of confidence.’ 145 Due to issues with the standardization of
PPG testing, the test’s lack of reliability, and the potential for faking, PPG testing’ s ability to predict the
‘ likelihood of reoffending is beyond the scope of the test’s validity.’ 146 p. 278: ” … The lack of standardization
across the administration and scoring of the PPG makes any data derived from the procedure ‘ idiosyncratic,
unamenable to normative comparisons, if not impossible to interpret from a traditional psychometric
perspective.’ 148 Moreover, there may be significant biases resulting from studies that exclude data from nonresponders
or low responders, an exceedingly common practice among PPG practitioners. 149 The sheer lack of
evaluations of the test’s validity regarding the biases associated with the exclusion of non-responders suggests
that PPG test results cannot be trusted to predict recidivism. 150. ” … Considering PPG’s validity issues, many
researchers believe the test should not be used as a predictor of recidivism, especially when making decisions
regarding periods of civil confinement, . . . More ardent critics believe that because PPG testing is susceptible to
a high rate of false negatives and false positives, either through faking or failure to interpret the data correctly, it
should never be used as a predictor of recidivism. 157″ p. 279: B. PPG’s Limited Utility ” .. . Subjects who fail to
produce erectile responses present ‘non-interpretable’ data, even though such failure could be due to a number
of factors, including faking or a real lack of sexual arousal to the stimuli. 165 . . . It is non-familial child
molesters whose erectile data appear most deviant, but even within that subgroup, ‘ no more than 50 [percent] of
those who admit to offending and who have multiple victims display deviant arousal.’ 167 [Thus, what use?
You’re damned if you do erect, but disregarded if you don’t! ] p. 281: D. Alternatives to PPG Testing ” … VRT
[Visual Reaction Time] testing is premised on the assumption that a man will view an image for longer if he is
interested in the type of person or activity displayed in that image. 187 Dr. Gene Abel, a pioneer of VRT
testing, used the test to successfully discriminate between child sex offenders and non-offenders as well as to
distinguish between child sex offenders and non-child sex offenders. 188 Dr. Abel combined VRT testing with
self-reporting questionnaires. Together commonly referred to as ‘the Abel Assessment,’ to achieve results that
‘ speak[] the same language’ as PPG testing. 189p. 291: ” … Subjects who fail to produce erectile responses
1 4
present ‘non-interpretable’ data, even though such failure could be due to a number of factors, including faking
or a real lack of sexual arousal to the stimuli. 165 . . . It is non-familial child molesters whose erectile data
appear most deviant, but even within that subgroup, ‘no more than 50 [percent] of those who admit to offending
and who have multiple victims display deviant arousal.’ 167 [Thus, what use? You’re damned if you do erect,
but disregarded if you don’t!] p. 281: D. Alternatives to PPG Testing” … VRT [Visual Reaction Time] testing is
premised on the assumption that a man will view an image for longer if he is interested in the type of person or
activity displayed in that image. 187 Dr. Gene Abel, a pioneer of VRT testing, used the test to successfully
discriminate between child sex offenders and non-offenders as well as to distinguish between child sex
offenders and non-child sex offenders. 188 Dr. Abel combined VRT testing with self-reporting questionnaires.
Together commonly referred to as ‘the Abel Assessment,’ to achieve results that ‘ speak[] the same language’ as
PPG testing.
“One would expect to find it [the tests] bracing the pages of George Orwell novel … There is a line at which the
government must stop. This test crosses it.”
Wrote by deeply troubled, Judge Marsha Berzon of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Next issue: “DI VIDED R ULINGS ON THE USE OF PPG TESTING … ”
Sept. 12, 2019: Vol. 1, Issue III
1. IS THE MN AG AND THE MSOP COVERING UP SEX CRIMES?
2. CLIENT INTERVIEW
3. DIVIDED RULINGS ON THE USE OF PLETHYSMOGRAPH TESTING AS A CONDITION OF
SUPERVISED RELEASE
4. THE FREUDIAN MEDICAL MODEL WAS A MEDICAL DISASTER.
IS THE MN AG AND THE MSOP COVERING UP SEX CRIMES?
The Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP) administration and the Minnesota Attorney General (AG)
may be covering up for multiple MSOP staff members that should be charged with Criminal Sexual Conduct.
OCEAN is currently awaiting a response from the AG to the following letter:
Dear Mr. Ellison,
According to MSOP clinician Paul Mayfield, there have been “hundreds” of inappropriate relations
between clients and staff throughout the 19 years that he has worked at MSOP. How many of those
“inappropriate relationships” are actually sexual is unknown. When this happens, the staff member is
simply “walked out” of the facility with little consequences to the staff member, and no explanation for
the clients. It is illegal, according to Minnesota statute, for MSOP staff to have sexual relations with
MSOP clients. The statute explicitly states that MSOP staff who have sexual relations with clients are
guilty of criminal sexual conduct because: ” … the actor knows or has reason to know that the
complainant is mentally impaired, mentally incapacitated, or physically helpless … the actor is an
employee … or volunteer of a state … secure treatment facility, or treatment facility providing services
to clients civilly committed as mentally ill and dangerous, sexually dangerous persons, or sexual
psychopathic personalities … and the complainant is a resident of a facility or under supervision of
the correctional system. Consent by the complainant is not a defense … ” 1
WHERE IS THE AG IN THIS ISSUE? What is the Attorney General’s role in this issue. Is it the AG’s job to
1 5
investigate and prosecute these sexual assaults at MSOP? I have only been here under 3 years and have known
of at least 4 or 5 women being walked off of the property for messing around with clients. These men are locked
up with an extremely small chance of getting released and if a woman staff says she can pull some strings for
him, he will feel compelled to comply with her sexual advancements. Even worse, ifhe does not comply, she
can make up anything she wants, put it on record, and who’s to say it never happened? The sex offender? How
is it that MSOP staff has repeatedly been sexual with clients and we have rarely heard of prosecution? Is the AG
covering up for MSOP because we are sex offenders? Please respond to this issue as soon as possible.
We want you to know that this letter, along with your response (or lack thereof) will be placed into our
OCEAN Newsletter, and distributed to the public. Thank you . . .
This letter was sent on August 8 , 2 019 and we have still heard nothing.
FOOTNOTES
1 Minn. Stat. § 609.344 and Minn. Stat. § 609.345 WAS WRITTEN TO PROTECT ME AND MY PEERS.
( continues on page 2)
2Minn. Stat. § 609.344 (Criminal Sexual Conduct in the Third Degree); Minn. Stat. § 6 09.345 (Criminal Sexual
Conduct in the Fourth Degree)
CLIENT INTERVIEW
If the public and the state authorities are going to keep us locked up forever, they are at least going to know how
we’re getting along.
The following is a personal testimony from a political prisoner at the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (M$OP)
in Moose Lake Minnesota:
Q: “How do you cope with the surroundings in which you live to maintain a level of sanity?”
I am and will always be a student of life. So for decades I’ve learned that fear is an early warning sign to be
careful, or to watch out. But my fear is an ongoing state of mind. MSOP destroys a humans mind, body, heart
and Soul after just a few short years.
Human beings have replace virtue with candy, play toys [Xbox] and succumbed to the evil. The oppressed
become their own oppressors-self-stigmatizing, and stigmatizing an already stigmatized sub-population. The
reason this even has a chance of occurring is that people allow it because they profit from stealing another
human beings life. “To Love Your Neighbor” is not just a bumper sticker or a stone we remove from courthouse
lawns, it’s what God intended. Woe to thee who dares defy His will. Not even I can save you. One day the dogs
won’t even lick your wounds of leprosy. It’s probably too late for you anyway but if it’s not, repent and give
yourself to God. Give yourself to serving His children by being His instrument. Give away all your lustful
pleasures and love something besides yourself.
Freedom . ..
DIVIDED RULINGS ON THE USE OF PLETHYSMOGRAPH TESTING AS A CONDITION
OF SUPERVISED RELEASE
Judge Berzon’s excellent opinion is deserving of support. I would, however, go beyond it to hold the Orwellian
procedure at issue to be always a violation of the personal dignity of which prisoners are not deprived. The
procedure violates a prisoner’s bodily integrity by affecting his genitals. The procedure violates a prisoner’s
mental integrity by intruding images into { 451 F .3d 571} his brain. The procedure violates a prisoner’s moral
integrity by requiring him to masturbate.
By committing a crime and being convicted of it, a person does not cease to be a person. A prisoner is not a
mere tool of the state to be manipulated by it to achieve the purposes the law has determined appropriate in
16
punishment. The prisoner retains his humanity and therefore has purposes transcending those { 2 006 U.S. App.
LEXIS 52} of the state. A prisoner, for example, cannot be forced into prostitution to aid the state in securing
evidence. A prisoner, for example, cannot be made to perjure himself in order to assist a prosecution. Similarly,
a prisoner should not be compelled to stimulate himself sexually in order for the government to get a sense of
his current roclivities. There is a line at which the government must stop. Penile plethysmography testing
crosses it.1
‘ Courts have uniformly declared that the results of such tests are “inadmissible as evidence because
there are no accepted standards for this test in the scientific community. “3 (plethysmography’s “scientific status
remains that of an experimental technique”).4
In spite of the above-noted reservations, there is evidence that a variety of behavioral therapy methods can be
employed to de-condition various forms of “deviant arousal” in a laboratory setting. For instance, by employing
a device known as the penile plethysmograph (which can document the degree to which a man has achieved an
erection), it has been possible to show that certain individuals, who prior to treatment had obtained full
erections when exposed to either audio or visual stimuli depicting children, would subsequently no longer do so
following certain forms of “de-conditioning” treatments in a laboratory setting.
However, unfortunately there is a lack of good evidence documenting that such relatively short-term changes,
as have been demonstrated in the clinical laboratory, are necessarily predictive of long-term behavioral change
in the community.
To put it somewhat crudely, what matters in treatment is not how a man’s penis behaves in the laboratory, but
how he is going to behave over time in society.
Historically, at a time when consenting adult homosexual activities had been prosecuted criminally, similar
behavior therapy methods had been utilized to try to de-condition homosexual attractions, replacing them
instead with heterosexual feelings.
After reviewing that treatment literature, the American Psychiatric Association has taken the stance that
attempts to recondition sexual orientation have been both ineffective, as well as ethically questionable.
Although that policy statement was developed in the context of attempts to recondition homosexuality,
precisely the same principles and procedures are involved when attempting to de-condition pedophilic, and
other forms of “deviant arousal.”
Many persons can experience arousal with respect to an unacceptable partner. Furthermore, one does not
necessarily have to use a device such as the penile plethysmograph ( or another technique called the Abel
Screen) to know that that is so. The important issue in treatment is not whether a person is still experiencing
such attractions, but that he has reached the point where he will no longer act on them. To the extent that the
program may make it difficult for a man to progress through treatment if he still shows evidence of “deviant
arousal,” as measured by the penile plethysmograph in the clinical laboratory, in my professional opinion, that
would represent a substantial departure from accepted practice, judgment, and/or standards in the field of
inpatient mental health care.
Fred S. Berlin, M.D., Ph.D. Associate Professor, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Founder,
the Johns Hopkins Sexual Disorders Clinic Director, National Institute for the Study, Prevention and Treatment
of Sexual Trauma; October 16, 2 003 copy: file of Hargett, et al. versus Baker, et al #02c 1456D. Standards of
Review for Mandated PPG Testing “In a concurring opinion, Judge John Noonan expressed his view that the
court should have taken the opportunity to eliminate the use of PPG testing altogether. He explained that he
would hold the ‘ Orwellian procedure … to be always a violation of the personal dignity of which prisoners 282
are not deprived’ 283 Judge Noonan did not directly cite to any precedent regarding which liberty interest PPG
testing infringes. However, he was unequivocal in his view that PPG testing infringes on a fundamental
right. 284 He wrote: ‘ The procedure violates a prisoner’s bodily integrity by affecting his genitals. The
procedure violates a prisoner’s mental integrity by intruding images into his brain. The procedure violates a
prisoner’s moral integrity by requiring him to masturbate.’ 285
Further, Judge Noonan emphasized that convicts do not lose their humanity. He explained that the
government would certainly not be allowed to force a convict into prostitution to help secure evidence of a
crime or to force a criminal to perjure himself to secure a conviction of another.286 Judge Noonan found these
situations analogous to mandated PPG testing , adding that ‘a prisoner should not be compelled to stimulate
1 7
himself sexually in order for the government to get a sense of his current proclivities. ‘287 He concluded by
writing, ‘ [T]here is a line at which the government must stop. Penile plethysmography testing crosses it. ‘288” p.
292: “The Second Circuit went further, explaining that even if PPG testing was indisputably reliable,300 it
would not be appropriate because ‘supervised release is properly directed at conduct, not at daydreaming.’301”
p. 293: “The Second Circuit also held that PPG testing could not be construed as a means to protect the public.
Even if there was a strong correlation between sexual thoughts and rates of recidivism, ‘unacted-upon prurient
sexual thoughts, just like “a defendant’ s abstract beliefs, however obnoxious to most people, may not be taken
into consideration by a sentencing judge.”‘306 Even convicted sex offenders are entitled to freedom of thought,
and the court found ‘no reasonable connection between fluctuating penis size and public protection.’307 ” … If
anything, the court posited, the PPG testing would reinforce sexually deviant thoughts by regularly presenting
sexually deviant imagery to the offender.31 O”
However, as so often seems true, something always comes to light afterward that requires addition. This is
one of those cases. Many who have taken the PPG exam here in MSOP have complained that false reports have
resulted, claiming that erections occurred when none did, or that some penile movement toward an erect state
was detected when none was experienced by the test subject.
Accusations of fraud have been leveled against examiners. This is not to disagree with such accusations. I
have addressed the issue of the lack of standardization and of divergent practices as potentially offering a
chance for fraudulently falsified outcomes in that earlier article.
TLP, Vol. 1, No. 10, pp. 6-8).
Look/or upcoming research concerning the P. P. G.
“Making Monsters” Let’s start by returning to Andrew S. Balmer & Ralph Sandland, “Making Monsters: The
Polygraph, the Plethysmograph, and Other Practices for the Performance of Abnormal Sexuality,” 39 Jour. Of
Law and Society 593-615 (No. 4, December 2012), ISSN: 0263-323X, 593-615; and
Judicial Awareness of PPG Inaccuracy By way of example, United States v Guy Randy White Horse, No.
2001DSD38, 177 F. Supp. 2d 973, 976 (D. S.D. 2001).
“Whoever approved of the use of pictures of underage children, including baby’s in diapers, to be used in the
penile-plethysmograph (PPG) should be arrested and charged for the production and distribution of child
pornography- including the parents of the children involved.” -OCEAN
FOOTNOTES
1 Concur by: John T. Noonan; NOONAN, Circuit Judge, concurring.
2 United States v. Weber, 186 Fed. Appx. 751, 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 15820 (9th Cir. Cal., June 20, 2006)
3 Glanzer, 232 F.3d at 1266; see also United States v. Powers, 59 F.3d 1460, 1470-71 ( 4th Cir. 1995).
4 Berthiaume, 142 F.3d at 17; see also Simon & Schouten, supra, at 511
THE FREUDIAN MEDICAL MODEL WAS A MEDICAL DISASTER.
Since 1952, there has been a 234% increase in the number of mental disorders. This is dramatically expanding
the realm of psychiatry and narrowing the gap of normality – converting millions of people from being without
mental disorders to being psychiatrically “sick.” Their criteria are based on psychiatric opinion only. The claim
is that the issue is one of ‘chemical imbalance.’ However, there is no way to prove this. There are no blood
tests, X-rays, brain scans or any other medical test to confirm any of these mental disorders.
In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) there has been an
explosion of children’ s mental disorders that require drugs. This category has rocketed from three such
“disorders” in 1952 to 55 in the latest edition, which translates to a 1,300% profit increase for the psychiatricpharmaceutical
industry. The number of children under 2 years old prescribed psychotropic drugs in 2013 alone
could fill 3 .5 football stadiums. From birth to grave, there is a “disorder” that can be billed to treat.
Dr. Thomas Szasz, while (continues on page 4) still Professor of Psychiatry at the State University of New
1 8
York, Upstate Medical Center and author of the book, The Ethics of Psychoanalysis, when referring to the
pseudo-science of Psychiatry said, “Psychiatry is probably the single most destructive force that has affected
society within the last 60 years. 1
• • • the adherents of this exaggerated faith … use it as a shield of illusion
concealing some ugly realities … 2
Lawrence LeShan, when he was president-elect of the Association of Humanistic Psychology, said:
“Psychotherapy may be known in the future as the greatest hoax of the twentieth century.”3 Dr. Martin &
Deidre Bobgan and T.A. McMahon include others that challenge psychology:
According to sound research, not only is psychotherapy less effective than it is purported to be, but in
many cases it’s even harmful. After examining numerous efficacy (effectiveness) studies on
psychotherapy, university professor and widely recognized researcher Dr. Robyn Dawes says, “There
is no positive evidence supporting the efficacy of professional psychology.” Dawes further says,
“Evaluating the efficacy of psychotherapy has led us to conclude that professional psychologists are
not better psychotherapists than anyone else with minimal training-sometimes those without any
training at all, the professionals are merely more expensive.4
In 1955 the American Psychiatric Association made a statement that remains true today: “Psychotherapy is
today in a state of disarray almost exactly as it was 2 00 years ago.” In an address to the AP A the next year,
Percival Bailey Said, “The great revolution in psychiatry has solved few problems … One wonders how long the
hoary errors of Freud will continue to plague psychiatry.” I wonder how these men would feel to know the state
of the situation here at MSOP over 60 years later. H. J. Eysenck, Director of the University of London’s
Department of Psychology, wrote, “The success of the Freudian revolution seemed complete. Only one thing
went wrong. The patients did not get better. Berelson and Steiner, in their book Human Behavior: An Inventory
of Scientific Findings, a survey of the progress of the behavioral sciences of the time said, “Psychotherapy has
not yet been proved more effective than general medical counseling in treating neurosis or psychosis. In
general, therapy works best with people who are young, well-born, well-educated and not seriously sick.” In an
article in This Week Magazine for September 18, 1966 entitled “Farwell to Freud,” Leslie Lieber concludes:
Once bright with promise, psychoanalysis today seems hardly worth the millions we are lavishing on
it each year … The truth is that not only the dramatic breakthrough and cure almost non-existent, but
thousands upon thousands who have spent millions upon millions aren’t at all certain whether they are
one whit less ‘neurotic’ than before they began … Many doctors are now sharply challenging the need
for long-drawn-out excavations of the subconscious.
Jay Adams goes on to explain the sad stats of psychotherapy during his time:
Surveys show that of patients who spend upwards of 350 hours on the psychoanalyst’s couch to get
better- two out of three show some improvement over a period of years … however, the same
percentage get better without analysis … As a matter of fact, that same ratio – two out of three people got
better in mental hospitals a hundred years ago … Patients get better regardless of what is done to
them.5
In other words, the Medical Model does not work.
The Medical Model was used to corral criminals into the Mental Health system … for life.
To understand MSOP, we must understand psychology. To understand psychology, we have to go back to the
beginning – to the Father of Psychology: Sigmund Freud.
Freud, taking his direction from Charcot, under whom he studied in France, adopted and popularized views of
human difficulty under what we call a “Medical Model.” 6 Before this time the “mentally ill” were viewed as
malingerers rather than patients. This propaganda has influenced the general public, along with “professionals,”
to believe that the destructive choices people make are a result of a disposition, beyond the person’s control.
1 9
The Medial Model has been spread so effectively that most people believe that the root causes of peoples
problems are “diseases” and “sicknesses” not recognizing that being sympathetic simply gives a person
allowances to do what he wants. Sympathy is crucial for a free willed man to justify his choices, and delay due
consequences.
Effectively, the mentality that the Medical Model spread – viewing criminal sex offenders as “diseased” – was
one of the first elements that corralled so many into MSOP.
Eric Janus, former President and Dean Professor of Law Director at the Sex Offender Litigation and Policy
Resource Center of Mitchell Hamline School of Law, plainly warned the legislatures involved in creating the
current sex offender civil commitment laws, because he understood that criminals “don’t belong in the mental
health system” because criminals make conscious choices, whereas the “mentally ill” do not:
… [L]et me put the matter somewhat bluntly: Using the civil commitment system, in my judgment, to
commit people, to confine people like Mr. Linehan,7 who are not mentally ill, are not incompetent. . . is
unconstitutional preventive detention. A law authorizing such detention would, in essence, in my
judgment, establish a dangerousness court, authorized to lock people up indefinitely based on the
predictions of some mental health experts about what they think these people might in the future do.
Applied to people like Linehan, 8 who have served their criminal sentences, this is pure and simple
double jeopardy. Preventive detention, dangerousness courts, double jeopardy – These are each and
every one of them, anathema our democratic way of life.”9
. . . Civil commitment was never designed to
deal with criminal behavior. And all this morning, we’ve heard people talking about, “How are we
going to confine these sexual criminals?” These people are criminals; they don’t belong in the mental
health system.
Every 40 seconds someone is involuntarily committed to a psychiatric institution, based on the idea that a
person may be a danger to himself or others. Yet, psychiatrists admit they cannot predict “dangerousness.”
MSOP, however, is a system designed for just that purpose – to punish people for what George Orwell called
crime think or a “thought crime” – having thoughts that were at odds with the government expectation.
Crime think requires the ability to read the thoughts of the ‘perpetrator.’ Dr. Steven Rose, Professor of Biology
at the Open University says:
In the current legislative climate, where there have been attempts to introduce preemptive detention
for ‘psychopaths’ who have not yet been convicted of any crime, but such claims need to be addressed
critically. They are and will be resisted by the judiciary, but recent developments suggest that this may
be a frail defense against an increasingly authoritarian state ‘ 0
Well, doc, that authoritarian state is here and her name is MSOP.
FOOTNOTES
1 Szasz, Thomas. “Psychiatric Abuse Facts.” Citizens Commission on Human Rights, contact@cchr.org 1 (800)
869-2247, 1(323) 467-4242
2 Adams, Jay E. Competent to Counsel: Introduction to Nouthetic Counseling. Presbyterian and Reformed Pub.
Co., ©1970, pp.3, 4
3 Dr. Martin & Deidre Bobgan and T.A. McMahon. “Psychology and Psychotherapy (Part I)” The Berean Call,
January 2018, p. 4
4 Ibid.
5 Adams, Jay E. Competent to Counsel: Introduction to Nouthetic Counseling. Presbyterian and Reformed Pub.
Co., ©1970, p.1-3
6 Adams, Jay E. Competent to Counsel: Introduction to No uthetic Counseling. Presbyterian and Reformed Pub.
Co., © 1970, p.4
20
7 Mr. Dennis Linehan’s case was the model used to create the Minnesota Sex Offender Commitment Act.
8 The Third Segment of the First Installment of Transcribed Excerpts from the 1994 Legislative Hearings on the
Minnesota Sex Offender Commitment Bill, Disk 2 at 31 :37
9 Ibid. Disk 2 at 39:52
10 Icke, David. The David Icke Guide to the Global Conspiracy (and how to end it), David Icke Books Ltd.
©2007 p.503
Oct. 12, 2019: Vol. 1 , Issue IV
1. MSOP WAS NEVER DESIGNED FOR REINTEGRATING CLIENTS BACK INTO SOCIETY.
2. CLIENT INTERVIEW
3. WHY MINNE SOT ANS SHOULD CARE WHAT HAPPENS TO CIVILLY COMMITTED SEX
OFFENDERS
4. THE IMPORTANCE OF MINDFULNESS-OCEAN
MSOP WAS NEVER DESIGNED FOR REINTEGRATING CLIENTS BACK INTO SOCIETY.
Any clinician who thinks MSOP was ever designed to actually treat and release sex offenders is not paying
attention to the evidence in front of them.
Mr. Grisbeck, who was at the 1994 Legislative Hearings on the Minnesota Sex Offender Commitment Bill,
admitted blatantly:
No one has, I think, really been honest as to what we’re trying to do here. I’ve heard arguments
before the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court by prosecutors, the county prosecutor and the
Attorney General’s Office, saying that what we want to do and why we can withhold these individuals,
these sex offenders, for life is because we want to treat them, we want to make them better. I don’t
think so. I don’t think that’s the intent here at all. I think the intent is to use the psychopathic
personalities statute to get a second bite at the apple. After an individual has been subjected to the
criminal justice system, and maybe we don’t like the deals that were cut by the prosecutors, or the
length of sentences by the courts, but the fact of the matter is through the sex offender statutes, the
criminal statutes, we as a society have determined that if you commit a crime, a sex offense, you will
serve it behind bars, and after you serve that time, society deems that you have paid your debt to
society, and you shall be let free. Under the psychopathic personality statute, county prosecutors are
taking a second bite of the apple, saying, ‘that plea agreement that we entered into, the sentence that
the judge gave, isn’t good enough; we want to get you life!’ How many people who have been
committed to St. Peter under the psychopathic personality statute have been freed? Two? … It is
essentially a life sentence … 1
1 The Third Segment of the First Installment of Transcribed Excerpts from the 1994 Legislative Hearings on the
Minnesota Sex Offender Commitment Bill Disk 3 at 39:33
CLIENT INTERVIEW
Neuroscience work with rats, demonstrated neuroplasticity in the late l 950’s and early l 960’s. Neuroscientists
Mark Rosenzweig’s scientific paper “Effects of Environmental Complexity and Training on Brain Chemistry
and Anatomy,” recapitulated his findings, which clearly showed that rats housed in cages with toys, ladders,
running wheels, and tunnels – what he called an “enriched” environment – performed better on maze tests than
those in sterile cages, or “impoverished” environments.
2 1
I consider the MSOP to be an IMPOVERISHED ENVIRONMENT to cognitive neurogenesis. What I have
come to acknowledge through observation and a keen sense of awareness is this, men’s – MSOP client
behaviors when new staff are hired. More prominently, female staff, and when a female staff enters a cell block,
regardless of profession. “Tough” egotistical, and even misogynistic men almost always impulsively react with
adoration. Most do so passive-aggressively, while others are passive and few are enticed to approach a female
staff and exhibit inappropriate boundary-testing behaviors. Why is this?
I would assume that it is due to being involuntarily detained in an impoverished environment with little to zero
interaction with the opposite sex in a natural way. The sound of a woman’s voice causes men in MSOP to suffer
“whiplash” when heard. MSOP is a strange, cold, impersonal and detached environment, deliberately cut off
from family, friends, society and nature.
Neuropsychologist would agree that the need for such natural, normal human interaction is beneficial to all of
society and any degree of confinement leading to an ongoing limitation of access to common human
interaction is detrimental to any human psyche. It would only be logical to interpret that indeterminate
involuntary civil commitment (punitive preventative detention) of a person in an artificial environment until
institutionalization has instilled learned-helplessness and perceptions of hopelessness. Furthermore, the creation
of unhealthy, sterile and apathetical co-dependency relationships. Co-dependency relationship where the men
learn to exhibit ingratiating behaviors rather than a healthy mutual connection.
Foremost, when the act is intentional and designed in a fashion to create such abnormal learned-behaviors.
The intent comes due significantly to the I M POV E R I S H E D ENVIRONMENT where the MSOP population is
deliberately isolated, segregated and cut-off from the rest of society through ill-written policies. A stressinduced
environment most definitely must lead to a dramatic decrease in the birth of new neurons in the adult
hippocampus over an extended period of time.
Damage or apoptosis from detainment in an IMPOVERISHED ENVIRONMEN T affects the frontal lobe which
generates movement commands, contains the area that produces speech, and is responsible for selecting
appropriate behavior which is dependent on goals and environment. Our brains are our greatest strength as
critical thinkers. But they can also be a source of many weaknesses and impairments in critical thought. MSOP
must change its policies to genuinely want to safely integrate men back into society. Create a policy that
acknowledges the importance of conjugal visits to build healthy relationships.
RJH
WHY MINNESOTANS SHOULD CARE WHAT HAPPENS TO CIVILLY COMMITTED SEX OFFENDERS
MSOP’s application of psychology has been a failure. Instead of treating mental illness and releasing clients, it
has killed many people. The amount of people that have died while in the care of Peter Puffer, Nancy Johnston,
Jannine Hebert and all their minions, compared to those that have received treatment for their “mental Illness”,
is staggering. After the recent deaths of Bruce Foley and Robert Scott, the MSOP body count is now at 75 and
the amount of those that have been released by completing treatment? 1, and the reason for that one man’s
release is still debatable. 5 others were released, but not for completing treatment. Instead, they were men who
only offended while they were still children and should have never been civilly committed in the first place. But
why should the average Minnesotan care? After all, MSOP holds “Sex Offenders” until they die, right? What’s
wrong with that? We understand. However, OCEAN would like to argue why Minnesotans should care and we
have given 3 reasons:
1) IT DOESN’T WORK: First, the tests used to determine who is too dangerous to be released don’t
work.1 Second, Dr. Daniel Montaldi former Administrator of the Sexually Violent Predator Program in
Florida, says, ” … at least 94% – 96% of sexual crimes could not have been prevented by commitment
… commitment has prevented less than 1 % of all reported sex offending that would have otherwise
occurred.” 2 In addition, locking up a sex offender for life, without announcing it to the public, cannot
act as a deterrent to potential offenders. Because MSOP is so stealthy about its intended purpose,
22
keeping the pubic in the dark, that it cannot operate as an example to those who may be considering the
option to sexually assault someone. Without either acting as a warning to others, or preventing a reoffense,
it cannot be considered “preventative.”
2) IT IS TOO EXPENSIVE: Dr. Montaldi also says, ” .. .if there is any difference in treatment,
outpatient treatment might be superior. Certainly it is less expensive for taxpayers. At this point, no
evidence shows that state expenditure on inpatient treatment in a secure civil facility is achieving its
intended purpose.”3 Ruben Rosario from the St. Paul Pioneer Press says that at $124,465 a year,
housing one sex offender costs the tax payer three times the cost of a prison inmate.4 As of June 30,
2019 there were 731 men civilly committed in Minnesota. Using the information provided by Mr.
Rosario this amounts to approximately $90,983,915 that the tax payers are paying to house sex
offenders until they are dead, even though convicted sex offenders have among the lowest rates of
same-crime recidivism of any category of offender. Some may have heard ridiculous stats that 80% of
sex offenders recidivate. However, that is an entirely invented number. It came from a Psychology
Today article published in 1986 by a treatment provider who had no business claiming to know
anything about sex offender recidivism rates. In fact, one study by the federal government followed
every offender in the United States for three years and found that only 3.5% recidivated.5 One critic
sums it up for us, ” … Such low recidivism rate[s] undermines the state’s authority to confine these
persons under the rationale that they are too dangerous to be released. “6
3) MSOP SETS A PRECEDENT THAT OPENS THE DOOR FOR EVERYDAY PEOPLE TO
BECOME CONFINED TO PRISON FOR NO GOOD REASON: 12% of the men civilly committed at
MSOP either have NO felony record at all, or their record is “unknown.”7 at the time of this statistic,
there were less people committed to MSOP. However, if we compare the stat to the current population
of 731 civil detainees, that’s approximately 87 people indefinitely incarcerated for crimes they “might”
commit, even though they have no criminal record. This is a significant amount of collateral damage.
To get civilly committed in Minnesota, it is not necessary to prove that a person is out of control, or
that he is physically violent, but only that he was emotionally harmful to others. In court, hearsay is
admissible. Allegations are admissible. Self-disclosed crimes, even made as part of treatment, are
admissible. A sex offense conviction is not necessary and the person being considered for commitment
does not have a right to a trial. 8 The conditions that currently exist are ripe for mass incarceration. This
is not conspiracy theory, but a reminder of what mankind’s sinful nature is capable of. Let’s not forget:
our founding fathers built this government in response to a corrupt government. One day, the
government will have the ability to lock up whomever they please based on the interfacing of crime
and mental illness. Sex crimes have been the model because they are hated so much by the public
already. However, it could just as well be drug offenders for instance, who are already facing death by
the authorities in the Philippines-why not America? But it likely would not be drug offenders here.
Instead it will be those with “mental illness.” With all of the mass shootings, and the uproar of the
public to treat “mental illness” who’s to say that that particular demograph is not threatened with mass
incarceration?
Executive Order No. 9066 that incarcerated thousands of Japanese-American people, despite harsh
backlash, was never overturned and could be used to justify the incarceration of different sub-groups of
people for whatever the government feels is serious enough. This law, coupled with the merging of
crime and mental illness, has the potential to lock anyone up. 9 I know this all sounds ridiculous, but
Justice Antonin Scalia warned that internment could be upheld in the future: “[Y]ou are kidding
yourself if you think the same thing will not happen again . .. ” 10 These are strong words from a very
influential person that only a fool would ignore. Melissa Hamilton from Pace University sums up the
concern:
Fear of sexual predators has lead society to adopt a law-psychiatry interface in which sexual
offending is merged into disease based philosophy to justify various forms of punishment and
preventative control . . . The widespread acceptance of mental disorders for sexual deviance, despite
[the] substantial scientific problems, ignores significant issues of due process and equity considering
23
they help dictate infringements on fundamental interests of defendants . . . The collaboration threatens
not only the liberty and privacy interests of those who commit sex-based offenses. The potential exists
for a contagion effect whereby interest groups might be encouraged to qualify all manner of criminal
behaviors as distinct mental disorders. Accordingly, if the interaction between law and psychiatry
continues in this manner, all criminals may be deemed to have mental disorders. This outcome makes
no logical sense, undermines the core tenets of the law, infringes upon fundamental rights, and
methodically destroys trust in the science of psychiatry.
FOOTNOTES
1 Melisa Hamilton. “Adjudicating Sex Crimes as Mental Disease.” 33 Pace L. Rev. 536, Spring Is. 2013, © 2013
Pace University School of Law: p 7
2 Montaldi, Daniel PhD, A Study of the Efficacy of the Sexually Violent Predator Act in Florida, William
Mitchell Law Review, 2015, Vol. 43:1 pp 804, 853
3 Ibid. at p 842
4 Ruban Rosario. “This Judge Believes Even Sex Offenders Have Rights” Pioneer Press,
rrosario@pioneerpress.com
5 David Feige. “When Junk Science About Sex Offenders Infects the Supreme Court.”The New York Times, 12
Sept. 2017
6 Tamara Rice Lave & Franklin E. Zimring. “Assessing the Real Risk of Sexually Violent Predators” Doctor
Padilla’s Dangerouss Date.” Berkeley Law, 2018 pp 709, 710 htps://scholarship/.law.berkely.edu/facpubs
7 James R. Nobles, Evaluation Report, Civil Commitment of Sex Offenders, Mar. 2011, OLA
auditor@state.mn.us www.auditor.legstate.mn.us. (651) 296-4708 p 7
8 lbid. pp 24-26
9 Sunstein, Cass R. Can it Happen Here? HarperCollins Publishers, © 2018 p 313
10 Ibid. at p 321
“The right to be free from confinement is of the very essence of a scheme of ordered liberty.” -Palko v.
Connecticut, 302 U.S. 319, 325 (1937)
THE IMPORTANCE OF MINDFULNESS-OCEAN
Dr. Ronald D. Siegel, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School, says,
“Mindfulness, like many forms of therapy, loosens the repression barrier . . . We become more sensitized to
what’s happening in the mind and less distracted by our constant activity. Also, our impulses become clearer . ..
” (Siegel 35)
According to an article in YOGAJOURNAL.COM Rebecca Gladding, MD, a psychiatrist and co-author of
You Are Not Your Brain, sheds some light on what’s going on in your gray matter of your brain when you
meditate.
In the first few minutes of meditation, your ventromedial prefrontal cortex lights up. When you start to
meditate, your brain jumps from one thought to the next. One of the reasons for this “monkey mind” is that this
part of the brain is always active – unless we learn to activate other areas (which is what a regular meditation
practice does). “Interestingly, this part of the brain runs everything through a lens of ‘me,”‘ Gladding says. And
it can prompt you to catastrophize. You might remember something you said at work and then think, “I’m going
to get fired,” she says. Or rather than brushing off a pain in your hip, you might jump to the (unlikely)
possibility that you need a hip replacement.
Once you start to focus your attention . . . your lateral prefrontal cortex activates – and overrides the “me”
thoughts in favor of a more rational, logical, balanced position. “This part of the brain helps you see things
neutrally,” Gladding says. Which helps you settle into your meditation. Even better, the more you meditate, the
more active your lateral prefrontal cortex becomes – and the quieter your ventromedial cortex (the “me” center
24
that has a tendency to catastrophize) gets.
After 8 to 12 weeks of meditating daily, your dorsomedial prefrontal cortex gets activated. This is a part of the
brain that helps us develop empathy. “It’s why the more we meditate, the more compassionate we become in
life,” says Gladding. “This part of the brain becomes more active, more of the time.” (Gladding, Rebecca).
It was once believed that by age 21, our brains were done growing and that the only change is for the worse:
atrophy, damage, etc. However, neuroplasticity, the brain’s capacity to grow and change, has been clearly
confirmed in human adults. By noticing and making more mindful choices about our thoughts, feelings, and
reactions, we can actually change the structure, activity, and connections in our brain. Such changes are
associated with increased and more balanced empathy, faster recovery after an argument, and decreased
negativity bias. (Marsh, Lucas) It doesn’t matter hold old you are. You can still encourage neurological changes
in your brain. Personality can change throughout life, to the oldest ages we can test. We change in gradual ways
as we learn to adapt to life’s challenges, a process that continues for as long as we do. (Whitbourne, Susan
Krauss)
Every experience in our life alters our brain forever afterward. Therefore, it is constantly changing, although
mostly in minute ways. MRI studies provide examples that practicing meditation, and even exercise lead to
functional changes in the brain that correspond to changes in behavior. (Gowin, Joshua) We will focus primarily
on meditation in this course. However, we encourage you to also start an exercise program.
In this course we will use mindfulness practices, like meditation. Meditation is simply the process of
becoming intentionally aware of something specific. Mindfulness is about turning up our attention volume and
staying present. Staying present helps us learn to stay with discomfort which is important for developing
empathy. Dr. Ronald D. Siegel, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School, says:
[A] … way [mindfulness] helps is by seeing emotional events as impersonal uprisings or phenomena. This
helps us to develop affect tolerance, the ability to really be with feelings. When we start to notice feelings
simply as neurobiological events, they are transformed, and we’re able to tolerate them at much higher levels .
. . . we find that other people can only really be close with us if we can tolerate both our feeling and their
feeling simultaneously … (Siegel 41)
… what we’re trying to develop in our relationships is a kind of radical acceptance of all contents, and being
able to tolerate emotions in this way is necessary for developing empathy.
Empathy is a particular kind of attention. As far as neurobiologists now understand it, empathy works through
the action of mirror neurons. For example, when we watch a scary movie, we’re not involved in the action, yet
our bodies react very much as though we are in the midst of it.
… the greater our inner attunement and our tolerance of this, the greater our capacity is to be empathetic.
When we can feel what’s happening inside of us, we can understand others. It helps us develop what modern
psychologist call theory of mind, which is simply the awareness that other people don’t live in your head – that
they actually have different experiences from you. But you can get a resonating feeling about their experience
by turning into some of your own … (Siegel 42, 43)
… Mindfulness practice helps cultivate acceptance by simply seeing the judgments about ourselves and others
like other thoughts – like itches or aches simply coming and going . . . when we can accept our own
imperfections, difficulties, joy, and sorrows, we become more accepting of others, and they feel our trust and
acceptance. (Siegel 43)
Recently, there has been a lot of interesting research on the effects of loving-kindness practices … They
actually change the brain in ways that correlate with developing empathy and generosity. And it shifts us away
from fault finding in ourselves and others …
For people who have experience in prayer traditions, loving-kindness practice can feel familiar because both
prayer and loving-kindness practice generate similar feelings … (Siegel 45)
We can break free from being enslaved by our habits, but first we have to be willing to give up some of what
we might think of as our freedom. With mindfulness practice we see that we are actually all addicts … ” (Siegel,
lecture 16, 0:02:35)
The focus of meditation may change, but the process is the same. It one thing to meditate, however, what we
choose to meditate on is going to dictate our personal growth. Dr. Timothy Jennings, author of the book God
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Shaped Game said:
Recent brain research by Dr. Newberg at the University of Pennsylvania has documented that all forms of
contemplative meditation were associated with positive brain changes – but the greatest improvements occurred
when participants meditated specifically on a God of love. Such meditation was associated with growth in the
prefrontal cortex (the part of the brain right behind our forehead where we reason, make judgments and
experience Godlike love) and subsequent increased capacity for empathy, sympathy, compassion and altruism.
But here’ s the most astonishing part. Not only does other-centered love increase when we worship a God of
love, but sharp thinking and memory improve as well. In other words, worshipping a God of love actually
stimulates the brain to heal and grow. (Timothy R. Jennings, 27)
The Bible uses the word “meditation” or “meditate” in the books of Genesis, Joshua, Psalms, and 1 Timothy.
The words used in scripture for meditation is haga, siah, and siha. Meaning, to murmur, ponder, or reflect,
respectively (Strong, James 1489, 1581). One of the first places we find the word meditation in the Bible, is in
Genesis 24:63. Although it is only mentioned briefly, and does not tell us what Isaac focused on during his
meditation, it does give us insight on when and where he meditated: ” … Isaac had gone out into a field at
evening time … ” So keep this is mind as you go through this course: you can meditate anytime and anywhere.
What we are to meditate on is what matters most. Sometimes the Patriarchs focused on God’s laws (Exodus
20:3-17 The Ten Commandments) and at other times, God Himself. We will look both topics of meditation in
this course.
Throughout this course there will occasionally be “Scripture Meditation” icons within the text. Use these to
learn more about what the Bible says concerning meditation to help guide you in this course.
In 1 Timothy 4:7-15 we see another example of God’s Word in association to neuroplasticity, and its direct
dependence on meditation: ” … train yourself for godliness, for, while the training of the body has a limited
benefit, but godliness is beneficial in every way, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life
to come.”
The saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance. In fact, we labor and strive for this, because we have
put our hope in the living God … Command and teach these things … set the believers an example in speech, in
conduct, in love, in faith, in purity … Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your
progress (HCSB)
In this passage, the word practice is translated from the Greek word meletao. The Strong’s Concordance tells
us that this word means to, “revolve in the mind.” This is the same as meditation (Strong 1647).
In summary, the above passage tells us to labor and strive for godliness while we let love, faith, and purity
revolve in the mind. This kind of persistent striving will change the structure of our brains and make God’s
ways second nature to us. This is neuroplasticity.
As you can see, there is plenty of extra space in the margins to note your experiences with meditation, and
personal reflection.
After week 12 of this course – once you have created a consistent routine, we encourage you to read this book:
The God Shaped Brain and then follow the Study Guide at the end of the book.
Paul did not dispute the significant medical benefits of physical exercise. “Limited” means “for a little while”
(the benefits of exercise are only temporary). Spiritual training that produces godly character is more important
since its results endure throughout the present life and in the life to come. (Apologetics Study Bible,
commentary, p.1804 1 Tim. 4:8)
The Importance of Prayer
Prayer is similar to meditation in that it involves focusing your mind intentionally. We agree with Christian
author and speaker Jay Payleitner, who said:
Every day of your life has 1,440 minutes, and God deserves a few of them And, you deserve the
experience of spending a few quiet minutes every morning with your Creator. So, if you haven’t
already done so, establish the habit of spending time with God every day of the week. It’s a habit that
will change your day and revolutionize your life. When you give the LORD your undivided attention,
everything changes, including you. (Payleitner, Jay 98)
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Jesus taught us how to pray with the LORD’S prayer. This prayer is often vainly repeated with little attention
to its deeper meaning. It is important to look at what Jesus was telling us when He directed this specific prayer.
Context is important when we read the Bible. Therefore, let’ s consider what Jesus said right before He taught us
this prayer. He said, ” . . . your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Pray then like this:” this prayer
is not intended to manipulate God into giving us anything. It serves another purpose completely. Let’s take a
look at the LORDS prayer from Matthew 6:9-13, and examine its meaning:
.. . Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come,
your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our
debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
(ESV)
This prayer is meant to:
Keep God’s name holy
The word “hallowed” in Greek means, “To make holy . .. purify or consecrate; (mentally) to venerate . . . ”
(Strong 1599) Man has a tendency to distort what is good, and exalt what is bad. Jesus’ command to keep Gods
name holy, reflects the 3rd commandment, which is to not take the LORD’S name in vain. This commandment
seems petty at first, but think about it. If we never put value on God’s name, and we have only associated it with
negative things, then how could we tum to Him with a sincere heart?
Ask God for His will to be done here on earth.
Jesus’ knew that although God’s ultimate plan will prevail, it’s not an automatic expectation that God’s will is
always being done by humans. Humans who live by the flesh, are hostile to God and must tum to Christ to
know the right way to live (Romans 8:7). It is the Christian’s duty do God’s will and to
” .. . become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of
sinful desire.” (2 Peter 1 :4 ESV)
Give us our daily bread.
This symbolizes God’s provision in our lives. We know this because of what Jesus said earlier, to Satan in the
wilderness, in Matthew 4:4, . . .’ “Man shall not live be bread alone, but by every word that comes from the
mouth of God.'” (ESV)
Ask God for forgiveness and to remind us to forgive others. Jesus follows up this prayer with an explanation
that further clarifies the importance of forgiving others, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your
heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father
forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6: 14, 15) (ESV)
The Prefrontal Cortex
The Prefrontal Network plays an important role in behaviors that require multitasking and the integration of
thought with emotion. Its integrity appears important for the simultaneous awareness of context, options,
consequences, relevance, and emotional impact that allows the formulation of adaptive interpretations,
decisions, and actions. Damage to this part of the brain (accidental or drug use) impairs mental flexibility,
reasoning, assumption formation, abstract thinking, oresight, judgment, the online (attentive) holding of
information, and the ability to inhibit inappropriate esponses and behaviors.
2 7
Nov. 1 3 , 20 1 9 : Vol . 1 , Issue V
1. \t A CALL TO ARMS ! \t : OCEAN PLEADS WITH OTHER CIVIL COMMITMENT DETAINEES TO SPEAK UP.
2. IN JUST 97 MINUTES .. …. .
3. DETAINEE INTERVIEW
4. “HEY, MINNESOTA SENATE HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE … FOLLOW THE MONEY!”
5. ANYONE COULD GET COMMITTED IN MSOP ! ! !
6. MSOP CLAIMS THERE IS NOWHERE FOR US TO GO.
7. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH?
\t A CALL TO ARMS! \t : OCEAN PLEADS WITH OTHER CIVIL COMMITMENT DETAINEES TO SPEAK UP.
Its football season and all teams are striving for the same goal: The Super Bowl.
No NFL team has ever made it to the Super Bowl and said, “Oh, no. I don’t want to do this. It’s too difficult.”
That would be ridiculous. Instead, every team that makes it to the Super Bowl is honored to be there to
challenge the best.
This is how I [Daniel] feel about being committed. This is the Super Bowl of my intellect, my emotional
health, and above all, my faith. I have come too far in life to tum down this opportunity to fight against such a
worthy opponent. I say bring it on MSOP!
I have only been committed for about 3 years. If there is one element I could identify as the common
denominator that contributes to our indefinite incarceration, IT IS US, NOT THEM. Sure, “they” have
manipulated and twisted laws and common sense to accomplish the amazing feat of sex offender civil
commitment. But they could not do it without us. Every moment we spend laying around watching TV or
sleeping, could be spent striving to counteract their efforts to keep us locked up. Those who run these facilities
count on our ignorance and indifference. This is why they go through such great lengths to allow us to own an
X-Box and then deny us basic human rights. The physical amenities are clearly a benefit to THEM, not us. They
have found that a sedentary sex-offender is an easy paycheck.
I have been called judgmental for these comments. I’ll accept that title as long as I’m not called indifferent to
injustice. My judgment is this: it is YOUR responsibility to get yourself out of this situation and it is likewise
MY responsibility to get ME out of this situation. Laziness, ignorance, complacency and procrastination are
choices to stay confined. I struggle with all four of these every day. Some days I achieve more than other days.
But I do not have to slow down today, simply because I struggled yesterday. I must keep going.
I have a wife and a daughter. My wife and I haven’t talked in awhile and my P.O. wont let me talk to my
daughter. However, one day I hope to be in their lives again. When that day comes, I imagine my daughter may
wonder what I have been doing while away. I want my answer to be, “trying to get to you.” If I met her today, I
could tell her that, and it would be true, and she would know that I never forgot her.
I [Russell] have been indefinitely institutionalized going on 12 years in one of America’s Pandora box
institutions.
For those who don’t know, MSOP is Minnesota’s Bermuda Triangle, where some of America’s subclass
human beings are sent to vanish from society.
As a co-editor and founder of OCEAN, we are intent on bringing light to not only our invisibility, but also the
invisibility society exhibits for the victims of sexual violence.
For me, OCEAN is founded on Empathy.
When institutions like MSOP are created out of moral panics which politicians exploit to gain popularity and
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votes for repeat terms …
When unconstitutional laws, statutes, and punitive policies are created to maintain the distorted perception
that the worst of the worst are being committed …
When the ever looming threat of unrestrained legislation threaten our constitutional rights to life, liberty and
justice.
It is those who are experiencing such injustice who must speak up!
Thirteen years ago was the first time I met my son I was on my way out of a court room heading to prison. He
was only a week old. The second time I met my son, he was seven and he wanted nothing more than to be in his
father’s arms.
To see him and his sisters, standing at the exit door of the visiting room, looking back and wanting their father
to walk out with them crushed me …
I have vowed to dedicate every day to improving my life, and I strongly encourage all of you men who are in
similar situations to do the same. We owe it to not only our children, but to future generations to end sexual
violence, as well as to stop the destruction of our United States Constitution.
We have so much to say about this issue, but we think this will be an ongoing series for OCEAN. We hope
this encourages other patients in other institutions to pull together and advocate for yourselves, each other and
your families. DAW /RJH
“At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.” -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
IN JUST 97 MINUTES . . . . . . .
Minnesota’s passage of its current SVP scheme shares a similar history to corresponding laws in other
jurisdictions. Dennis Linehan is a man with a long history of violent sex crimes, including the murder and
sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl – was paroled in 1992. Although the State tried to commit him, a court found
that it did not establish that Linehan had an “utter lack of power to control his sexual impulses” as required
under the prevailing test.1 In response, the legislature quickly moved to enact a civil commitment law that
lessened the State’s burden.
Just eight days before the state’ s primaries, the Governor [Arne Carlson] called for a special session. In just 97
minutes, the legislature passed the SVP Act. Notably, the bill’s drafters told their colleagues not to talk about
the Linehan case, warning that, “Whatever we say on the floor will be used against us …. It’s going to be used
to challenge the bill.” 2
FOOTNOTES
1 Jn re Linehan, 518 N. W .2d 609, 614 (Minn. 1994) ( finding that the district court had failed to provide clear and
convincing evidence that Linehan was utterly unable to control his sexual impulses)
21n re Linehan, 557 N.W.2d 171, 198 (Minn. 1996) (Tomjanovich, J., dissenting).
DETAINEE INTERVIEW
[To protect his family from added stress, the client I interviewed does not wish to disclose his identity.Therefore, we will call him TW]
There are many clients at MSOP who truly believe that participating in treatment, spending years trying to
convince their therapists that they are safe again, is the only way out. However, those like TW have come to
realize that if we truly want to go home, we must consider new routes. Gaining public support and filing
lawsuits, seem to make more sense than buying into anything offered by MSOP-including psycho-therapy.
What struck me about TW when I first met him was his peacefulness. His calm demeanor and consideration
for others, is quite a contrast to the stereotypes of a man of his stature. At 6 foot 5, TW may intimidate some,
until they get to know him.
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TW has lately put new efforts, in addition to participating in treatment, towards release by finding a reporter to
speak with a few clients about their stories. We hope to see her article published soon.
TW has been at MSOP for almost 12 years, and has been in treatment that whole time. When I asked him if
MSOP has acknowledged the changes he has made, he quickly exclaimed, “no … if you want to call this
treatment.” He went on to explain that the real way to be released is clearly through the court process and not
treatment. TW says, “real doctors will tell you that 2-3 years of treatment is too much. This is 5-10 years of
ongoing treatment, without relapsing.” TW could not remember how many therapists he has had in the 12 years
he has been at MSOP. He said, “20 or better. But I’m probably being nice.”
I asked TW what he believes the public needs to know about MSOP. These were his words:
This is a big waste of money. We are not the worst of the worst. That’s a scare tactic from politicians
and others that benefit from it. There are women, sometimes pregnant women, that work here. They
are never assaulted. There are 2 that work on my unit that are young and pretty and no taller than 5
feet. They look like 10 and 11 year olds, and they are safe. They play cards with guys for most of their
shift and they are not in danger. This place needs to be exposed for the fraud that it is. There are no
checks and balances. They don’t have to answer to anyone. Due Process is nearly absent. When staff
do something wrong, at best they will move them to another unit, away from the client they wronged.
Staff tend to bring their personal problems here. They seem to have axes to grind and they have their
own agenda.
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, has said “[i]f the civil system is used simply to impose punishment after the
State makes an improvident plea bargain on the criminal side, then it is not performing its proper function.”
Kansas v. Hendricks, 521 U.S. 346, 373 (1997) (Kennedy, J., concurring).
“HEY, MINNESOTA SENATE HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE . . . FOLLOW THE MONEY! ”
In the Star Tribune article, “We need answers, reform plan from DHS” from Friday, August 30, 2019, it is
quoted that, “The department recently shocked the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and the White Earth Nation by
telling them to repay $25 million in overpayments, even though the tribes had spent the money according to
DHS guidelines.”
We implore the Minnesota Senate Health and Human Services Committee and the Office of Legislative
Auditor to investigate the Medicaid Minnesota Counties are collecting which is alleged to be for the Cost of
Care of Minnesota County’s patients detained at the Minnesota sex offender program.
MSOP patients (now deemed “clients” after a change in the statute to lessen patients’ rights). Are billed for
their Cost of Care. For example, OCEAN Editor Russell Hatton’s Cost of Care bill is totaled at approximately
$1.5 million after being unconstitutionally detained for twelve (12) years in MSOP.
These Cost of Care bills come from Shirley Jacobson of the Department of Human Services-State Operated
Services Division, even though the MSOP is no longer under State Operated Services, as of 2008. The
legislative auditor confirms this removal in his audit in March 2011, on page 85, as does the sworn testimony of
Clinical Director of MSOP, Jannine Hebert, on March 5, 2015, where she stated, “. .. in 2008 when MSOP was
pulled out from underneath state operated services, and we made a conscious decision to move away from that
medical model approach … ”
OCEAN Editor Daniel Wilson, tragically, became officially committed on April 17, 2017. On September 10,
2019 he received a bill from a different address which is the address to the MN DHS Direct Care and
Treatment. The bill was for $102,759.00.
Some of the language on the bill includes: “FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE YOU CAN PAY ONLINE AT … ”
Patients in MSOP are denied access to internet. Also, “DO NOT SEND CASH!”, patients are not allowed to
have cash either. We are also asked to provide, “income from roomers and boarders … ” Are they kidding?
Where do they think they are sending these bills to?
3 0
OCEAN believes that the Minnesota DHS and MSOP, along with the Minnesota counties Health and Human
Services are working in collusion to cover up and mislead the Minnesotans and the Minnesota Senate Health
and Human Services Committee and the Office of Legislative Auditor, James Noble about the significant
Medicaid Fraud occurring through the Minnesota Department of Health and Human Services ($300, 000, 000.00
to be exact! ! !).
In the Star Tribune article: “Another Official at DHS Resigns” from Saturday, August 31 , 2 01 9, Glenn Howatt,
explains:
… Marie Zimmerman, the Assistant commissioner for healthcare, said Friday, she will leave her post
in about 1 0 days. Zimmerman, who first started with the agency in 2 01 1 , has been one of the top
officials overseeing Minnesota’s Medicaid program, a sprawling operation funded by federal and state
dollars, with 1 .1 million enrollees.
In addition to the personnel shifts, the agency has been struggling with revelations that it overpaid
two Indian bands by $ 25 million for substance abuse treatment and that it owes the federal government
$48 million for making improper payments to some treatment facilities … Zimmerman’s announcement
deepened concerns among legislative critics who see the agency flailing as it seeks to improve
oversight in the spending of federal Medicaid money.
During her first interview before the Minnesota Senate Health and Human Services Committee, Pam
Wheelock remarked that she didn’t find any fraud and that they needed to “move past it.” Also, during one of
her first public interviews, DHS Commissioner Jodi Harpstead also suggested “moving past” these scandals and
failures and focusing on the “good work” done by the agency and its employees.
OCEAN believes that DHS-MSOP and Minnesota counties are scrambling to cover up the hundreds of
millions of dollars funneled into one of the most fraudulent and lucrative programs in Minnesota-the
Minnesota sex offender programs-in Moose Lake and St. Peter-at the guise of providing medical care and
treatment. Which they do not!
Legislative, State and unknown state officials gaining a profit off of this punitive medical care and treatment
scheme do not want to lost their gravy train-for that’s all MSOP has been for the last 25 years!
There have also been proposals to break up the DHS agency, the state’s largest. Wheelock suggested at a
Senate hearing back in September that one part of DHS that runs the state hospitals and the sex offender
program is by itself larger than some other agencies. If there is fraud, and there seems to be, it is likely
connected to MSOP.
MSOP recently cut the cable TV supposedly because they could not afford it. Co-founder of OCEAN
expressed his disgust: “I wasn’t irritated about them taking cable TV. I tried to view it as a sign that they were
running out of money. However, after seeing an MSOP bank statement and all of the commissions MSOP
receives from other companies, it reinforced that the clients do not come first in this scheme.”
According to James Noble, Office of Legislative Auditor 2 01 1 Legislative Auditor Report, MSOP takes care
of their own:
The biggest component of MSOP’s operating budget is salaries and benefits for MSOP security staff.
In fiscal year 2 010, about 83 percent of operating expenditures were for the salaries and benefits paid
to MSOP security staff … in fiscal year 2 01 0, MSOP had 7 14 full-time equivalent staff while it
averaged about 548 residents. In others words: During fiscal year 2 01 0, the Minnesota sex offender
program had about 1 .3 security staff per resident.
Among the 2 0 states with civil commitment programs, Minnesota has the highest number of indefinitely
civilly committed sex offenders per capita. At $ 1 24,465 a year; housing one sex offender cost the tax payers
three times the cost of a prison inmate. As of June 30, 2 019 there were 731 patients indefinitely civilly
committed in Minnesota. This amounts to $90,983,925 a year that tax payers are responsible for, even though
those convicted of sexual offences-including those who have had consensual sex as a minor, teenagers sex-
3 1
texting, to those who committed a sexual offense as a minor-have among the LOWEST rates of same-crime
recidivism than any category of offender.
MSOP is a massive waste of Minnesotans money and this waste is expected to get worse as long as more than
just juvenile offenders get released. Unless Minnesotans hold their legislative representative accountable, the
MSOP system and the infringement on our Constitutional Rights will continue to grow and who is to say
legislatures can’t dictate that other “mentally ill” people get indefinitely contained out of the fear that they could
do something undesirable in the future? However, OCEAN believes MSOP will one day be destroyed and the
buildings will be given to the DOC, because it is founded on lies.
ANYONE COULD GET COMMITTED IN MSOP ! ! !
To get indefinitely civilly committed in Minnesota it is not necessary to prove that a person is out of control,
or that s/he is physically violent, but only that s/he was emotionally harmful to others. In court, hearsay is
admissible. Allegations are admissible. Self-disclosed crimes, even admitted as part of treatment. . . from decades
ago … are admissible. The person being considered for commitment does not have a right to a jury trial and not
even a single sex offense conviction is necessary. In fact, 12% of the men indefinitely committed at MSOP have
either no felony conviction of any kind, or have an “unknown” criminal record. At the time of this statistic,
there were 575 men committed to MSOP. That comes out to 69 men that do not have a criminal record at all. If
we apply that same 12% to today’s population of 731 men, that means that there are about 87 men without a
criminal history, indefinitely committed to MSOP.
At page 2 1, the DSM-5 explains that an individual must display a “current presentation” (6 months for sexual
disorders)1 of their diagnosis for them to be considered for having a mental disorder. MSOP knows this, so they
tried to get around releasing patients by changing the legal status of the MSOP facility. Melissa Hamilton from
Pace University School of Law explains what happens when these terms get played with:
Fear of sexual predators has led society to adopt a law-psychiatry interface in which sexual offending
is merged into a disease-based philosophy to justify various forms of punishment and preventive
control. Sex crimes have become conflated with psychiatric disease. The multiple concerns expressed
herein strongly suggest that the use of the psychiatric paraphilias in legal proceedings tends to
undermine the independence and integrity of the legal and psychiatric professions. For the mental
health field, the vagary of diagnostic criteria and the significant discretion subsequently provided has
led to inconsistent and questionable diagnoses. The scientific requirements of validity and reliability
make the DSM paraphilias highly questionable even for treatment purposes. For legal purposes,
considering the significant negative consequences that follow, they are a poor fit in the law. The
widespread acceptance of mental disorders for sexual deviance, despite these substantial scientific
problems, ignores significant issues of due process and equity considering they help dictate
infringements on fundamental interests of defendants.
Unfortunately, it appears that law and psychiatry will remain complicit in adapting diagnoses of
mental illness to criminal justice officials’ desire to control sex offenders. Academics and practitioners
have sought the removal of the paraphilias from the DSM because labeling sexual behaviors as
pathological has done great harm to many defendants. However, it is also recognized that removing the
paraphilias, most particularly pedophilia, would be a public relations disaster for psychiatry. The
APA’s continuing involvement is evident with the overuse ofparaphilia NOS, for example, and its
ongoing consideration of adopting new paraphilias, such as rape paraphilia and hebephilia, that serve
prosecutorial interests. The law’s entrenchment is likewise strong, including the repeated acceptance in
judicial decisions favorably embracing mental disease for sexual deviance-even those not otherwise
specified-threatens to permit more shoehorning diagnoses to satisfy criminal justice goals. The
collaboration threatens not only the liberty and privacy interests of those who commit sex-based
offenses. The potential exists for a contagion effect whereby interest groups might be encouraged to
qualify all manner of criminal behaviors as distinct mental disorders. Accordingly, if the interaction
32
between law and psychiatry continues in this manner, all criminals may be deemed to have mental
disorders. This outcome makes no logical sense, undermines the core tenets of the law, infringes upon
fundamental rights, and methodically destroys trust in the science of psychiatry.2
This “law-psychiatry interface” is in part, why MSOP has been able to get away with what they are doing.
MSOP maintains control of their scheme not with morals or science, but with confusion and technicalities of
law and procedure. Minnesota Department of Corrections Director Grant Duwe concluded that:
nearly two-thirds of these offenders would be unlikely to be rearrested for another sex offense in their
lifetime if they were released to the community.
Applying this “false-positive” rate for 700-plus people who are committed, we can conclude that
over 400 human beings are being held unconstitutionally because the MSOP’s intentional thwarting of
the duration limits.
MSOP’s failure to adhere to the duration limits is not simply a sign that the program is not working
properly. It is an intentional design feature of MSOP that other states have eschewed. It represents an
intentional rejection of the core constitutional marker of a genuine civil commitment scheme. The
Court of Appeals’ ruling allows no remedy for this misuse of civil commitment.3
1 APA Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Ed. Arlington, VA, APA, 2 013, pp. 685-705.
2Melissa Hamilton. “Adjudicating Sex Crimes as Mental Disease,” 33 Pace L. Rev. 536, Spring Is. 2 013,
©2013 Pace Univ. School of Law, pp. 598, 599.
3ERIC S. JANUS Professor of Law MITCHELL HAMLINE SCHOOL OF LAW & RICHARD D. SNYDER,
FREDRIKSON & BYRON, P.A. On Petition For Writ Of Certiorari To The United States Court Of Appeals
For The Eighth Circuit, pg. 12.
MSOP CLAIMS THERE IS NOWHERE FOR US TO GO.
MSOP has always used the excuse, in addition to many others, that there is too many housing restrictions in
too many counties, to let their patients go.
Not true, OCEAN editor Daniel was on the streets before he became a detainee to MSOP. He had no problems
with finding housing and was never limited by county ordinances or even harassed by neighbors. Also, State
Operated Services (SOS) owns many properties. Even though DHS claims we are no longer under SOS, we
were from 1994 to 2 008, and these facilities were never used for reintegrating offenders into the community.
MSOP has often rejected release solely based on the fact that a patient has nowhere to go, and not necessarily
because their mental illness/disorder is in remission. But even if we don’t have anywhere to go, that should be
none of MSOP’s business. They have a responsibility to “treat and release” and that’s it.
New case law may now leave them without an excuse. Ford v. Schnell ‘ says that a sex offender who has
served his time in prison cannot be held solely based on him not having an address to go to. Patients at MSOP
hope it will also apply to us.
In the report “Residency Restrictions for Sexual offenders in Minnesota: False Perceptions for Community
Safety” written by the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers, Richard Weinberger, M.S.E., L.P. 2
discussed the following:
Residency or zone restrictions for individuals with sexual offences have become increasingly popular
in recent years, but such restrictions tend to be rooted in fear and anger, rather than informed public
policy.
There is no research to support residence restrictions as effective in reducing sexual recidivism.” The
Minnesota Department of Corrections concluded in one study that, “during the past 16 years, not one
sex offender released from a MCF (Minnesota Correctional Facility) has been reincarcerated for a sex
offense in which he made contact with a juvenile victim near a school, park, or daycare center close to
33
his home.” Because people typically choose to live close to family, friends, or employment, and
establishing social stability for offenders reduces recidivism, residency restrictions may be
counterproductive.” Research on residency restrictions demonstrate no deterrence effect.
From the 1990’s through the present, individuals who have committed sex crimes have been the
subject of countless psychological, sociological, criminal justice and governmental agency studies.
Consequently, there is large body of research on these individuals that demonstrates that a number of
commonly held beliefs (myths) regarding recidivism are not true. The fact is, current research indicates
that:
Sex offenders, as a group reoffend much less than other criminal offenders.
95% of sex offenses are committed by first-time offenders.
93% of sex crimes are committed by offenders known to the victim, in a place familiar to the victim.
In 2015, the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission published a report stating that the
numbers of individuals convicted of sexual crimes in 2014, 95% of all sex crimes were committed by
first time offenders. The report also indicated that a salient offense factor related to stranger on
stranger offending was the use of force. Of the 491 adjudicated cases in 2014, 70 offenses were against
strangers and were placed in the category of “Provision Force/Other.”
Of these 70 offenses, eight were against children. These eight releases represent 1. 6% of the 491
people released in 2014. These results contradict the need and efficacy of the Taylors Falls’ ordinance
as well as the ordinances in the other communities who followed suit. 3
OCEAN is in agreement with the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers-which does not support
the use of residence restriction laws as a sex offender management strategy.
There is no research to support the effectiveness of residence restriction in reducing sexual offense recidivism,
and these types of policies often have the unintended consequences that may compromise, rather than promote,
public safety. Id
FOOTNOTES
1 State of MN ex rel, Antwone Ford, Appellant vs. Paul Schnell, Commissioner of Corrections, Supreme Court
A l 7-1895 filed 9/11/19 also see the news article : Minnesota Lawyer, “Justices Grant Habeas Corpus to Sex
Offender” 9/14/19 by Kevin Featherly.
2Rick Weinberger is a licensed psychologist, a Clinical Member of A TSA, and at the time of this writing, the
Inpatient Clinical Director at Alpha Human Services, www.alphaservices.org. Much appreciation to the
Minnesota Sex Offender and Reentry Proj ect (MNSORP) for their help in writing this paper. www.mnsorp.org
3Sexual offender Residence Restrictions, A TSA Policy Statement, August 2014.Retrieved 2/12.2016.
http://www.atsa.com/pdfs/policy/2014SOResidenceRestrictions.pdf
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH?
Primim non nocere.
“First do no harm” is the motto of the medical profession, a symbol of integrity that is disappearing daily as
doctors, hospitals, psychologists, psychiatrist and alleged counselors, and those involved in America’s
healthcare system increasingly take advantage of the giant pot of government money available through medical
insurance.
Medicare whistle-blowing has become a giant industry, since the successful insertion of capitalism into a
government program. In this case, the reward was astronomical. Whistle-blowers received $152 million, the
highest combined award ever paid. 1
In Minnesota, Rule 26 was established to govern MSOP as a hospital, meant to treat the “mentally ill.”
However, there is an option provided by Minn. Stat. § 245A.04, subd. 9, to ask the OHS Commissioner for
accommodations in the event that MSOP cannot ( or does not want to) follow elements of Rule 26.
34
This option is called a “Variance.” It requires that MSOP submit a “Variance Request” to change the
application of the law, providing MSOP an outlet to do basically whatever they want. However there are
limitations.
These Rule 26 Variance are “NON-PUBLIC,” (until recently, you can see them on the DHS website) stealthy
arrangements that explicitly confess, “The vast majority of patients committed to the Minnesota sex offender
program do not experience symptoms of mental illness that requires psychiatric treatment. .. ”
Minnesota lawmakers developed a statute that allows the Commissioner of DHS, who is not an elected
official, to make changes to the Rules that govern how they administer treatment to their clients. Those Rules
are enforced by the law. The new Rule is essentially a law and the granted Variance by the Commissioner is, in
effect, a new law. That new law is “NOT PUBLIC.” Therefore, Secret laws are being created by unelected
official.
MSOP petitioned for more than one Variance Request to Rule 26, which moved the facility away from a
Medical Model and the constraints of following the various state codes outlined at Minnesota Rule, Chapter
4665, because the MSOP administration know that the clients are not mentally ill.
The point it this: MSOP is not a hospital, nor is it designed to follow a Medical model or to administer to ill
people. The Clinical Director of MSOP, Jannine Hebert, gave testimony on March 5, 2015, before The
Honorable Donovan Frank, and explained that the MSOP has not been a hospital since at least 2008. In fact,
MSOP does not work with patients needing medical care; rather, there is an important distinction in her opinion.
According to Mrs. Hebert, MSOP is a “treatment program” that deals with folks who are “not sick.”
This is a problem, because one cannot receive medical care and attention at a facility that does not provide
medical services. And more importantly, the law requires that in order to lock someone up in a mental
institution, they need to have a mental illness.
First do no harm!
1 Gross. Martin L., Investigative Reporter, National Suicide: How Washington Is Destroying The American
Dream From A To Z; pg. 221
Nov. 2 5 , 20 1 9 : Vol . 1 , Issue VI
1. \t A CALL TO ARMS! \t
2. OCEAN PLEADS WITH OTHER CIVIL COMMITMENT DETAINEES TO SPEAK UP:
“EXPLOITATION DOES NOT THRIVE WITHOUT COOPERATION !”
3. DETAINEE INTERVIEWS
4. CORRECTING FALSE INFORMATION IN YOUR DETAINEE CHARTS VIA DATA
CHALLENGE-ITS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. [CHECK YOUR STATE STATUTE]
5. CONSENT IS THE STANDARD OF THIS MILLENNIUM.
6. MSOP CLINICAL COULD NOT DO THEIR JOBS UNLESS THEY EXHIBIT THE BASIC
ELEMENTS OF NARCISSISM.
\t A CALL TO ARMS! \t OCEAN PLEADS WITH OTHER CIVIL COMMITMENT
DETA INEES TO SPEAK UP: “EXPLOITATION DOES NOT THRIVE WITHOUT
COOPERAT ION ! ”
We do not plan on letting up any time soon! We understand that it seems hopeless to fight back, but its not
about odds. It doesn’t matter how likely it is that we will be successful-that is not the focus. It is about
preserving your personal dignity and living with purpose.
Who are you? Why are you on this planet. What is all of this for? If you have not asked and answered these
3 5
questions, you are not living yet.
Perhaps you don’t think you have what it takes. Your probably right. Alone, you don’t have what it takes. But
there are many other supporters out there that want to see you go home and become a productive member of
society. But more important than that, they want to see justice served. People rejoice when bad people are held
accountable.
Wow, what right do we-a couple of sex offenders-have in saying anything about “bad people?” … We are
no longer sex offenders, but Defenders. We no longer offend against others, we defend others. We defend
humanity. We defend what is good and right and just.
We are 100% human being and fully capable of loving compassion. We know the dark side all too well. But
we are not monsters or animals and neither are you! We are Overcomers. We take the challenge of achieving
freedom against all odds. This is not only the fight of our lives, it is the fight of our generation. Think about it.
If civil commitment continues the way it is, it could lead to justifying the indefinite incarceration of millions of
people. This can be done by the power of a psychiatrist opinion about your “mental health” and their prediction
of your ability to commit a crime or hurt someone in the future, whether you have done anything in the past or
not.
Our Time Has Come to demand ACCOUNTAB I L I TY from the leaders of this scheme.
So what do you do now? Here are some ideas to start with:
1. Read-a lot. There is plenty of information out there about why civil commitment does not work and why it
is horrible for our society.
2. Write-Your right to free press is one of your best friends. spread the information that you learn to
everyone you know and if you can get it on the net, do it.
3. Speak-Your Freedom of speech is also one of your best friends. Use all of your resources-including your
right to free speak. USE YOUR VOICE. But make sure you do your research before you open your mouth.
4. Overcome.
Read our December 4th “OCEAN Special” article to see how OCEAN has specifically made an influence. If
anyone wants us to send them information, write to us and we’ll send it [DAW]
DETAINEE INTERVIEWS :
If the state authorities are going to keep us locked up forever, they are at least going to know how we’re getting
along. <The term Detainee is more fitting than client>
This weeks “detainee” is not an MSOP detainee at all, but a former detainee of the Auschwitz concentration
camp. Born in Vienna in 1905, Psychiatrist Viktor E. Frankl survived to tell of the horrors of his experience in
Nazi death camps. Dr. Frankl’s focus within his writing are of man’s response to suffering. Although he
describes the events and people of the camps, my take away from his book Mankind ‘s Search for Meaning is
that he was fascinated by what people do with suffering. In this capacity, civil commitment detainees can relate.
However, I must make a disclaimer before I continue: My preventative detention was caused by many factors,
but simply put: it was my wrongdoings that ultimately caused my incarceration. Although “they” lied to the
public and to me about how they were going to achieve the goal of double jeopardy, I am not locked up because
of my race, which is far more unjust than what has happened to me.
Suffering in and of itself is meaningless; we give our suffering meaning by the way we respond to it. .. Forces
beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you
will respond to the situation. You cannot control what happens to you in life, but you can always control what
you will feel and do about what happens to you. (p. x)
This is how we became Defenders. Frankl talks about all of the horrors of the concentration camp and the
worst horror of them all-apathy. The conditioning caused by repeated trauma resulting in an indifference to
human suffering and death. I see this here at MSOP. 77 men have died here. One day I was very bothered by
such a high number. I went to group and spoke about it saying, “I bet you clinicians become quite frantic when
another one of your detainees dies without rehabilitation. I picture you guys in your offices just freaking out
3 6
trying to get just one guy better before he kicks the bucket.” The response I got was, “we don’t control when
detainees die.” She missed my point completely. She has no feelings at all about detainees dying here, and
many of the detainees are just as indifferent. I don’t want to get this way. I want injustices to make me angry. I
don’t want my conscious to be seared beyond compassion. I want to rejoice when someone makes it, and weep
when they don’t. However, I see myself becoming cold too. I have been here 3 years and have witnessed 13
deaths in that short time. It’s so common. Most of those who have died were well over the age of desistance
and the likelihood of them reoffending was almost indistinguishable to someone who has never committed a sex
crime at all. MSOP still refused to release them.
So the apathy of all who work and live here is the killer, not MSOP the organization – but MSOP the people.
The fact that almost everyone here-both detainee and staff have lost hope in society altogether-that is why
we remain here.
In his book, Frankl goes on to write about a man’s ability to “regress” and become very primitive when he
gets committed. His conversations tend to center around politics and/or religion (both sources of power for the
powerless) and his obsessions become food and other creature comforts. I see this at MSOP at a level that is
quite disgusting. However, reading it in Frankl’s book helps me be less judgmental.
We are all frantic to find meaning and a sense of reality in this box called civil commitment. It is quite ironic
that the goal now is to protect ourselves from allowing these facilities to make us insane by means of apathy or
regression.
So how do we build hope again? This is what OCEAN is trying to figure out. For me it has been to just do,
say, write and fight what I believe in and ignore the consequences. This has meant to fight against the
temptation to be comfortable. What we are doing is anything but fun. Its work. Its daunting work because there
is no reason to believe that it will ever be worth it.
But we have heart, and we are men and we have the blood of warriors running through our veins. OCEAN is a
manifestation of this mentality.
This might sound too dramatic, but like Frankl says, “Even we psychiatrists expect the reactions of a man to
an abnormal situation, such as being committed to an asylum, to be abnormal in proportion to the degree of his
normality.” (p. 20) So I am reacting as expected I suppose. [DAW]
CORRECTING FALSE INFORMATION IN YOUR DETAINEE CHARTS VIA DATA CHALLENGE-ITS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. [CHECK YOUR STATE STATUTE]
When you are indeterminately civilly committed, there is data and information that is authored and maintained
about you by others and the committing court maintains data regarding your “Findings of Facts.”
Also, the Minnesota Department of Human Services maintains data post-commitment, relative to your
admission and detention at MSOP.
While at the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP) you are given Quarterly Reports, Annual Reports and
Annual Mental Health Assessments.
This data must be completely accurate.
Detainees who are concerned with inaccurate data need to sit down with the authors of these documents and
work to craft them truthfully.
If that doesn’t work, you need to request that the data reflect the complete truth and if that doesn’t work you
can do what is called a “Data Challenge” [DATA ACCURACY AND COMPLETENESS CHALLENGE, ACCORDING TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF MINN. STAT. § 246B.01 CHAPTER 13].
The Data Challenge is to the Responsible Authority MSOP Policy and Compliance Specialist-Stephen Steyck
[at MSOP].
Mr. Steyck has 30 days to correct the data being challenged and if he does not, you must write the Office of
Administrative Hearings (OAH) for a resolution to the disputed data.
The OAH will set it up for a hearing in front of an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) and then you can expect
the Minnesota Assistant Attorney General to respond to your challenge in the form of a Motion for Summary
Disposition.
3 7
This may sound complicated. However, it doesn’t take long and is well worth it to show whoever has access to
your file just who you really are.
Many detainees complain that their charts are fabricated lies but get frustrated and tear them up.
This is what MSOP wants you to do, to just comply and conform or pretend it isn’t happening.
I [Peter Allan] have personally gone through the process and found it gratifying to know there is a court that
no MSOP wants to sit in front of while you ask the questions.
Normally MSOP will change the data to reflect the truth as sometimes honest mistakes are made.
These documents in question are the same ones that thousands of DHS -MSOP employees have access to, not
to mention the Treatment assessors, Risk assessors, Mental Health Assessors, experts for the court, Attorneys,
County case workers, Judges, the SRB/CAP, etc.
These quarterlies and annuals are now the basis for your continued commitment.
The new quarterlies do not have a “case formulation” section but it is now only in the “Annual Review.”
Always add to the: “detainee contribution” showing current behavior or lack thereof. You will need to
thoroughly review your case formulation and go over it line by line and make it completely accurate.
It is your right to be accurately portrayed.
There are restrictions with respect to the Findings of Fact that cannot be challenged unless you receive “new
evidence” you could not have found after one year has elapsed after your final commitment.
If you don’t challenge the incorrect data, some of you will be given non-petitioned reviews or random audits
or Hospital Review Board reviews.
A day will come when MSOP gets held accountable for knowingly or unknowingly charting inaccurate data in
your charts to further your institutionalization.
For those who are just doing time, at least be prepared to do the hard work to holding your primary therapist,
unit clinical supervisor, unit psychologist and program psychologist accountable.
According to Minnesota § 144.32 False Statements Cause For Discharge.
Furthermore, falsifying such medical documents is a misdemeanor in the state of Minnesota.
MN § 144.32 False Statements Cause For Discharge, “Any intentionally false statement in such certificate and
any act or omission of a superintendent or superior officer to connive at or permit the same shall be deemed
good cause for summary discharge of the person at fault regardless of any contract.”
Minnesota statute §253D.03 General Provisions, “The provisions of section §253B.23 apply to commitments
under this chapter except where inconsistent with this chapter.”
MN §253D.03 , Subd. 3. False reports:
Any person who willfully makes, joins in, or advises the making of any false petition or report, or
knowingly or willfully makes any false representation for the purpose of causing the petition or report
to be made or for the purpose of causing an individual to be improperly committed under this chapter,
is guilty of a gross misdemeanor. The attorney general or the attorney general’s designee shall
prosecute violations of this section.
It is your responsibility to hold accountable those who are reporting your data. And to assure that they are
recording your data accurately and honestly. [PA/RJH]
CONSENT IS THE STANDARD OF THIS MILLENNIUM.
Psychologists study the behavior of humans, and the main purpose of this research is to help us understand
people and to improve the quality of human lives.
Basic research is research that answers fundamental questions about behavior.
Applied research is research that investigates issues that have implications for everyday life and provides
38
solutions to everyday problems.
Basic research and Applied research inform each other, and advances in science occur more rapidly when each
type of research is conducted. 1
The research reported in scientific journals has been evaluated, critiqued, and improved by scientists in the
field through the process of what is known as peer review.
MSOP’s implementation of its “Goal Matrix” has never received any such evaluation or research.
It is an experimental tool meant to correct behavior-not address any perceived mental illnesses.
First of all, the MSOP treatment model is not used by any other civil commitment program in the country and
has never been validated as a way to treat sex offenders.
Note Dr. Miner’s testimony as to the Matrix Factors:
Q. Let’s talk about the Matrix factors. Do you take any issue with the Matrix factors scoring guide?
A. Yes.
Q. And tell me about that.
A. Well, the Matrix factors scoring guide doesn’t meet minimal requirement for a psychological test as
promulgated by the joint APA-AERA Guidelines for Psychological and Educational Testing. It doesn’t include
a lot of information that would be required in a guide or in a manual. .. It’s been criticized for being unreliable; I
would agree with that … do they use it to structure their program? Yes. Is the scoring adequate? I don’t know.2
One important tool for ensuring that research is ethical is the use of informed consent. Informed consent,
conducted before a participant begins a research session, is designed to explain the research procedures and
inform the participant of his or her rights, during the investigation.
The informed consent explains as much as possible about the true nature of the study, particularly everything
that might be expected to influence willingness to participate, but it may in some cases withhold some
information that allows the study to work.
MSOP has never requested informed consent to the goal matrix from its detainee population.
Rather, MSOP detainees are subjected to this experimental research without even provided notification that
they have become a Human Research Subject.
According to Minnesota [Detainees] Bill of Rights, 144.651 Health Care Bill of Rights
Subd. 12. Right to refuse care.
Competent detainees and residents shall have the right to refuse treatment based on the information required in
subdivision 9. Residents who refuse treatment, medication, or dietary restrictions shall be informed of the likely
medical or major psychological results of the refusal, with documentation in the individual medical record. In
cases where a detainee or resident is incapable of understanding the circumstances but has not been adjudicated
incompetent, or when legal requirements limit the right to refuse treatment, the conditions and circumstances
shall be fully documented by the attending physician in the detainees or residents medical record.
Subd. 13. Experimental research.
Written, informed consent must be obtained prior to a detainees or residents participation in experimental
research. Detainees and residents have the right to refuse participation. Both consent and refusal shall be
documented in the individual care record.
Subd. 14. Freedom from maltreatment.
Detainees and residents shall be free from maltreatment as defined in the Vulnerable Adults Protection Act.
Maltreatment means conduct described in section 626.5572, subdivision 15, or the intentional and
nontherapeutic infliction of physical pain or injury, or any persistent course of conduct intended to produce
mental or emotional distress. Every detainee and resident shall also be free from nontherapeutic chemical and
physical restraints, except in fully documented emergencies, or as authorized in writing after examination by a
detainees or residents physician for a specified and limited period of time, and only when necessary to protect
the resident from self-injury or injury to others.
The evidence has shown that MSOP treatment progress is scored using the Matrix factors. The Matrix factors
were developed and implemented by MSOP – something that was not previously used and is not used in the
same way by any other program in the country.
39
The evidence is also clear that the Matrix factors form the basis of the MSOP’s treatment program.
The same Matrix Factors are applied wholesale to all detainees, in a potentially cookie-cutter fashion.
Instead, comprehensive assessments should be completed for each detainee to identify specific risk factors and
individualized treatment needs, which should then be conveyed in language that the detainee can understand
and address in treatment.
Furthermore it must be known and understood that the matrix itself is an experimentation tool.
Detainees are urged to submit a request and ask your primary therapist why you were never requested for your
informed consent to an experimentation tool such as the Goal matrix?
It is the responsibility of the primary therapist to notify their detainees of their [Detainee] Bill of Rights and
Constitutional Rights to ask for informed consent.
Informed consent that should have been requested back in 2 009 – to consent to the experimental tool the goal
matrix.
That’s ten years, 10 years detainees at MSOP have been unknowingly participating in the MSOP’s
experimental research without INFORMED CONSENT.
Since 2 009, MSOP has relied on a ‘treatment Matrix’ to purportedly assess detainees’ needs and progress in
treatment. Before that they were not used in MSOP. No other sex offender commitment or treatment program
uses this ‘ Matrix.’
Despite its stated goals, Minnesota’s treatment approach falls flat and falls hard. The goal, observed in theory
but not in practice, is to “treat and safely reintegrate” committed individuals at the MSOP back into the
community. But the current three-phase incarnation also provides little to no evidence of progression.
The program’s Matrix scoring method fundamentally lacks consistency.
Indeed, the MSOP did not even bother to train its staff on what factors matter under the Matrix until nearly
four years into the model’s use. Noting that the MSOP began using the Goal Matrix in 2 009 and began training
on factors in 2 013. Another year passed in 2 014 before the MSOP trained staff on scoring specifically.
This means that for those 6 years MSOP detainees were scored by clinical who had no prior training or
understood specifically how to score the Matrix factors.
Which lends me to question why detainees in MSOP are not telling their primary therapist that they know they
are not in the correct phase of the program and then to demand that this serious concern be addressed.
I [Russell] urge MSOP detainees to employ your treatment skills to problem solve this detrimental problem.
Be assertive and tell your therapist to immediately acknowledge your progress advance you to the correct phase,
CPS, a Provisional Discharge or to support a full discharge from MSOP.
Most of the MSOP detainee population should be in Phase III ! The lack of urgency surrounding the treatment
approach corresponds to its lack ofrigor and, ultimately, to its lack of purpose.
And yet, ten years, TEN YEARS LATER, the MSOP treatment ‘Matrix’ standards are undefined or illdefined,
lack specific examples of application, and are highly subjective.
Many therapists report that the Matrix is not being uniformly applied and those standards for interpreting the
matrix are lacking, allowing a wide range, from impossible-perfection standards to very lenient standards, from
one therapist to the next. A mere glance at some of the factors used in various ‘behavioral areas’ of the Matrix
confirms this subjective vagueness: “negative social influences,” “poor self-regulation,” “general hostility,”
and “antisocial attitudes and behavior.”
The undefined, unspecific Matrix standards used by MSOP ostensibly to judge treatment progress “allow for
overly subjective evaluation by clinicians” in MSOP.
In most cases, these Matrix standards have been employed to thwart treatment progress, rather than to promote
it.
is the TIER project. More on that in a later issue]
Again, although the conclusion made by the Court sounds definitive when ruling MSOP unconstitutional,
MSOP effectiveness of employing the matrix in practice is weighted down by the fanatical adherence by MSOP
administrators and clinical supervisors to the unspoken concept that treatment of committed sex offenders
‘should’ take a long time, on the tacit belief that, to render any MSOP detainee “safe” for release, he must
40
utterly be ‘ re-made’ as a different persona than his own.
It is this belief, never laid bare, that is behind the decades-long detention and treatment of MSOP’s detainees,
compelling them to satisfy the Herculean requirements of a practically endless series of “Matrix” “goals” before
administrators will consider an individual’s release.
This is the vehicle by which each treatment-participating MSOP detainee is denied “completion” of treatment
over countless years, until they simply give up-or die. [RJH]
It is deliberate and cruel.
FOOTNOTES
1 Lewin, Kurt, The complete social scientist: A Kurt Lewin reader, M. Gold, Ed. Washington, DC: American
Psychological Association ©1999
2Karsjens v Jesson T.T., Vol. V p.1026 v. 3-25 Ibid. at Vol. VI pp.1183 v. 5-1184 v. 13
MSOP CLINICAL COULD NOT DO THEIR JOBS UNLESS THEY EXHIBIT THE BASIC
ELEMENTS OF NARCISSISM.
It is the clinician’s job to convince the detainee that the clinician’s way of life, their ideology, their religion, is
the right one. Clinicians need their detainees to affirm these beliefs and be subordinate to them, and agree to
them as truth, to feel that their choice of careers was not a waste of time and money.
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, “Narcissism” 1 is defined as a:
Mental disorder characterized by extreme self-absorption, an exaggerated sense of self-importance,
and a need for attention and admiration from others … named for the mythological Narcissus, who fell
in love with his own reflection. In addition to an inflated self-image and addiction to fantasy,
narcissism is characterized by an unusual coolness and composure, which is shaken only when the
narcissistic confidence is threatened, and by the tendency to take others for granted or to exploit
them …
Many clinicians at MSOP may fit the definition of Narcissistic Personality Disorder Which is defined as a:
… pervasive pattern of grandiosity … need for admiration, and lack of empathy … [ and] as indicated
by five or more of the following: 1. Has a grandiose sense of self-importance … 2. Is preoccupied with
fantasies of unlimited success, power, and brilliance … 3. Believes that he or she is “special” … 4.
Requires excessive admiration. 5. Has a sense of entitlement (i.e., unreasonable expectations of
especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations). 6. Is
interpersonally exploitative (i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends). 7. Lacks
empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others. 8. Is often envious
of others or believes that others are envious of him or her. 9. Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or
attitudes.2
The parallel between narcissism and the general attitude of most MSOP clinicians is uncanny.
Whether you’re a new naYve “bright eyes” hoping to change a system you believe just “needs a little help,” or
one of the “left overs” from decades of staff that have had the integrity to walk away from what is clearly
wrong, as long as you are working for MSOP, you have blood on your hands.
The staff member that claims to be the “Comforter of Clients” while detainees endure this “difficult time,” is
the shiniest, greasiest cog of the MSOP Madhouse Murder Machine. The whole system relies on the
compromised smiley staff, who thinks they are doing detainees a favor for sticking around.
If anyone continues to work at MSOP to simply “make the detainees time easier,” and not because they
41
actually believe in indefinite preventative detention, they have no integrity.
As an act of nobility, the best thing they can do is leave MSOP and never look back. [DAW]
FOOTNOTES
1 “narcissism. ” Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference
Suite. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, 2013.
2DSM-5 pp.669, 670
Dec. 23 , 20 1 9 : Vol . 1 , Issue VII
1. \t A CALL TO ARMS! \t : OCEAN PLEADS WITH OTHER CIVIL COMMITMENT DETAINEES
TO SPEAK UP.
2. DETAINEE INTERVIEWS
3. COMMISSIONER SHALL DEVELOP LESS RESTRICTIVE ALTERNATIVE PROGRAMS
4. SO WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL ABOUT THE VARIANCES?: A SUMMARY OF THE OCEAN ARTICLE: CREATING CIVIL COMMITMENT CHAOS.
5. DEB WE-TRUTH. BY OCEAN EDITOR RUSSELL JOHN HATTON
\t A CALL TO ARMS ! \t : OCEAN PLEADS WITH OTHER CIVIL COMMITMENT
DETAINEES TO SPEAK UP.
On December 11, 2019 the Executive Director of MSOP came to talk about Provisional Discharge (PD).
Obviously, there will be many restrictions for those released on PD. For those that don’t know, PD is basically
parole. Currently 23 out of 731 detainees are on PD. This is an improvement because in the first 20 years of
MSOP’s existence , there were none. Things are slowly changing, but work still needs to be done. Oh, in case
your wondering, none of those offenders on PD have reoffended.
I [DW] think it was a positive Meeting. First of all we learned that Ms. Johnston is trying to get funding from
the Minnesota legislature for 50 beds in St. Peter. She has tried this for the past 4 years. However, this year
DHS has a new commissioner and more importantly, our new governor has expressed support for detainee
reintegration. If we do get the 50 beds, this will help detainees move forward. There is currently a bottle neck
effect where the Moose Lake cite has many CPS approved guys waiting to be moved to St. Peter where they can
begin working though the last stages of treatment and into society. This will lighten the pressure at the front of
the line, allowing other detainees room to also move forward-or at least this is my theory.
The point is this: OCEAN has taken every opportunity to champion for this cause. We are part of this solution.
I say this brazenly to convince others to join the fight. But the fight is not against MSOP, or the government, or
your clinician. It is against your fears, “what’s the use, they are going to do what they want?” is the common
response. But this is a lie rooted in fear. For those in OCEAN, this is absolutely intolerable. Anyone with that
mindset is not only wrong, they are a part of the problem. However, for those willing to be bold and
courageous, we welcome you.
Having sad that, we all have fears. I do too. But courage is not lack of fear, it is action despite of it. I was just
telling Russ how afraid I am to speak in public, but I do it every chance I get because I know my voice is my
most valuable tool for change. I hate doing it, but as a DROP in this OCEAN, I have a duty to stand for what I
believe and speak up when given the opportunity.
When I got up in the community meeting last week to tell my peers to attend the meeting with Nancy
Johnston, I tried to be positive, while telling the truth: not easy. I later spoke to a clinician about what I said and
she told me to try to be more “positive.” Anyone who has been in treatment very long will hear this word
thrown around a lot. I told her that I don’t really consider whether I am being “positive” or “negative” but rather
whether I am being “true” or “false.” This is how I chose my battles. If I can preserve another’s emotions, while
42
staying real to my truth, that is the greatest victory I can have today. However honesty is sovereign over
positivity.
I hope OCEAN encourages you to fight with us. But remember, if you want to get onto the battle field fighting
against oppression, you will need to first get into the battle field of your heart and mind, or you’ll never win the
war. [DW]
DETAINEE INTERVIEWS :
If the state authorities are going to keep us locked up forever, they are at least going to know how we’re getting
along. <The term Detainee is more fitting than detainee>
The thoughts of a committed man
Here’ s a story of a journey called: Life.
It starts on a farm; a mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package.
“What food might this contain?” The mouse wondered. He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.
Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed this warning- “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a
mousetrap in the house!” The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, “Mr. Mouse, I can tell
this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it.”
The mouse turned to the pig and told him “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the
house!” The pig sympathized, but said, “I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it
but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers.”
The mouse turned to the cow and said. “There is a mousetrap in the house ! There is a mousetrap in the house!”
The cow said “Wow, Mr. Mouse. I’m sorry for you, but it’s no skin off my nose.” So, the mouse returned to the
house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer’ s mouse trap … alone . . .
That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, the sound of a mouse trap catching its prey.
The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it. It was a venomous snake
whose tail was caught in the trap. The snake bit the farmer’ s wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital. When
she came home, she still had a fever.
Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup. So the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for
the soups main ingredient, chicken.
But his wife’ s sickness continued. Friends and neighbors come to sit with her around the clock. To feed them
the farmer butchered the pig. But, alas, the farmer’s wife did not get well. .. she died.
So many people came for her funeral that the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of
them for the funeral luncheon. And the mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.
So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and you think it doesn’t concern you, remember when
one of us is threatened, we are all at risk. We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye
out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another, you may want to send this story to
everyone who has ever helped you out. .. and let them know how important they are.
Remember, each of us is a vital thread in another person’s tapestry. Our lives are woven together for a reason.
Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, and
Leave the rest to the Creator for we walk by faith and not by sight.
“ANYWAY”
People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Do good anyway
If you are successful; you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
Honesty and frankness may make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spent years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
43
People really need help but may attack you if you help them. Help anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you may get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway!
Sign on the wall of Shishu Bhavan –
Mother Teresa’s children’s home in Calcutta
COMMI S SIONER SHALL DEVELOP L E S S RESTRICTIVE ALTERNATIVE PROGRAMS
On December 2, 2 013 a federal court ordered the Sex Offender Civil Commitment Advisory Task Force to be
charged with examining certain specific aspects of Minnesota’s process for the civil commitment of sex
offenders. The Task Force was directed to provide recommended legislative proposals to the Commissioner of
Human Services on the following three topics:
A. The civil commitment and referral process for sex offenders;
B. Sex offender civil commitment options that are less restrictive than placement in a secure treatment facility;
and
C. The standards and processes for the reduction in custody for civilly committed sex offenders.
After twenty public meetings over a period of 14 months, the Task Force was unanimous in its conclusion that
the serious problems that exist in the current program can and should be addressed by legislative actions 1 that:
( 1) rationalize the process,
(2) make it more objective, and
(3) eliminate to the greatest extent possible the influence of politics on commitment, placement and release
decisions
With the ultimate goal being the rights of those persons subject to civil commitment proceedings and the
interests of the public be better protected.
Commitment decisions are too often all or nothing adjudications. Under current law, all offenders committed
to MSOP are presumptively placed in the highest level of security.
An independent judicial body, one that is not subject to local or other political pressures, should make
commitment, transfer, and release decisions.
Perhaps the most significant impediment to effective Less Restrictive Alternatives is the absence of facilities
and funding for programs to which offenders can be committed short of a secure facility, or outright release.
Existing law allows a court to commit an individual to a less-restrictive alternative if the individual
“establishes by clear and convincing evidence that a less restrictive treatment program is available that is
consistent with the patient’s treatment needs and the requirements of public safety.” Minn. Stat. § 253B. 185,
subd. l (d) (2012). However, the lack of programs and facilities makes this provision of limited value.
The Legislative Auditor’s March 2 011 report highlighted this issue in its findings and recommendations:
“Minnesota lacks reasonable alternatives to commitment at a high security facility.” (p. xi)
□ “One problem with Minnesota’s commitment process is that it results in an all-or-nothing outcome.
□ The decision that prosecutors and judges face is that either a sex offender is civilly committed in an
expensive, high security facility, or the offender is released to the community, sometimes with no supervision if
he has served his complete prison sentence. ” (p. 42)
□ “Minnesota may be committing some sex offenders who could be treated and supervised in other less costly
settings.” (p. 43)
The Legislature must provide adequate funding for less secure residential facilities, group homes, outpatient
44
facilities, and treatment programs. The Legislature must ensure that such facilities and programs are operational
within a reasonable period of time.
The Department of Corrections, the Department of Human Services, prosecutors, the courts, and persons
subject to the commitment process must have full ability to access these Less Restrictive Alternatives. To the
extent that any of the current statutory or regulatory laws are obstacles to Less Restrictive Alternatives,
appropriate legislative changes should be made.
Less Restrictive Alternatives must ensure public safety. The Legislature should provide for increased
resources for public education regarding the rehabilitative aspects of such programs and the provisions for
public safety.
The Legislature should provide for geographic distribution of Less Restrictive Alternative facilities and
programs to serve the entire state through regional, multi-provider and other collaborative programs. The
Legislature must consider how local government ordinances, resolutions, or similar laws which have the effect
of limiting, excluding, or impeding the siting of Less Restrictive Alternative facilities or programs for civilly
committed sex offenders should be dealt with when they conflict with the establishment of a statewide plan for
Less Restrictive Alternatives.
The Commissioner shall develop Less Restrictive Alternative programs and facilities throughout the state after
due consideration of the population of offenders to be served, the number of facilities and different programs
necessary to serve that population, the expressed desire of the Legislature that facilities not be unduly
concentrated, and the financial impact of programs and facilities providing overlapping services.
Certification and licensing of programs and facilities granted by either the Department of Human Services or
the Department of Corrections shall be honored by both departments.
The Commissioner shall enter into contracts with governmental and nongovernmental entities and
organizations agreeing to provide housing, supervision, and treatment of civilly committed sex offenders
outside of secure
treatment facilities.
The Commissioner may request proposals on an ongoing basis.
FOOTNOTES
1 https://edocs.dhs.state.mn.us/Ifserver/Public/DHS-6641-ENG.
SO WHAT ‘ S THE BIG DEAL ABOUT THE VARIANCES ? : A SUMMARY OF THE OCEAN
ARTICLE : CREA TING CIVIL COMMITMENT CHA OS.
Note: Some citations were omitted in this article because they are in the original document: Creating Civil
Commitment Chaos, by MSOP lawyers in collaboration with OCEAN
MSOP clients should not have to sift through legal jargon and political bureaucracy to understand the laws
that govern their treatment. However, we are compelled to try. In this article we are going to explain how
MSOP circumvents the law to keep people committed, even if the person does not have a mental illness.
However, in their attempt to sidestep the law to hold as many human beings, for as long as possible, MSOP has
turned a simple issue chaotic. Be patient with us while we explain the MSOP scheme, and attempt to shed light
on how complex MSOP has become.
The MSOP does not use the same Medical Model approach to treating their clients, as the courts did for their
decision to commit them. It’s like a court ordering someone to attend AA meetings. The person is brought to a
building that says “AA Meetings” on the side of the building. They go in, get a cup of coffee, sit down at the
meeting and start listening. After only a few minutes, someone starts talking about how Winston’s desire for
social justice compels him to seek a life of freedom, despite the Big Brother party agenda … That’s when the
person realizes there at a book club meeting-not AA. “Oh, no big deal” They think. “I’ll just leave and go to
the right place.” That’s when they realize that they are not allowed to leave and the worst part: no one will listen
45
to them screaming, “I’m in the wrong place!”
“Court in, court out” is the MSOP mantra. However, it should change to “Court in-20 year book club-Court
out.” what’s the book club have to do with it? Nothing. That’s the problem. When clients go back to court, they
find themselves talking a language the court cannot understand, because the client never received treatment for
their “illness.” But here is where it gets even crazier: they never had an illness.
Minnesota tax payers spent $118,000,000 million I in fiscal year 2019 on a treatment that MSOP is not licensed
to provide. MSOP is licensed to provide treatment, ” … subject to the standards of Chapter 245A and Minnesota
Rules, part 9515.3000 to 9515.311 O.” 2 Meaning these are the standards MSOP is required to follow when they
administer treatment to their clientele. However, there is a law in Minnesota that allows the DHS commissioner
to depart from the rules that govern MSOP. This departure is called a “variance.” A variance is like a waiver
that allows the license holder to so something other than what the license would normally permit. 3
In 2005 MSOP applied for a “permanent variance” to Minnesota Rule 9515.3030 subpart 2. The rule states,
“A psychiatrist must evaluate each person within three working days after the person is admitted and reevaluate
each person at least annually.” A permanent variance is restricted to protect detainees from being negatively
affected by these changes. For instance, a permanent variance, ” … cannot compromise the qualifications of staff
to provide services … ” However, with the variance that alters Minnesota rule 9515.3030 subpart 2, MSOP no
longer has to allow psychiatrists to evaluate detainees. Instead, MSOP can use either a “licensed mental health
professional” or a “licensed-eligible psychologist.” Although the variance is ” … compromising the qualifications
of staff. .. ” MSOP never gave a time limit for it and has renewed it repeatedly throughout the years. The
variance has remained in effect since 2005.
Not all MSOP detainees need treatment. Minnesota Rule 9515.3030 subpart 2 is governed by a particular
Minnesota law, and must reflect the intent of that law. The law that governs the rule states, in relevant part,
“The commissioner shall establish an evaluation process to measure outcomes and behavioral changes as a
result of treatment compared with incarceration without treatment, to determine the values, if any, of treatment
in protecting the public.” 4 This law tells us that it is not necessary to provide treatment to all detainees. Some
will need it. Some will not. In addition, the law that governs a detainee’s discharge from MSOP says if a
detainee ” .. .is no longer in need of treatment…” he must be released. 5 However, without each detainee getting
evaluated by a psychiatrist, there is no way to know who no longer needs treatment.
One particular variance allows a “licensed mental health professional” or a “licensed-eligible psychologist” to
do assessments. But neither is a psychiatrist who is able to identify mental illness.
The Minnesota Judiciary has consistently ruled that a person must have a “mental illness” to be committed to
MSOP. A “Person who is mentally ill” is defined by Minnesota law as ” … any person who has an organic
disorder of the brain or a substantial psychiatric disorder … ” which is often demonstrated by ” … a recent
attempt or threat to physically harm self of others … ” 6 In addition, the DSM-5-used by psychiatrists to
diagnose mental illness-requires that an individual display a “current presentation” of mental illness for the
detainee to get branded with a diagnosis. For sexual disorders, “current presentation” is within 6 months. In
other words, if the detainee has not shown any signs of mental illness, as described by the DSM-5, then he is in
remission, and must be released.
Mental illness is a medical issue in the same way the illness of cancer is a medical issue. Do you go to a
medical doctor to get chemotherapy for a cancer you used to have? No. You would only get chemo if you
currently have cancer. In this way, medical illness is no different than mental illness. For someone to get civilly
committed in Minnesota, a court has to find that the person is “mentally ill.” According to Minnesota law, these
individuals must go to a facility that, ” … is consistent with the persons treatment needs … ” 7
So what kind of treatment does the detainee need? Well, they clearly need a type of treatment that addresses
the clients current and recent behaviors. Therefore, an evaluation by a psychiatrist is in order. The reason is
simple: a psychologist looks at past behaviors to conclude whether or not commitment is necessary. But a
psychiatrist look at recent behaviors to determine whether the detainee must be released. Therefore, the kind of
treatment that would be ” … consistent with the persons treatment needs … ” would be a treatment provided by a
psychiatrist. A “licensed mental health professional” or a “licensed-eligible psychologist” cannot provide
adequate treatment to the MSOP client.
46
What was originally a straight forward rule is now two pages of confusion. The qualifications of staff were
compromised by the variance which substituted a psychiatrist for multiple clinical staff. Now, if the detainees
thought to have a mental illness, his case may be addressed by one of 11 different clinical staff, each with a
different set of credentials. None of these staff persons are psychiatrists. If a psychiatrist does ever get involved
with a detainees case, it could take up to 19 days after admission for the psychiatrist just to review the detainees
record, if they ever do at all. When MSOP replaced the psychiatrist, they settled for a “licensed mental health
professional” or a “licensed-eligible psychologist.” This change made it impossible for detainees to receive the
type of quality treatment they need. A psychologist is trained to look at past issues and behaviors-the same
issues and behaviors used to determine the detainees initial commitment-and use them to consider continued
commitment. The result: hundreds of Minnesotans remain unlawfully detained because it is impossible to treat
the unique clientele of MSOP with a treatment model that does not abide by the rules of the license.
Many of the laws used to govern MSOP are the same laws used to govern hospitals in Minnesota. However,
Clinical Director of MSOP, Jannine Herbert, gave testimony of March 5, 2015 before The Honorable Donovan
Frank, and explained that the MSOP has not been a hospital since at least 2008. In fact, according to Mrs.
Herbert, MSOP is a “treatment program” that deals with folks who are “not sick.” In addition, one of the
variances states, “The vast majority of patients committed to the Minnesota Sex Offender Program do not
experience symptoms of mental illness that requires psychiatric treatment. .. ” This is a problem because one
cannot receive medical care and attention at a facility that does not provide medical services. More importantly,
the law requires that in order to lock someone up in a mental institution, they need to have a mental illness.
On December 11, 2019 Ms. Johnston, Executive Director of MSOP, held a forum for detainees to ask her
questions. She told detainees at MSOP that she had requested funding from the Minnesota legislature to expand
the MSOP program. She was then asked by a detainee if she would be willing to get a psychiatrist to evaluate
the entire MSOP population, potentially finding hundreds of detainees ready for discharge. The client even
referred to the statement made by Eric Janus, Professor of Law at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law, ” … over
400 human beings are being held unconstitutionally … ” Ms. Johnston said that it is “too expensive” and “out of
[her] control” to authorize such evaluations. Another detainee then told her that if she were to ask the DHS
commissioner to expire the variance, she likely would. The law would then require Ms. Johnston to hire a
licensed psychiatrist to evaluate the MSOP detainees and the legislature would certainly fund the evaluations,
especially if doing so is in the interest of the law. However, Nancy Johnston said that she did not know anything
about the variances, even though she gave testimony on March 2, 2015, before The Honorable Donovan W.
Frank, about them, and she signed the paperwork.
OCEAN is about speaking the Truth, and not afraid of being blunt about it! I’ve [Russell] listened to guys
after the Dec. 11th R.R. show and I hear their desperation, their gullibility to want to believe Ms. Johnston and
Mr. Halverson really are doing what they’re doing to “help” men in here. All of it was a ploy to present more
lies to the governor and legislature. It was like they were giving their presentation to someone else. It’s probably
the same presentation they’ve been giving to communities all over Minnesota. A tactic of “let us convince you
of how “dangerous” these men are so you’re afraid of them moving into your community.
At the same time let’s try to convince you that MSOP needs legislature to fund 50 more beds for CPS so we
can continue to hold them for however long we want to while still committing men who we’re really not sure
need to be committed to a pseudo-treatment program at the misperception fo providing “medical treatment”.
[DW][RH]
“Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read.
You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid
anymore.
FOOTNOTES
1 DHS Website.
47
2 Minnesota Department of Health license.
3 Minn. Stat. § 245A.04 Sub. 9 Variances.
4Minn. Stat. § 246B.04 RULES; EVALUATION.
5Minn. Stat. § 253D.31 DISCHARGE.
6Minn. Stat. § 253B.02 Subd. 13 (a). Person who is mentally ill.
7Minn. Stat. § 253D.07 Subd. 3.
DEB WE-TRUTH. BY OCEAN EDITOR RUSSELL JOHN HATTON
Current MSOP Director Nancy Johnston and Reintegration Specialist Scott Halverson paid a first time visit,
[1st of its kind in 2 5 years] to its secure site in Moose Lake.
It took all I could to sit through that God awful “Reintegration Roadshow.”
I maintained an open mind and listened wholeheartedly to every word Nancy and Scott spoke. I could not help
but sense that their words were meant for a different population as they tried to convince their audience that
they are assuring the public that Minnesota’s “Worst of the Worst” are being suspiciously watched every
second [ while on provisional discharge].
To (indirectly) tell the population that it doesn’t matter how many months, years, or decades we have spent in
‘their treatment,’ once our Provisional Discharge is finally granted-don’t worry, you’ll have just as long, or
the rest of your life, to pretend that you can convince us you can be “trusted.”
I felt like standing and taking that microphone and turning to the crowd of men sitting behind me and saying:
I want to take the time to congratulate all of you who are working your ass off to get out of this
horrible place and back to your loved ones.
I am proud of each and every one of you guys and I believe in you.
I believe it is not going to take several more years of “treatment ” to get you to understand the harm
our choices have caused and to exhibit genuine empathy for everyone affected.
I wanted to stand and say that, but I am not trying to be a martyr. Besides, I have been told I already have a
target on my back for the advocacy that I do.
I guess, to be honest, I do have a fear-see I’ve been a political prisoner in M$OP going on 13 years. I’ve
witnessed quite a lot. Most of all, I’ve witnessed how gullible men can be when told pretty, colorful lies. I have
nothing but empathy for them.
Because of this gullibility, no collective non-violent resistance has ever been established, nor will it ever be,
no matter the violation of human liberty, rights and dignity.
These men are broken, Ms. Johnston. You’ve taken our hearts, and souls and control almost everyone as if we
are the walking dead.
Ms. Johnston, Mr. Halverson, every Minnesota Legislator, Governor Tim Walz, Minnesota Attorney General
Keith Ellison .. . None of you ever have to worry about ever losing your Gravy Train –
the MINNE$OT A $EX OFFENDER PROGRAM$.
Why?
Because almost every one of your political detainees really doesn’t want to leave M$OP.
Not really when you put such veiled threats of character defamation and societal-political vengeance upon us
through unconstitutional and inhumane registry tactics to almost certainly assure failure.
As I said, I’ve been here going on 13 years. I’ve never witnessed more broken souls in my life …
Sadly to say, the vast majority are perfectly complacent with the Minnesota tax payers shelling out millions of
dollars every year to pay for their stay.
The trauma is, those who are working to get out are victim to the majorities complacency-including myself.
Yeah, you’ll hear some saying they want to get out too, it’s a blatant lie because they just want to “fit in with
the group.”
Honestly their afraid because they may not have known anything else besides institutionalization.
48
So, no worry’s Ms. Johnston, save your breath Mr. Halverson. Don’t fret Mr. Ellison, this population is aging
and 9 released in 25 years, isn’t bad.
Not while your main focus is where you’re going to retire away to after you’ve profited off the alleged
“mentally ill.” [RJH]
“A man should be able to hear, and to bear, the worst that could be said of him” – Saul Bellow
Jan. 8 , 202 0 : Vol . 1 , Is sue VIII
1 . \t A CALL TO ARMS! \t : OCEAN PLEADS WITH OTHER CIVIL COMMITMENT DETAINEES
TO SPEAK UP.
2. DETAINEE INTERVIEWS
3. 6 MEN MAKE AN APPEAL TO THEIR CLINICIANS FOR A CHRIST CENTERED CURRICULUM
4. IS MSOP NEOF ASCIST?
5. IS MSOP A CONCENTRATION CAMP?
6. WHAT ARE THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE PRISONERS?
7. OCEAN THANKS ALL WHO ARE FIGHTING TO RESTORE OUR CONSTITUTION
\t A CALL TO ARMS! \t : OCEAN PLEADS WITH OTHER CIVIL COMMITMENT
DETAINEES TO SPEAK UP.
The following was adapted for civil commitment detainees. It was inspired by pages 81-83 of Viktor E.
Frankl’s, Man’s Search for Meaning. Frankl survived the infamous Nazi death camp, Auschwitz:
God knows, I am not in the mood to give psychological explanations or to preach any sermons-to offer my
comrades a kind of medical care of their souls. I am irritable and tired, frustrated and angry. But I have to make
the effort and use this opportunity. Encouragement is now more necessary than ever.
We are not in the worst situation imaginable. What irreplaceable losses have you suffered? Whoever is still
alive has reason for hope. Health, family, happiness, professional abilities, fortune, position in society-all
these are things that can be achieved again or restored. Most of us still have our bones intact. Whatever we have
gone through can still be an asset to us in the future. ” Was mich nicht umbringt, mac ht mich starker. ” (That
which does not kill me, makes me stronger.) What about the future? It seems hopeless. How small is your
chance of survival? For me, 9 out of 731-give or take. I have no intention of giving up. No man knows what
the future will bring, much less the next hour. Even if we cannot expect any sensational political events in the
next few days, who knows better than we do, with our experiences, how great chances sometimes open up, quite
suddenly, at least for the individual.
Imagine the past and all its joys and how its light shown even in the darkness. ” Was Du erebst, kann keine
macht der welt dir rauben. ” (What you have experienced, no power on earth can take from you.) Not only our
experiences, but all we have done, whatever great thoughts we may have had, and all we have suffered, all this
is not lost, though it is past; we have brought it into being. Having been is also a kind of being, and perhaps the
surest kind.
Give life meaning. Human life, under any circumstances, never ceases to have a meaning, and that this infinite
meaning of life includes suffering and dying, privation, and death. I ask this community to face the seriousness
of our situation. You cannot lose hope. You should keep your courage in the certainty that the hopelessness of
our struggle does not detract from its dignity and its meaning. Someone looks down on each of us in difficult
hours-a friend, a wife, somebody alive or dead, or a God-and He does not expect us to disappoint Him. He
would hope to find us suffering proudly-not miserably-knowing how to die.
Sacrifice has meaning in every case. The nature of this particular sacrifice seems pointless in the normal
49
world, the world of material success. In reality, though, our sacrifice has meaning. Anyone with any sense of
religious conviction can see that. We do not die for nothing.
I hope my comrades find meaning in their lives-no matter where you are. [OW)
“What you have experienced, no power on earth can take from you.” -Viktor E. Frankl
DETAINEE INTERVIEWS :
If the authorities are going to keep us locked up forever, they are at least going to know how we ‘ re getting
along.
ATTENTION : Normally, we try to interview an MSOP detainee and include his story here. For this issue, we
are going to do this a bit differently. One of our peers had mentioned that MSOP actually fits the definition of a
“concentration camp” according to some sources we will cover in this issue . He encouraged us to do more
research on this and expose the findings to the public. Therefore, although this is not a detainee interview, it was
inspired by one. The remainder of this issue – with the exception of the last page – will focus on this topic.
OCEAN believes that every Minnesotan would despise MSOP, if they only knew what it really was. MSOP
has hidden in the dark for 25 years, for fear that its exposure would end it. Many still think it is a “treatment
center. ” Don’t be fooled. People do not die at treatment centers – they get treatment and those that get
treatment, go home. However, MSOP is not a treatment center.
MSOP is often compared to a “concentration camp” by the detainees that live here. When I first heard this, it
irritated me [DW] because we have not been locked up for our race, but because we have a “mental disorder.”
I didn’t understand my peers who said that this is a “concentration camp,” until I did some research.
Before we delve into comparing MSOP to concentration camps, lets address the heart of MSOP power:
Psychiatry and Psychology. It is important for the reader to understand MSOP’ s abuse of these fields of study,
because it is within these ideologies, the average citizen is potentially affected.
The abuse of psychology and psychiatry is a weapon that was not fully refined by the Nazi party, but MSOP
has more or less nailed it. Melissa Hamilton from Pace University School of Law warns that the current
application of psychology and psychiatry could one day effect more than j ust sex offenders :
. . . law-psychiatry interface can . . . be exploited to apply to virtually any type of deviance, simply by
linking it to Mental disease . . . when psychiatry turned away from the term ‘ mental illness’ to the
expansive ‘mental disorder, ‘ it opened a Pandora’ s Box whereby almost any behavior can be deemed
an affliction of the mind and used by law to meet its own political ends. If law is a vehicle in which
political ideas are executed . . . psychiatry has unwittingly given law the means to achieve politically
efficient ends for dealing with many socially and politically difficult problems. The AP A has, since the
adoption of the broader genus offered by the “mental disorder” terminology, continued to expand its
coverage. The DSM originally listed 1 06 mental disorders in its first edition in 1 95 2 . The most current
edition, the DSM-IV-TR, lists over 250 disorders. Conceivably, the APA can attempt to encompass
virtually any mental phenomenon within the DSM ‘ s taxonomy. With its creation and maintenance of
the DSM, the AP A now wields enormous power over any person or institution, including the law,
willing to be governed by its epistemology and its nosology. The APA has asserted its dominion in the
criminal justice arena, more specifically, in adjudicating deviance as a mental health issue. In
propagating and monopolizing its classification system for psychiatry, the APA discovered that “any
behavior that produced discomfort or socially undesirable behavior could be asserted as representing a
disordered psyche irrespective of biological evidence . . . Fear of sexual predators has led society to
adopt a law-psychiatry interface in which sexual offending is merged into disease-based philosophy to
justify various forms of punishment and preventative control . Sex crimes have become conflated with
psychiatric disease. The multiple concerns expressed herein strongly suggest that the use of the
psychiatric paraphilia’ s in legal proceedings tends to undermine the independence and integrity of the
5 0
legal and psychiatric professions … The collaboration [ of law and psychiatry] threatens not only the
liberty and privacy interests of those who commit sex-based offenses. The potential exists for a
contagion effect whereby interest groups might be encouraged to qualify all manner of criminal
behaviors as distinct mental disorders . … if the interaction between law and psychiatry continues in
this manner, all criminals may be deemed to have mental disorders. This outcome makes no logical
sense, undermines the core tents of law, infringes upon fundamental rights, and methodically destroys
trust in the science of psychiatry. 1
FOOTNOTES
1 Melissa Hamilton. “Adjudicating Sex Crimes as Mental Disease,” 33 Pace L. Rev. 536, Spring Is. 2013, ©
2013 Pace University School of Law
6 MEN MAKE AN APPEAL TO THEIR CLINICIANS FOR A CHRIST CENTERED
CURRICULUM
On December 22, 2019 OCEAN called a meeting of 6 men at MSOP to talk about addressing our want and
need for Christian Counseling.
This meeting is long overdue as MSOP’s ideology has failed too many of its detainees seeking real relief from
their personal struggles.
The 6 of us have decided to make a last ditch effort to get our clinicians to acknowledge our beliefs, and
implement them into our treatment plan for the first quarter of 2020. We are not trying to “Christianize” MSOP.
However, we are presenting an ultimatum: they either implement our beliefs into our individual treatment
curriculums, or we file a suit.
For those who don’t agree with this, especially fellow Christians, let us make our argument.
Jesus challenged the authorities constantly-especially the Pharisees, who taught the Jews. His efforts were
not for His personal gain, but for theirs and those who followed Him. Also, Paul was a huge advocate for God
in the court room (Acts). We have been called to follow this pattern.
Psychology is an ideology. It is a structured form of analyzing human behaviors and developing solutions to
human problems. MSOP demands that we submit to their ideology or we will never go home. What MSOP does
is not only ineffective, it is immoral and un-American. They are holding our freedom hostage until we
participate with their disgusting ideals. Some of their demands include, having sexual fantasies about people we
are not married to, and watching child pornography [via. PPG].
This effort will also benefit other faiths as well. Although this particular group of 6 men are Christian and
want our treatment goals to reflect what we believe, if we accomplish our goal, it will open the door for other
faiths to have the same freedom. For those Christians who don’t like the idea of other faiths benefiting in this
way, lets us say this: As Christians, sure we would like everyone to accept Christ. However, we know that God
does not want robots. Everyone should have the right to choose their path.
Some argue, “what difference does it make, they won’t let you out either way.” This might be true, but it
doesn’t matter. Of those that have been released from MSOP (9 out of 731 in 25 years), a couple of them were
participating in the MSOP treatment. Therefore, we support EFFECTIVE treatment and effective treatment.
This means a treatment tailored to the individual, including his religious beliefs.
The remainder of this issue shows the parallels between Nazi Germany and MSOP in an attempt to gain
supporters for our efforts to reform MSOP.
We understand the potential for offending people by doing this. However, we believe there are similarities that
are red flags to what could be the ear marks of a neofascist agenda. Please keep an open mind.
“we support EFFECTIVE treatment and effective treatment means a treatment that is tailored to the
individual, including his religious beliefs.”
5 1
IS MSOP NEOFASCIST?
All of the information on “fascism” within this section, unless otherwise noted, comes from: Encyclopedia
Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, 2013.
The Nazi party was driven by an ideology called “Fascism.” There are a few elements that make an ideology
fascist, including an extreme military presence, contempt for electoral democracy, a “survival of the fittest”
mentality and the absolute rule of authority. All of these exist at MSOP. The “survival of the fittest” mentality
exists at MSOP quite explicitly. I have heard more than once that the reason men die here without completing
the program is because they “did not apply themselves to the treatment process” even if they spent 20 years in
the program and died of old age at 90 years old. However, it is clear to most that it is the “favorites” that
“excel” in the program. It is those that can smile and fake their way through. However, these guys sell their soul
for nothing because they are not getting out of here, they are only gaining a few cheap privileges.
MSOP clinical shame detainees with titles called “thinking distortions” for anyone that goes against
authorities for any reason. These labels keep detainees here until they die.
Challenging authorities is called, “system stancing.” This term is conveniently reserved to shame clients into
submission. According to MSOP, filing a lawsuit or grievance is a symptom of a mental illness, not an
American right. Similarly, Fascist educators in Nazi Germany discouraged critical and independent thinking
that challenged fascist ideology.
The Nazi’s pushed for Volksgemeinschafi, which is German for “People’s Community.” At MSOP, we have
“community meetings” where, like in Nazi Germany, individual interests are subordinated to the “good of the
community.” Fascist’s maintain that the nation is like a family: It is strong only when the people obey their
leaders in the same way children obey their parents. This mentality is grooming for a subordinate community.
For MSOP, not necessarily to prepare us for war, but to control us as a unit and not as individuals. In addition,
MSOP benefits as long as the physically fit are subordinate, and the unsubordinated are unfit so that those who
can fight, won’t and those who would fight, can’t.
Those who wish to implement Fascist movements often hide their totalitarian intentions before they gain
power, then they employ their ideals. Lawmakers did this in 1994 when they were creating the laws that lead
detainees to MSOP. It was only revealed later when the recordings of the Legislative Sessions were dubbed, and
MSOP detainees could listen to them.
Although MSOP allows for “elections” for “Unit Representatives” this is not democracy. Unit Reps have no
power and can be terminated, or replaced at the free will of MSOP staff. Likewise, before they came to power,
Hitler and Mussolini, despite their dislike of democracy, were willing to engage in electoral politics and give
the appearance of submitting to democratic procedures.
Fascist authorities will often try to control media, especially freedom of press. If there is one area MSOP
reflects the efforts of a fascist ideology, it is in their attempt to control our forms of expression. In the past,
oppressive fascist movements would explicitly halt all press or “cleanse” it by not allowing anything what
might threaten the powers that be. However, MSOP uses psychology as their weapon, using shame and “mental
illness” to convince the detainee that they are somehow wrong for challenging authorities. OCEAN has
experienced this first hand. This tactic is actually very effective-obviously, OCEAN is the exception. MSOP
detainees are expected to submit to their clinicians like soldiers obey their officers.
MSOP controls the financial lives of its detainees also. To get more work hours, one must submit to the
treatment ideals. The irony is that if every detainee employed in the kitchen and industry were to quit working
for even a month, it would significantly injure MSOP’s power. However, too many buy the idea that they may
be, “one of the firsts” to get out. In a similar way, fascist corporatism was used to destroy labor movements and
suppress political dissent. In 1936, for example, the economic program of the French Social Party included
shorter working hours and vacation’s with pay for “loyal” workers but not for “disloyal” ones.
Like many clinicians who claim to be “Christian” yet support homosexuality and pedophilia, the vast majority
of Nazis considered themselves to be religious, and most German anti-Semites supported Christianity purged of
its “Jewish” elements.
52
In 1 93 1 , Pope Pius XI denounced fascism’s “pagan worship of the State” and its “revolution which snatches
the young from the Church and from Jesus Christ, and which inculcates in its own young people hatred,
violence and irreverence.” We argue that MSOP does the same, and the “State Religion” is psychology and
Psychiatry, in the many forms they employ it.
Fascist ideals prospered politically only when perceived economic threats increased their appeal to members
of certain social groups. Similarly, it is rumored that MSOP was created as a “Jobs Program” for the Moose
Lake area.
OCEAN maintains that there is no such thing as “volitional impairment.” We were not “out of control” in the
literal sense and we were not “impulsive” as every action has a thought behind it. Instead, we made bad choices.
However, the position of the psychiatric community is that we have a mental illness/disorder and that there is
something organically wrong with our brains. If this is true (which it is not) then our problem of sexual
immorality would be a genetic one-like being a Jew is genetic. The term genocide was coined by the Polish
American legal scholar Raphael Lemkin. The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948, defined genocide as killing or
inflicting serious physical or mental injury on members of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group with the
intention of bringing about the group’s destruction, in whole or in part. The convention made genocide an
international crime that could be prosecuted in the court of any country.
Does the Psychiatric community hold the position that we are genetically different than the rest of the
population and that we are not fit to live among them?
The acceptance of democratic norms by western Europeans reduced the appeal of authoritarian ideologies.
This required that neofascist parties make an effort to portray themselves as democratic and “mainstream.”
Most neofascists abandoned the outward trappings of earlier fascist parties, such as paramilitary uniforms and
Roman salutes, and many explicitly denounce fascist policies. Noting this transformation, in 1996 Roger Wolin
cautioned :
“Beware of men-and women-wearing smart Italian suits: the color is now gray, the material is cut
to fit the times, but the aim is still power . . . Fascism is on the move once more, even if its most
sophisticated forms have learned to dress to suit the times.”
IS MSOP A CONCENTRATION CAMP?
All of the information on “concentration camps” within this section, unless otherwise noted, comes from:
Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 013.
The Encyclopedia Britannica says that concentration camps are “to be distinguished from prisons interning
persons lawfully convicted of civil crimes . .. ” Meaning that if the location is meant to hold people who have
been convicted of a crime, it is a prison, not a concentration camp. Although most MSOP detainees have been
convicted of crimes in the past, this has nothing to do with their incarceration at MSOP. Those that have done
prison time-in a real Department of Correction facility- should not have to do more time for past crimes. That
would be Double Jeopardy. However, MSOP not only those who have done their rime in prison, but also those
who have NEVER committed a crime. MSOP has approximately 90 detainees who have either no criminal
record or an “unknown” criminal record. This is because MSOP is not a prison for crimes that have been
committed, but for crimes that are expected to be committed. In other words, we are here for what we “might
do.”
concentration camps are defined as an: “Interment center for political prisoners .. . confined for reasons of state
security, exploitation, or punishment, usually by executive decree … ” In 2 013, Minnesota Governor Mark
Dayton wrote a letter to then DHS Commissioner, top authority of MSOP, telling her not to release anyone from
MSOP. Supposedly, MSOP detainees are locked up due to a mental disorder and yet Governor Dayton, who is
clearly not a doctor, decided to use his powers to force the commissioner to hold MSOP detainees.
For politicians who want to be tough on “sex offenders,” MSOP has been used as a tool when politicians need
5 3
a little boost to gain supporters.
The American Heritage Student Dictionary, says that a concentration camp is, “An area or group of buildings
where civilians, political prisoners . . . are confined . . .” Doctors across Minnesota, like Dr. Dean Cauley,
understand MSOP detainees are not locked up for mental illness: “The state itself acknowledges that
provisional discharge or full discharges are hindered by political forces . ..” 1 as opposed to a presence of mental
illness.
The World Book Encyclopedia Volume 4, said that a concentration camp is, ” … a place where political
enemies, real or assumed, are imprisoned, usually without trial.. .” or ” . . . without benefit either of indictment or
fair trial . .. “Although Minnesota law requires what is called a “trial,” it is not a jury trial. It is only a judge, paid
for by the state, who determines whether or not a person will get a life sentence based on what he “might do.”
The Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary says that a concentration camp is: “A guarded compound
”
We are housed in buildings with two man prison cells, enclosed by two layers of razor wire fencing and more
guards than detainees (because MSOP is providing jobs for the small town area).
We are told we are the “worst of the worst.” However, detainees who suffer from Stockholm Syndrome play
cards with young, attractive guards, in some cases, even while they are pregnant. Yet the likelihood of a staff
person being sexually assaulted is virtually ZERO.
The only physical assaults on staff are not sexual, and have been a direct result of an attempt to be freed from
this unconstitutional detention.
MSOP has found a ridiculous connection between rule breaking behavior and sexual offending. This way,
they simply make rules that are nearly impossible to follow and expect detainees to break them. Then they can
use the most petty daily activities “rule violations,” including sharing food, offering gifts, walking on the grass,
walking on the dirt, etc.
Although there are some detainees who have managed to not get a “write up” for breaking a rule, the state still
finds other reasons to justify holding them. However, for most, it is the rule breaking excuse that keeps
detainees here.
Nazi Death Camps out right killed their prisoners by gassing them with Zyklon-B. MSOP’s equivalent? Good
ol’ time. They just hold detainees until they die. The reason for this is clear: it draws less attention and they can
blame the client for “not applying themselves to the treatment process.” It’s a perfect scheme.
FOOTNOTES
1 Expert Report of Dean R. Cauley, Ph.D., MBA citing 2 013, Ltr. from Gov. Dayton to, Comm’r Jesson, Nov.
13, 2 013
WHAT ARE THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE PRISONERS?
All of the information within this section, unless otherwise noted, comes from: Man’s Search for Meaning, by
Viktor Frankl
Born in Vienna in 1905, Psychiatrist Viktor E. Frankl survived to tell of the horrors of his experience in Nazi
death camps. In Dr. Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, he describes the mental and emotional reactions from
the prisoners in Auschwitz.
Keep in mind that Hitler locked up and eventually killed Gypsies, Slavs, homosexuals, alleged mental
defectives, and others, but his main focus was the Jews. These were normal everyday people. We point this out
to emphasize that the similarities between the way Hitler’s detainees and MSOP’s detainees react to their
confinement is not a matter of mental illness, but of human nature. Please keep this in mind as we compare the
two classes of detainees.
Frankl points out his personal reflections that would be considered morbid or “unhealthy” if an MSOP
detainee expressed them. Therefore, throughout this essay, we will repeatedly remind the reader that these are
54
Frankl’ s thoughts.
The book congregates around a central theme: “He who has a Why to live for can bear almost any how.”
These words from Nietzsche encompasses my [DW] whole life purpose now that I’m in MSOP. For me, my
daughter and my God, are my “Why.” Frankl talks about each individuals response to suffering. OCEAN’s
response is to fight.
Before an MSOP detainee gets officially committed, many of them are placed on a “hold,” awaiting the
court’s decision. During this time, and even after they are committed, many experience what Frankl calls
“delusion of reprieve.” For instance, I thought that someone would save me right before the gavel came down.
Even after the initial commitment, it took a while to “accept” that I had actually been civilly committed and that
I will likely die here. I suppose it still has not fully set in.
“An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior.” (p. 20) Most MSOP detainees have
collapsed into “primitive cognition.” Comfort in food, prescription drugs, alcohol, X-Box, Dungeons and
Dragons etc. This phenomena is common among prisoners, but especially those who believe they will die in
their facility. In a frantic attempt to escape the reality of his situation, the prisoner finds any way possible to
drown out the world with physical pleasure. The result: obesity, diabetes, negative neuroplasticity, (the prisoner
gets dumber) debt, addiction … the list goes on. When freedom is taken, a type of survival mode is triggered and
the prisoner tends to focus on whatever feels good in the moment. This kind of regression will be catastrophic if
the prisoner actually does get out.
Like Frankl predicted, many of us have become obsessed with religion and politics. In fact, this may be what
birthed OCEAN. Although this pattern is common among prisoners, it is not negative. Politics and religion
attract the prisoner who has hope; politics being our instrument to access man’s power, and religion being our
instrument to access God’s. Frankl defends the religious prisoner by stating, “The religious interests of the
prisoners, as far and as soon as it developed, was the most sincere imaginable.” (p. 34)
Becoming absorbed with religion and politics can naturally leads to an interest with law. This is where the
Nazi prisoners and MSOP prisoners differ. Nazi prisoners had no rights to use the legal process to defend
themselves against tyranny. But OCEAN does.
To lesson its effect, and defend herself, M$OP has made it a “thinking distortion” to utilize the legal system or
to rely on God. We already mentioned that doing anything to challenge the MSOP system is “system stancing.”
But even more egregious is the thinking distortion of “religiosity.” “If there is meaning in life at all, then there
must be a meaning in suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without
suffering and death human life cannot be complete.” (p. 67) “Affectus, qui passio est, desinit esse passio,
simulatque eius claram et distinctam formamus ideam. ” Meaning: emotion, which is suffering, ceases to be
suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise picture of it. (p. 74) This reminds me of the mantra, “it is the
unknown we fear most.” Perhaps understanding death helps alleviate the fear of it. Hence another reason for the
prisoner to become religious.
OCEAN members are probably in the category of the “incorruptible optimist” that Frankl mentions. However,
not the irrational type. In fact, OCEAN members are hopeful of our situation because MSOP is so corrupt. We
hope that the worse MSOP gets, the more realistic it is that we could actually go home one day. MSOP will
destroy itself. Nothing wicked lasts forever.
Frankl talks about all of the horrors of the concentration camp-but the worst horror is apathy. The
conditioning caused by repeated exposure to trauma resulting in an indifference to human suffering and death.
He described it also as “emotional death.” OCEAN knows all too much about this as our peers are riddled with
apathy. In the last year alone, 13 of our peers have died. In case you missed it, that’s more than 1 a month. We
realize that this is not AS MANY as Auschwitz, however trauma cannot be measured by counting deaths. It is
traumatic because so many come here to enthusiastically get the help they think they need. Then they wake up
one day, and 20 years have gone by and all their group members are dead and they know their turn is next. To
make it worse, MSOP knows they can blame the detainee and everyone will buy it because of the stigma. It is
an impossible trap.
OCEAN believes that God has provided a way for the brain to change. In fact, this is the basis of God’s plan.
Apathy happens when the prisoner does nothing to challenge it. However, through empathy meditation, the
55
prisoner can develop empathy. Frankl understands this, “The experiences of camp life show that man does have
a choice of action. There were enough examples, often of a heroic nature, which proved that apathy could be
overcome, irritability suppressed. Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind,
even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress.” (p. 65)
Frankl spoke of prisoners, who although were not physically sick, would just give up in the most absolute
way. Some prisoners would literally fail to get out of their cots and instead just lay there. Eventually they would
be forced into the gas chambers. At least 70 percent of MSOP has given up and are either building a coffin
around themselves by eating their way to freedom, or just using minimal effort to do anything at all. So many
are simply waiting to die.
Frankl touches on a topic that manifests itself a bit differently here. In Auschwitz, prisoners were herded from
place to place like cattle. Some SS officers were more cruel than others. When prisoners moved in groups, as
they passed these particular officers, those on the edges of the group would try to get into the middle of the
crowd to protect themselves from random beatings. Similarly, MSOP detainees learn to avoid certain clinicians
who are ready to find non-existent “thinking distortions” or find a reason to write false statements in the
detainees records if she feels snubbed.
We understand how petty this sounds, but the reader must understand something: These clinicians are what
stand in our way of freedom. The only hope, besides the legal system, or a miracle from God, is to pacify the
right people. MSOP detainees are constantly working to gain the adoration of staff in hopes that it will lessen
the chances of dying here. OCEAN members have decided to be the exception and are making a sacrifice by
speaking out. We believe that pacifying a clinician is a waste of time and that telling them the truth is the best
chance we have.
Like those in Auschwitz, MSOP detainees are at times desperate to get alone with their thoughts. We are
constantly surrounded by people. Again, MSOP has their way of shaming the detainee. A detainee who sticks to
himself is “isolating” or “avoiding.”
Frankl talks about how the phenomena of time effects the captor. Frankl makes a distinction between the
prisoner who knows his outdate, and one that does not. I notice that time seems to fly in here. Frankl mentions
that a week seemed to pass quickly, but a day lasted longer than a week. MSOP detainees relate. Also, Frankl
says a prisoner once told him that his life seemed to him absolutely without future. He regarded his life as
already over. Detainees say this often at MSOP. I also once heard a man at MSOP say that his family member
on the phone said that, from the perspective of the family, it is as if the detainee had died.
Frankl talks about the process of “depersonalization” and that all of this seems unreal at times. MSOP
detainees can relate, especially when we reach time markers like “New Years” or the next presidential election.
We don’t realize how the days meld together until these events that reminds us that time is still moving eithout
us. Nothing paused when we got locked up, although it sure feels like it has at times.
Frankl describes a day in the camp when it was announced that certain actions would from then on be
punishable by death. This included cutting small strips from old blankets (in order to improvise ankle supports)
and other petty crimes, like minor theft. The announcement was influenced by an event days prior when a
starved prisoner had taken potatoes. The authorities did not know who did it and threatened to not feed the
prisoners if they did not give the man up. In response, 2 ,500 men decided to fast . . . . Was this response “criminal
thinking?” or “system stancing” as MSOP would claim? Sure it is . . . However, it’ s not wrong. The prisoners in
Auschwitz did the right thing to not give up their peer because they knew he would be killed. Likewise, to “hold
your peer accountable” as they call it at MSOP, by telling on him for anything, only assists in sealing his fate to
die here from old age.
Frankl also talks about his techniques for talking his peers out of committing suicide. Sadly, my reaction was
instantly, “Oh, I need to know this.” (Think about this. An MSOP “client” is seeking advice from an Auschwitz
prisoner on how to keep his peers from killing themselves.) “When a man finds that it is his destiny to suffer, he
will have to accept his suffering as his task; his single and unique task.” (p. 77, 78) and “You may have nothing
to expect from life, life has something to expect from them.” (p. 79) Frankl also says, “a man who becomes
conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an
unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life.” (p. 8 0) and “What man needs is not a tensionless
56
state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task.” (p. 105) and
“Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather he must recognize it is he who is
asked. In a word, each man is questions by life; to life he can only respond by being responsible … Live as if
you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to
act now” (p. 109). These are the lines OCEAN must remember so that we can save our peers.
Frankl explains how he would continually daydream about his wife and outside life. Perhaps this was his
secret to getting released. Was it his ability to conjure up freedom in his mind? If there is any truth to the
concept of believing things into existence, this may be evidence. In a more practical sense, Frankl’s habit of
daydreaming about freedom, as opposed to blocking it out, motivated him to look as healthy as he could, for as
long as he could, to avoid being “gassed.” Perhaps MSOP detainees could learn something from this. It may be
difficult to think about freedom, but it may motivate the subconscious mind of the detainee to find new creative
ways of getting home.
“Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you
are about to act now”
-V iktor Frankl
OCEAN THANKS ALL WHO ARE FIGHTING TO RESTORE OUR CONSTITUTION
OCEAN wants to thank all of you who are fighting for rational sex offence laws.
For the constitutional rights and liberties of all those effected by indefinite civil commitment and for
abolishment of sexual offence registries.
OCEAN wants to specifically thank Eldon Dillingham for his unwavering support and perseverance.
For Pauline and Charlie Sullivan for their many years of dedication to rational justice reform.
For Wayne Bowers dedicated service and essential encouragement and work for CURE-SORT.
Sandy Rozek, for her magnificent courage and work with National Association for Rational Sexual Offense
Laws (NARSOL).
For Emily Horowitz, professor of sociology at St. Francis College who is an expert on sex offender registries.
Vicki Henry, president of Women Against Registry (WAR), Daily Strength & Families of Registrants.
Janice Bellucci, founder of the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offender Laws (ACSOL).
Mrs. Rita who founded Caution Click. And Southwestern University Law Professor Catherine Carpenter.
Barbara Koeppel, for her investigative journalism article: “Special Report: Modern-Day Gulags in the Golden
State,” 45( 6) The Washington Spectator, 1-8 (2019)
Chris Serres, editor for Minneapolis Star Tribune, and his countless articles addressing the ongoing
constitutional rights violations occurring in MSOP.
Thank you to Hallie Lieberman for her outstanding journalism in the REASON magazine; “Sex Offender
Laws Are Broken. These Women Are Working To fix Them. Standing Up For The Rights Of A Widely
Reviled Group Isn’t For The Faint Of Heart. REASON magazine, February 2020 pg. 42 .
To MSOP clients who work as “MSOP Madhouse Lawyers,” specifically, Pete, Mike, Ray, Cyrus, Brad, Joe,
Terry, Dan, and many more.
We also want to thank our families and friends who support our cause. Daniel’s mom, who tells him, “if
anyone can make a difference, its you sonny boy” is always doing research and sending vital material. Ben,
Daniel’s cousin, tirelessly works to educate the public along with “Mac” who is dedicated to MSOP Reform.
For Gustafson & Gluek Donovan Frank, Law Professors, Attorneys, Judges, and Mental Health Experts who
are speaking out about the abuse of civil commitment and psychiatry.
OCEAN strongly encourages everyone to step up and take action to bring an end to irrational registry law’s
and indefinite civil commitment.
Thank you to anyone we forgot to mention for Overcoming Corruption Encouraging All Nations!
If you believe legislators are abusing their authority and want to end irrational registry law’s and civil
commitment, please go to Change.org and sign the petition to expire the MSOP variances. To learn more about
5 7
the variances, find our Facebook page at “MSOP Reform” and read our article “Creating Civil Commitment
Chaos: How the MSOP is Taking Millions from the Taxpayers to Lock up People they Know are not Mentally
Ill.” Then call the DHS Commissioner Jodi Harpstead to tell her to “expire the MSOP variances.” [RJH/DA W]
Jan. 15, 2020: Vol. 1 Issue IX
1. \t A CALL TO ARMS! \t
2. OCEAN NEEDS TO COLLABORATE WITH OTHER ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS
3. ANYONE COULD GET COMMITTED TO MSOP
4. HOW MSOP KEEPS THE MURDER MACHINE RUNNING: BIG MONEY & A LITTLE NEPOTISM
GOES A LONG WAY
5. DROP INTERVIEWS
6. THANK YOU FROM OCEAN
\t A CALL TO ARMS! \t
January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.
We know that January is almost over. However, the issue of slavery and human trafficking is not.
If you suspect human trafficking call 1-866-347-2423.
If you need help, call l -888-373-7888.
Learn how you can help to end trafficking at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/otip/about/ways-endtrafficking.
Use #SlaveryHumanTraffickingPreventionMonth to share on social media.
Learn how human trafficking is happening at www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign.
OCEAN is not associated with the above cited organizations.
According to the International Labor Organization, there are approximately 40 million human trafficking
victims worldwide. Through a variety of tactics including violence and threats, traffickers force their victims
into forced labor or commercial sex against their wishes. 1
January 2020 marks the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000
(TVPA).
The TVP A established a comprehensive framework for combating human trafficking by establishing
prevention programs, creating victim protections, and advancing prosecutions under expanded criminal statutes
to usher in the modern anti-trafficking movement domestically and globally.
In October 2019, the Department of Homeland Security initiated more than 800 investigations related to
human trafficking and the Department of State launched its Human Trafficking Expert Consultant Network,
comprised of survivors and other experts, to inform its anti-trafficking policies and programs. The department
of Health and Human Services continues to provide funding for the National Human Trafficking Hotline, and in
Fiscal Year 2018 it funded victim assistance programs that provided benefits and services to more than 2,400
victims.
The Department of Transportation committed $5.4 million in grants to the prevention of human trafficking and
similar crimes.2
In honor of National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, OCEAN would like to take time to
discuss a concern that has recently come to our attention.
OCEAN does NOT condone any form of sexual abuse, molestation, rape, incest, mutilation, or harassment in
any culture, location, or situation. OCEAN does not support lowering the age of consent, nor condones sexual
activity between children and adults, or heinous sexual activities that violate state laws. We are not in alliance
with these ideals at all. We are confined in an institution and have little access to information about
organizations. Please let us know if you think we are unknowingly associated with organizations that support
5 8
the beliefs we stated above.
As former offenders, we wish to bring a level of closure to those who have endured sexual violence. We feel
real sorrow for our bad choices.
OCEAN is an acronym for “Overcoming Corruption Encouraging All Nations.” This is the concept that drives
us. We believe that we can overcome our impurities and in turn, others who also have struggled with, or may
still struggle with uncomfortable sexual thoughts and habits, can overcome them too. In fact, the very low level
of sex offense recidivism shows this to be true.
At a point in our lives, we made bad choices and we hurt innocent people. Now we regret and repent and seek
to overcome our own internal corruption. As part of that process, we have found purpose in addressing external
injustices as well.
We understand that we are defined by what we do as a result of what we believe. Therefore, as long as we
defend our offensive past, we can j ustifiably be called “offenders.” However, when we began to contemplate
the experience of victims, we also began to fight against behaviors that caused their trauma. Thus, we have
become Defenders, rather than offenders.
When an offender labels a victim as a “survivor” he is potentially minimizing his misconduct. In our efforts to
eradicate sex offender recidivism, we celebrate moments when victims identify themselves as survivors.
However, as Defenders, we cannot apply the term “survivor” liberally. We will not refer to victims as survivors
UNTIL WE ARE TOLD by an individual who wishes to be identified this way. To do otherwise would presume
that those we have harmed have healed, when perhaps they haven’t.
Do victims of sexual violence know of the punitive and draconian effects of MSOP? Are victims of sexual
assault satisfied with the current “solutions” being used to address sexual violence?
Court of Appeals Judge Edward Randall dissenting in Eric Eischens case in June 2014, who said that MSOP
is, “cruel and inhuman,” also said:
Our resources, the taxpayers’ money, would be better spent on real programming in prison and
programming in the community . . . Where would all the money come from to ramp up what present
programs there are in prison for sex offenders? Those funds dollars would come from the budget for
MSOP … (comparing the expenditures for sexual violence treatment and prevention in the community
with expenditures for MSOP commitments and concluding that three offenders could be treated in the
community for the cost of one offender civilly committed.). Do the math: 698 at $120,000 a year
equals $83,760,000; 698 at $140,000 a year equals $97,720,000. That is the present budget to
warehouse people at MSOP. The number of “clients” is projected to increase to 1109 by 2020.
(internal citations omitted) 3
Do the victims of sexual assault in Minnesota know that several hundred sex offenders are locked up for life,
without receiving treatment? Even Judge Randall uses quotation marks when he calls us “clients.” Perhaps
many victims could care less-and they would be j ustified. However, is it just to lock up hundreds, under the
cloak of treatment, at the expense of a couple thousand, being refused treatment?
One positive thing Judge Randall’s comments reveal is that we are not at the projected 1109 “clients” that
was predicted by the OLA. We are closer to 740. This is good. Not because sex offenders should not be held
accountable, but because they should be. We know that wherever those offenders are, they are more likely to
receive the services they need, the further away from MSOP they are.
MSOP disgraces the profession of psychology by refusing treatment to the mentally ill. Instead of showing
that offenders can change, and that the world can be a safe place, the message to the victim is, “The guy that
hurt you is not fixable.” This narrative is a lie. However, MSOP would suffer greatly if they admitted this.
FOOTNOTES
1 https ://nationaldaycalendar .com/national-slavery-and-human-trafficking-prevention-month …
2www.acf.hhs.gov/otip/news/prevention-month-2020. Read the full proclamation at
5 9
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-national-slavery-human-trafficking-preventionmonth-
2020/
3Eric John Eischens, 201 4 Minn. App. Unpub. LEXIS 622, A l 4-001 3, June 23, 20 1 4.
Here is the true meaning and value of compassion and nonviolence when it helps us to see the enemy’s point of
view, to hear his questions, to know his assessment of ourselves. For from his view we may indeed see the
basic weaknesses of our own condition, and if we are mature, we may learn and grow and profit from the
wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition. -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
OCEAN NEEDS TO COLLABORATE WITH OTHER ORGANIZATIONS AND
INDIVIDUAL S
OCEAN is always seeking alliances with individuals and organizations. We recently received a letter from a
civilly committed man in Virginia. He wrote us a 1 4 page letter packed with great information, most of which
will be applicable to our efforts. However, there was one message that stood out in his letter: “Focus on your
Supporters.” This has become sort of a mantra for us for the last few weeks since we received that letter. I
[DAW] sometimes find myself in debates with those that disagree with OCEAN. I don’t mean to argue with
anyone. I don’t even care to change other’s perceptions when I defend mine. I just want to be understood.
However, this contention is sometimes reflected in our OCEAN newsletters. But what this man from Virginia
helped me realize is that OCEAN is understood, and we need to Focus on our Supporters, instead of those that
refuse to consider what we have to say.
We do not have time to hesitate asking for help and support. We MUST network and utilize each other’s
resources. Emotional and moral support is great. However, we are civil detainees. ACTION is how we show
real care and concern!
We understand the anger, fear and disgust that sexual assaults have caused. But the solution is in the factsnot
the emotional reactions.
The public has the right to know all sides of this issue so that they can make informed decisions about how to
address sexual abuse in Minnesota and nationwide. Transparency is how we will strengthen public safety.
Many want to shut down MSOP. But OCEAN is different. Instead, we seek reform. The difference is
significant. Sex offender recidivism hovers around 1 % to 3.5% depending on the study you’re looking at. So
although sex offender recidivism is the lowest of all other crimes, it still happens. Therefore, a secure treatment
center may still be necessary. However, if MSOP was actually reformed, this would mean that many could
potentially be released, opening bed space for others who need it. Currently, that bed space is being wasted on
hundreds who do not need it and rejecting thousands that do.
Some of our peers at MSOP do not agree that MSOP should be reformed. They think it should be closed.
However, we think this would be disrespectful to victims of sexual assault and to those that continue to struggle
with unhealthy sexual thoughts and behaviors.
We encourage the public to connect the following professionals to the MSOP Reform Facebook page. As the
discussion becomes more intense, it is essential that those who are making emotional attacks against MSOP
clients are met with THE FACTS.
Hyperlink, email, Facebook message, call or write the following and let them know about the MSOP Reform
Facebook page, the Change.org petition called “Stop unconstitutional confinement … ” and www.ajustfuture.org
web page:
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□ Eric S. Janus:
Prof. Janus says, in reference to MSOP: “What was touted as a genuine civil commitment program is, in
fact, extended punishment.” 1
Eric S. Janus
MITCHELL HAMLINE SCHOOL OF LAW
875 Summit Ave.
St. Paul, MN 55105
(651) 290-6345
Link: eric.janus@mitchellhamline.edu
□ Ilya Shapiro:
Shapiro says: “Sex-offender laws have bored a hole in the nation’s constitutional fabric. As state and
federal governments expand that hole-threatening to swallow other rights and others’ rights … 2
Ilya Shapiro
CA TO INSTITUTE
1000 Mass. Ave. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20001
(202) 842-0200
Link: ishapiro@cato.org
□ Daniel Montaldi PhD:
Dr. Montaldi says: “Minnesota has one of the nation’s most draconian commitment laws.” 3
Link: dmontaldi@sprynet.com
□ Dean R. Cauley Ph.D:
Dr. Cauley says: “Changes must be made to the Minnesota Civil Commitment statute in order to ensure
that civil commitment is reserved for those people who have sexually offended who are truly the most
dangerous and are at highest risk to reoffend … The MSOP program should be required to have formal
accreditation, either by JCAHO, CARF, or another national/international accreditation agency.” 4
Dean R. Cauley Ph.D., MBA
3270 Yukon Drive
Port Charlotte, FL. 33948-6130
(941) 661-8895
Fax: (941) 627-6867
Link: DCauley@Comcast.net
6 1
□ Ronald Sullivan:
Sullivan says: “Forty years of research has shown that moral panics can have pro- found and devastating
effects on vulnerable populations.” 5
Ronald Sullivan
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 496-2054
Link: rsullivan@law.harvard.edu
□ Grant Duwe, Director of Research and Evaluation for the Minnesota Department of Corrections:
Duwe says: “Sex offenders who are petitioned for commitment … do not have the right to a jury trial in
Minnesota … all civilly committed sex offenders are housed in a high-security facility. 6
Link: grant.duwe@state.mn. us.
□ Melissa Hamilton:
Hamilton says: “The collaboration [ of law and science] threatens not only the liberty and privacy
interests of those who commit sex-based offenses. The potential exists for a contagion effect whereby
interest groups might be encouraged to qualify all manner of criminal behaviors as distinct mental
disorders. Accordingly, if the interaction between law and psychiatry continues in this manner, all
criminals may be deemed to have mental disorders. This outcome makes no logical sense, undermines
the core tenets of the law, infringes upon fundamental rights, and methodically destroys trust in the
science of psychiatry.” 7
Link: cpittson@law.pace.edu.
□ Thomas K. Zander, Psy.D:
Dr. Zander says: “First and foremost, sex psychopath and sex offender statutes can best be described as
approaches that have failed. The discrepancy between the promises in sex statutes and performance have
rarely been resolved … The mere assumption that such a heterogeneous legal classification could define
treatability and make people amenable to treatment is not only fallacious, it is startling.” 8
Link: DrTomZander@aol.com.
More links to connect to Facebook “MSOP Reform,” Change.mg and ajustfuture.org
□ Patrick A. Langan: U.S. Dep’t of Justice. “Recidivism of Sex Offenders Released from Prison in 1994”:
https:// www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/rsorp94 .pdf.
□ Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers & Sex Offender Civil Commitment Programs Network.
“Civil Commitment: If It Is Used, It Should Be Only One Element of a Comprehensive Approach for the
Management of Individuals Who Have Sexually Abused” (2015):
http://www.atsa.com/ sites/ default/files/%5BCi vil %2 0Commi tment%5D%2 0 In %20Context. pdf.
62
□ Communities of Support and Accountability (CoSA): Criminal Justice Ministries with EMO, Ecumenical
Ministries: http://www.emoregon.org/ cosa. php
□ Adam Liptak. “Did the Supreme Court Base a Ruling on a Myth?,” New York Times, Mar. 6, 2017:
https://www.nytimes.com/201 7 /03/06/us/politics/supreme-court-repeat-sex-offenders.html
□ Rachel Aviv. “The Science of Sex Abuse,” New Yorker, Jan. 14, 2013: http://bit.ly/2rRWFF3
□ Bill Mears. “Can Sex Offenders be Held After Serving Criminal Sentences?” CNN, Jan. 12, 2010:
http://cnn.it/2rR WppE
□ The Editorial Board. “Sex Offenders Locked up on a Hunch” New York Times, August 15, 2015:
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/opinion/sunday/sex-offenders-locked-up-on-ahunch.
html ?mcubz=0&r= 1.
FOOTNOTES
1 Eric S. Janus, Counsel of Record, Professor of Law, “Brief of Law Professors as Amici Curiae in Support of
Petition for Writ of Certiorari,” On Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court Of Appeals for
the Eighth Circuit, June 22, 2017, p.2
2Ilya Shapir, Counsel of Record, “Brief for the Cato Institute and Reason Foundation as Amici Curiae in
Support of Petitioners,” On Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth
Circuit, June 22, 2017, p. 3
3Daniel Montaldi, PhD, WILLIAM MITCHELL LAW REVIEW, “A Study of the Efficacy of the Sexually
Violent Predator Act in Florida,”
4Dean R. Cauley Ph.D., MBA, “EXPERT REPORT OF DEAN R. CAULEY, PH.D., MBA,” Court File No. 11-
cv-03659 (DWF/JJK), December 5, 2014, p. 3
5Ronald Sullivan, Counsel of Record, Fair Punishment Project, “Amicus Brief for Criminology Scholars and
the Fair Punishment Project,” On Writ of Certiorari of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth
Circuit, June 22, 2017, p. 3
6Duwe, G., “To What Extent does Civil Commitment Reduce Sexual Recidivism? Estimating the Selective
Incapacitation Effects in Minnesota,” Journal of Criminal Justice (2013 ),
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2013.06.009, pg. 3
7Melissa Hamilton, PACE UNIVERSITY, Adjudicating Sex Crimes as Mental Disease, 33 Pace L. Rev. 536
(2013 ), Available at: http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/plr/vol33/iss2/2 Electronic copy available at:
http://ssm.com/abstract= l 989503, Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/plr, p.
598, 599
8Thomas K. Zander, Psy.D., J.D., MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL, “Civil Commitment Without
Psychosis: The Law’s Reliance on the Weakest Links in Psychodiagnosis” Journal of Sexual Offender Civil
Commitment: Science and the Law, 1, 17-82 (2005). Dr. Zander is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Marquette
University Law School. Correspondence regarding this article may be e-mailed to him at
DrTomZander@aol.com. p.21
ANYONE COULD GET COMMITTED TO MSOP
The greatest power of the MSOP clinician is the ability to convince the client that he is somehow different
than others. However, anyone is capable of getting committed, even MSOP clinicians:
. .. a clinical therapist at the Minnesota Sex Offender Program and former director of the MSU
Women’s Center is accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a girl and threatening to kill her if she
63
told. Wanda Lou Elizabeth Viento, 57 of St. Peter was charged with several felonies Friday
afternoon … When asked if she would take a polygraph test, Viento [ said] that polygraph testing is not
reliable and she knew this because she used them at the treatment center. 1
One may argue that this is only an allegation and that Mrs. Viento is innocent until proven guilty. However,
that argument only holds in criminal court, not civil court. Mrs. Viento could have easily been civilly committed
for multiple allegations of sexual assault, even if she was not charged with a crime. 2
To get civilly committed in Minnesota it is not necessary to prove that a person is out of control, or that he is
physically violent, but only that he was emotionally harmful to others. In court, hearsay is admissible.
Allegations are admissible. Self-disclosed crimes, even admitted as part of treatment decades ago, are
admissible. The person being considered for commitment does not have a right to a jury trial and a sex offense
conviction is not necessary.3 In fact, 12% of the men civilly committed at MSOP have either no felony
convictions of any kind, or have an “unknown” criminal record. That means there are about 90 men without a
criminal history, committed to MSOP.4
At page 2 1, the DSM-5 explains that an individual must display a “current presentation” (6 months for sexual
disorders5 ) of their diagnosis for them to be considered having a “mental disorder.” Most of the clients at
MSOP are not currently displaying the traits of a mental disorder. MSOP knows this, so they tried to get around
releasing clients by changing the legal status of the MSOP facility. Melissa Hamilton from Pace University
School of Law explains what happens when law and psychiatry mix:
Fear of sexual predators has led society to adopt a law-psychiatry interface in which sexual offending
is merged into a disease-based philosophy to justify various forms of punishment and preventive
control. Sex crimes have become conflated with psychiatric disease. The multiple concerns expressed
herein strongly suggest that the use of the psychiatric paraphilias in legal proceedings tends to
undermine the independence and integrity of the legal and psychiatric professions … The widespread
acceptance of mental disorders for sexual deviance, despite [the] substantial scientific problems,
ignores significant issues of due process and equity considering they help dictate infringements on
fundamental interests of defendants.
Unfortunately, it appears that law and psychiatry will remain complicit in adapting diagnoses of
mental illness to criminal justice officials’ desire to control sex offenders . .. The collaboration
threatens not only the liberty and privacy interests of those who commit sex-based offenses. The
potential exists for a contagion effect whereby interest groups might be encouraged to qualify all
manner of criminal behaviors as distinct mental disorders. Accordingly, if the interaction between law
and psychiatry continues in this manner, all criminals may be deemed to have mental disorders. This
outcome makes no logical sense, undermines the core tenets of the law, infringes upon fundamental
rights, and methodically destroys trust in the science of psychiatry. 6
This “law-psychiatry interface” is in part, why MSOP has been able to get away with what they are doing.
They maintain control of their scheme not with facts or science, but with confusion and technicalities of law and
procedure. Minnesota Department of Corrections Director of Research Grant Duwe concluded that, “nearly
two-thirds of these offenders [at MSOP] would be unlikely to be rearrested for another sex offense in their
lifetime if they were released to the community. 7
Commenting on Duwe’s, conclusions, Professor Eric Janus says:
Applying this “false positive” rate to the 700-plus people who are committed, we can conclude that
over 400 human beings are being held unconstitutionally because of the MSOP’s intentional thwarting
of the duration limits. MSOP’s failure to adhere to the duration limits is not simply a sign that the
program is not working properly. It is an intentional design feature of MSOP that other states have
eschewed. It represents an intentional rejection of the core constitutional marker of a genuine civil
commitment scheme. The Court of Appeals’ ruling allows no remedy for this misuse of civil
64
confinement. 8
We are fairly certain that the “intentional thwarting of the duration limits” refers to the variances that MSOP
has applied to the treatment process. To understand how variances affect MSOP, see our article “Creating Civil
Commitment Chaos” at the MSOP Reform Facebook page.
FOOTNOTES
1 Krohn, Tim. “Sex Offender Therapist Charged with Child Sex Crime.” Mankato Free Press, 27 Mar. 2015,
tkrohn@mankatofreepress.com
2Minn. Stat. § 253.D
3 James R. Nobles, Evaluation Report, Civil Commitment of Sex Offenders, Mar. 2011, OLA, Centennial
Building, Ste. 140, 658 Cedar St., St. Paul, MN 55155-4708. auditor@state.mn.us,
www.auditor.leg.state.mn.us. (651) 296-4708. pp. 24-26
4Ibid. at p. 7
5 American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition.
Arlington, VA, American Psychiatric Association, 2013, pp.685 – 705
6Melissa Hamilton. “Adjudicating Sex Crimes as Mental Disease,” 33 Pace L. Rev. 536, Spring Is. 2013, ©
2013 Pace University School of Law. pp 63, 64
7Grant Duwe, “To What Extent Does Civil Commitment Reduce Sexual Recidivism? Estimating the Selective
Incapacitation Effects in Minnesota”, 42 J. Crim. Justice 193, 201 (2013). (Doc. No. 427 (February 20, 2014
Order) at 67 n.48 (citing Doc. No. 410 ,-r 2, Ex. 1, at 8).)
8 “Brief of Law Professors as Amici Curiae in Support of Petition for Writ of Certiorari” pp. 12, 13.
HOW MSOP KEEPS THE MURDER MACHINE RUNNING: BIG MONEY & A L ITTLE
NEPOTISM GOES A LONG WAY
The excessive power along with the absence of oversight at MSOP, has proved to be a deadly mixture for the
clients. MSOP detainee, Raymond Messer committed suicide on Saturday, August 3, 2013. (MPLS Star Tribune
8/06/2013) Messer could no longer tolerate the madness of MSOP. MSOP client Chris Krych says:
My roommate Tim Yepma was a diabetic. He ate himself to freedom. I repeatedly reported to
Clinical Supervisors, Tara Osborne, and Deb Thao, that intervention needed to happen for Y epma
because he was killing himself. Tim Yepma died on Monday, January 28, 2019. There are also
detainees who refuse to continue with terminal illness treatment. These are suicidal escapes from DHS
Nepotism Hell.
Indeed.com is an employee review internet Web Site that provides a confidential forum for MSOP staff to
voice their true feelings about MSOP.
“Helping others” is rarely mentioned on the site, because that is not what MSOP does. However, money seems
to be a consistent motivation, repeated several times on the site. One Security Counselor says that at MSOP,
“There is little to no opportunities for advancement, but it is a steady paycheck . .. ”
A Recreation and Visit Supervisor at the St. Peter site, while employed at MSOP says, ” … great benefits for
employees and 55 retirement age … ”
A Recreational and Visit Supervisor at St. Peter says “great benefits” working at MSOP.
A former Security Supervisor, says, ” … Benefits are great.” (is there an echo in here?)
For most MSOP employees, it’s just a job. For instance, a Treatment Assessment Psychologist, who would be
a lead authority at MSOP, states blatantly that MSOP is “A place to work .. . If you are looking for a job, this is
a job .. . ” This person was still employed at MSOP at the time he/she wrote this in April 2018.
A Security Counselor, and an esteemed “Lead Security Counselor,” both say that MSOP has, “good pay,”
65
further reinforcing the general consensus that staff come to MSOP j ust for a pay check.
A Recreational Therapist from the Moose Lake site mentions that MSOP is “productive and rewarding.”
That ‘ s nice. However, this was not said in the context of his/her opportunity to help clients reintegrate back into
society, which is, at least in theory, the point of treatment . . . isn’t it?
The next comment speaks directly about nepotism:
If you enjoy an environment of nepotism then this is the place for you. Terribly mismanaged. Most
people use this as a stepping stone in their careers although may come out deeply damaged due to
institutional abuse. The only good thing about this job is that it comes with state benefits . . . The
funding is outrageous compared to that of victim services. This instruction goes to show how sad our
state is where it is more lucrative to work with criminals versus assisting those victimized. By far
working with management and co-workers was the worst. It was difficult to tell where the true evil
was . . .
Another echoes saying:
. . . [if] you like to brown nose, try it. Better yet, if you are related to someone who works there, GO for it.
Nepotism is alive and well there. But if you are educated, hardworking, have experience and are looking for
upward mobility, forget it. . . many a person ‘ s livelihood had been lost here . . .
On a positive note, one staff member, who works in the shop making signs, was kind enough to say, “I love
working with both customers and clients.” Thank you anonymous MSOP staff member. However, I suggest you
get out of here before the walls begin to really crumble.
Although the cohesion of money and family goes a long way when hiding corruption, there have been many
MSOP staff members busted for many forms of abuse and misconduct at MSOP. For instance, guard Lindsay
Wood got fired for having a relationship and getting pregnant by an MSOP detainee. (Duluth Tribune July 3 ,
20 1 1 ) .
Guard Andrew Rock also got fired for smuggling i n a cell phone for two clients. (See Pine Journal
1 1 /05/20 1 5 ) .
Clinician Amy Bronswick was fired fo r telling an MSOP client that she wanted t o b e his wife. (See MP LS Star
Tribune 04/ 1 4/20 1 3) .
Guard Michelle A. Hoover got fired for having a relationship and getting pregnant b y an MSOP detainee.
Clinician Gemma Watkins was also fired for writing love letters and having a relationship with an MSOP
detainee.
Recreation Staff Jenifer Lee Keur (AKA Jenifer Lee Rogan) got questioned December 20 1 8 about her blatant
relationship with an MSOP detainee, but left the facility before too much could be revealed.
Recreation Staff Marilyn Johnson got fired in 2008 for smuggling in a cell phone for an MSOP detainee.
Kristi L. Wagner and husband Joshua Robert Wagner work at MSOP. Joshua got fired along with Alyssa J .
Fahlsing for having sex i n the facility.
MSOP administration has a limited pool to hire from. Those who work here now are either new and likely to
be leave when they figure out what this is, or they are the left overs of the left overs and have absolutely seared
their own consciousness ‘ s to j ustify coming to work every day.
OCEAN thought it was essential to begin making a public record of the two most important elements that
maintain MSOP ‘ s power: Money and nepotism.
Nepotism has become quite the norm at MSOP and is sort-of old news. However, we think these solid
networks have significantly affected due process at MSOP.
In addition, the high salaries paid to MSOP staff for doing near to nothing, except shop online while they are
“working,” we also thought was worth documenting.
Anyone that has been working at MSOP for even a few weeks, probably knows the general intentions of
MSOP staff. But if not, it will benefit them to know what prior, and even current employees, have said about
66
MSOP.
Money and family seems to be the primary pillars of MSOP. The following information in this article
concerning MSOP staff salaries comes from MSOP records made available to clients by the awesome power of
the Freedom of Information Act. Whereas the information about staff relationships and nepotism comes from
MSOP detainee, Chris Krych, a man who has been at MSOP for 14 years.
In 2 010, Facility Director Kevin Moser’s salary scale was listed as $33.65 – $48 . 25 an hour, for one position.
In 2 015 Moser is listed as having two positions with two salaries of $52 . 2 2 and $60. 15 per hour with his only
credential being “Certification.” Then in 2 017 his salary was $54.87 and $63. 19 (still two checks). In 2 019 his
salaries changed again to $46.87 and $65.90 an hour (still two checks). We have no idea if Moser is getting paid
for both of these positions simultaneously.
Executive Clinical Director Jannine M. Hebert had a salary scale of$41.61 – $59.61 an hour in 2 010. By 2 019
she was making $70.68. How does a Clinical Director of a “treatment center” get a raise without producing
results? We encourage Minnesota tax-payers to contact her and ask her what she does to deserve so much from
them: (651) 431-4377 jannine.hebert@state.mn.us. 444 Lafayette Road North, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55155-
0992
In 2 015, Clinical Director Peter D. Puffer (that’s right, we have two Clinical Directors) received $60.15 an
hour. He also received multiple paid increases and by 2 019 he was making $65.90 an hour. Should individuals
be getting raises? Ask them how they justify this. peter.d.puffer@state.mn.us.
Louis Stender received a pay scale of $33.65 – $48. 25 in 2 010. By 2 019 he was making $57.23 an hour.
Stender used to be a warden at the DOC Moose Lake prison. Moser was a Captain. Dennis Benson, who was
once the Executive Director of MSOP was many things in the DOC, including a Deputy Commissioner. These
guys stick together.
Terrance (Terry) K. Kneisel is Moser’ s Assistant Facility Director at Moose Lake. His wife, Christine M.
Kneisel works here, along with his brother, Louis Q. Kneisel. Terry gets $53.20 an hour. Christine gets $2 7.68
an hour. Louis gets $22 .34 an hour.
Richard J. O’ Connor worked here with his son Richard J. O’ Connor Jr., and only a high school diploma, got
promoted to Security Program Manager with an over $40. 00 an hour salary for his last few months of
employment (so he could retire with a fatter pension?).
Scott Gary Benoit has worked here since 2 004. Scott’s wife, Laurel June Benoit, used to work here with him.
Laurel got $40.72 an hour and Scott gets $44.62 an hour.
Julie A. Johnson married Steven J. Sajdak and is now Julie Sajdak. Julie gets $ 25.37, and Steven gets $44.62.
Julie Rose and her husband Robert P. Rose work here along with son & daughter, Morgan and Michael
respectively. Julie gets $30. 25, & Robert gets $41.61, an hour.
Donald Melvin Geil Jr., and his wife Jessica J. Geil, work here too. Donald gets $26.41, and Jessica gets
$51.41 an hour.
Julianna L. Beavens got her daughter, Leanna Beavens, a job here. Leanna and her boyfriend (another staff)
both quit and went to work for the Feds after job training (many work here to get training hours for jobs
elsewhere – using DHS lifers as training subjects). Julianna gets $41.6 1 an hour.
Jennifer Louise Chesbrough used to work here and quit for a federal job at the Sandstone Federal prison, just
like Leanna Beavens. Chesbrough use to date guard Troy Swartout. Many from the Swartout family have
worked here and Brooke Swartout had recently gotten employed at MSOP.
Clinician Jaime L. Wuori (AKA Jaime Kozisek) found her husband Jeremy M. Wuori at MSOP. After she got
her Social Worker License and a promotion to “Clinical Program Manager,” she quit in 2 019.
Tayah Marie Johnson married guard Benjamin Zuk and now is Tayah Zuk. Tracy Marie Zuk and Logan S.
Zuk also work here and Tracy Zuk gets $42.59 an hour.
Allison M. Ecklund married guard Brian Collins, who no longer works at MSOP. Allison Collins gets $32.24
an hour. Jordon J. Collins works here too.
Amanda H. Torgerson and her husband Thome M. Torgerson, both quit last year (2018). Amanda got $29. 70,
and Thorne got $39.89 an hour.
Jensina E. Rosen and her husband Tyler T. Rosen, both quit last year too. Jensina got $31.98, and Tyler got
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$23.41 an hour.
Husband and wife Cindy, K. Cherro, and Thomas L. Cherro employed at MSOP for over a decade.
Clinical Supervisor Courtney Jo Menten gets $49.46 an hour and husband Darian Emmanual Menten works
here as well.
Keeping the flow of money elusive and confusing may be part of the scheme. Therefore, we asked our friend
Randall Nelson to review MSOP’s bank ledger. Nelson studied at Pipestone Technical Institute as well as the
American Institute of Banking. He is licensed in all lines of insurance and holds an associate’ s degree in
banking. After looking at MSOP’s ledger, Nelson reported to OCEAN:
With what I have to consider at this time the following is to the best of my knowledge true and
correct: The estimated calculations of the interest posted to the account indicate a variable interest is
paid. Starting with November 2017 indicating a lower average collected balance and a higher return
compared to December 2017 where the average collected balance was lower and the return higher.
Even if the interest was variable it is highly unlikely that this would be as significant a change as
indicated at least by my first review. It also appears as though this account was started with petty cash
in response to a client demand, then propagated with a series of questionable deposits to satisfy the
untrained eye. What is the number assigned to this account? Where are the funds kept? Why is it that
since the start of this statement [ and the 18 months duration of said] there has been no annual spend
down and the amount has been either stagnant or varying slightly? Who posts the interests to this
account? Why on June 13th of 2019 are there a total of 18 entries for the same vendor (Netflix) instead
of one payment of $852.12? Did the vendor receive 18 entries for the individual amounts? I noticed a
payment of $263. 90 to the Star Tribune was posted June 19th, 2019. This appears to be an annual
subscription for our library and by itself looks innocent, however, no such payment was posted June of
2018, which makes this questionable. I would have expected to see an entry on June 19th (or
thereabouts) of 2018 a similar payment for an annual subscription. No entry was indicated. On
November 25th 2019 we questioned the department on the 13th of June expenditure of $3,692.60 to
“SWANK MOTION Inc.” and they answered, simply, “This is an annual licensing agreement.” in
writing the department. However, when we look back on June of 2018 we noticed no payment was
made to the company. The “New Account Transfer[‘s]” in November of 2017 were established very
late in the game with regard to the operations of MSOP in general. Where were these funds transferred
from and why?
Money issues like this just scratches the surface of some of the confusion at MSOP.
So this documents just some of the strong relational ties, as well as some of the motivations of those working
at MSOP.
So, if you don’t like helping people, and you do like money, come apply at MSOP; that is, if you have any
family members already working here ..
DROP INTERVIEWS
Tim Coon is 34 years old. He has been at MSOP for over 13 years. Coon was recently granted Provisional
Discharge (PD) by the Special Review Board (SRB). Receiving PD means that although Coon will wear a GPS
device and will be supervised, he will likely be able to live in his own place. PD is essentially the last step to
full discharge from the MSOP. “Before this,” Coon said, “I had never filed for SRB. I had witnessed too many
guys who I thought should get out, fail, so I never tried. It was the release of Jacob Rask, who is also a juvenile
offender, however, with a more violent history than I, that motivated me. Jacob Rask is doing great out there.
That’s inspiring. I was thinking of filing for SRB when OCEAN encouraged me. This encouragement was the
final tipping point to actually file.”
Coon committed his sex offense in 2001, when he was only 15 years old. He was then sent to a juvenile
facility called Mille Lacs Academy. At the age of 18 he was sent to Alpha House in Minneapolis for inpatient
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Sex Offender treatment in Minneapolis. He was unable to complete the Alpha program before he was
committed in 2 005 to the State Secure Hospital for mental illness. In 2 006, he was committed to MSOP and has
been here for 13.5 years. “In 2 005 it was all about the politics” Coon says. Coon’s offense was listed as a
“nonviolent” crime and he has no other criminal record. Coon has thus been locked up, in total, for 1 8.5 years
for the crime he committed when he was 15 years old.
When Coon came to MSOP, he participated in the MSOP treatment. He stuck with it for 5.5 years, trying his
best to progress from the 1st phase. Coon says he was “getting nowhere with it.” He stopped participating 8
years ago. We now know that Coon never needed treatment in the first place. Every time a client gets a new
therapist, or they change the program, it is like the client has to start over from the beginning. This creates an
environment of hopelessness and despair. More than 2 0 therapists have been assigned to Coon since he started
treatment at MSOP. Also, in that time period, the program structure has changed at least 3 times. “Because we
are here so long, compared to outpatient treatments, we end up with so many therapists. There are only about
three therapists that are still here from 13.5 years ago, when I got here. They used to have 8 modules, then they
split them up into 29 modules. I wasn’t about to play the games anymore.”
Coon had proposed a deal with the Attorney General (AG), who has the option of appealing the SRB’s
decision to grant Coon’s Provisional Discharge. The deal was this: As long as the AG does not appeal the
SRB’s grant of Provisional Discharge, Coon will not ask the SRB for a Full Discharge. In addition, Coon asked
for there to be a 180 day cap on the Provisional Discharge, meaning that in 180 days, Coon will be Fully
Discharged from MSOP, with absolutely no conditions. He would be a free man. Even though the AG did not
appeal the decision, MSOP Executive Clinical Director, Jannine M. Hebert did. This was a curve ball nobody
saw commg.
OCEAN thought that that MSOP would support this deal because they know that Coon should have never
been committed in the first place.
Coon was excited about getting out. Unfortunately, it looks as if he has more hurdles to jump before he is a
free man.
Coon has never had a cell phone or a driver’s license. If he does got out, he will need to adjust to the real
world. There will be challenges. “I would need to get a routine down, but I would finally be able to go for a
walk and not have to walk in circles, like we do in the facility. I would be able to see my sister. I’d be able to
see my parents and grandparents more than once a month. I could play golf again. My clubs and shoes are still
in my golf bag, where they were almost 2 0 years ago.”
I asked Coon, “How do we get out of here?” Coon answered:
It varies on the person. Some need treatment, some do not. Some don’t belong here at all and never
did belong here. You can’t just convince the clinical team that you don’t belong here, you have to
convince everyone … many who have made significant progress in the program have done a lot of
treatment, but they are also juvenile offenders. This treatment needs to be fixed. It needs to be
reformed for the clients. The clients need to have a say in the reformation of MSOP. We know what
we need.
Although Coon is not out, we are proud of him for making the efforts to get back to his family.
Congratulations Coon. OCEAN is rooting for you.
THANK YOU FROM OCEAN
OCEAN thanks Jim Blessings from the Civil Commitment Center in South Carolina. Jim wrote to OCEAN
with encouraging words. Jim will be in our prayers along with our other fellow comrades. We plan to put at
least parts of Jim’s letter in our next newsletter. Stay strong Jim!
Thank you to Galen B. from Virginia Civil Commitment as well. Galen provided OCEAN with some valuable
advice that OCEAN is taking very serious. A main gem we received from Galen, “focus on your supporters.
Your supporters is where your energy will come from.” We love that. We will be staying in contact with Galen.
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Thank you to Leo F., a father of a man who will be at MSOP soon. Leo is very troubled about his sons
situation. OCEAN is ready to help in any way that we can. Leo is quite a good dad. He has developed a support
system for his son from outside these walls. This is quite impressive.
Thank you to all of our supporters. Your support helps us stay motivated for change, both internal and
external. Blessings, -OCEAN
Correction in Issue No. 8
In our Thank You article, we cited ‘David’ Bowers. It should have read Wayne Bowers for CURE-SORT. Our
apologies.
You are appreciated. [RJH]
Feb. 1 0, 2020: Vol. 1 , Issue X
1. \t A CALL TO ARMS! \t : OVERCOMING CENSORSHIP
2. STOP THEM! THEY’RE OFFENSIVE!
3. MINNESOTA EXPLOITED A SCHEME OF MORAL PANIC
4. WHAT TREATMENT? PEOPLE DIE HERE.
5. COERCED PSYCHOTHERAPY
6. MSOP STAKEHOLDERS ARE NOT LEGITIMATE
7. DROP INTERVIEWS
8. OCEAN THANKS YOU
\t A CALL TO ARMS! \t : OVERCOMING CENSORSHIP
OCEAN authors Daniel A. Wilson and Russell John Hatton are “Muckrakers.” Muckrakers are journalists
who expose social ills as well as corporate and political corruption.
Julius Chambers of the New York Tribune, is considered by many to be the original Muckraker. Chambers
undertook a journalistic investigation of Bloomingdale Asylum in 1872, having himself committed with the
help of some of his friends and his newspaper’s city editor. His intent was to obtain information about the
alleged abuse of inmates. The publication of a series of articles led to the release of 12 patients who were not
mentally ill; a reorganization of the staff and administration of the institution; and eventually resulted in a
change in the lunacy laws. This later led to the publication of Chamber’s book A Mad World and Its Inhabitants
(1976). From this point onward, Chambers was frequently invited to speak about the rights of the mentally ill
and the need for facilities for their proper accommodation, care and treatment. Therefore, we see our role as
Muckrakers as very important and we hope to encourage everyone to shed light on corruption.
Our friend and OCEAN drop, Pete, made the following comment about OCEAN:
OCEAN is pushing some buttons with those in authority at MSOP, by bringing to light many of the
injustices perpetrated by them. It is much like opening up the door to a very dark room, and exposing
the deeds of the monsters hiding there. The monsters don’t like their deeds being exposed, they’ve
been at it for over 20 years, and they’re terribly afraid of the light.
On January 21, 2020, four copies of the 9th issue of the OCEAN Newsletter, where confiscated from Daniel
and deemed “Counter Therapeutic.” When asked why, he was told that they are “offensive.” The newsletter
where routed to clinical staff.
On January 29, 2020 OCEAN editor Russell Hatton printed the 9th issue of the OCEAN Newsletter and it was
confiscated by 1 E cell block security counselor Sabrina Search and routed to Property for review. What the
MSOP Property department has to do with media content is unknown. On January 31, 2020 Mr. Hatton’s I E
Clinical Primary therapist, Ross Peterson, provided a written reply:
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The unit staff reported that the newsletter had “questionable content.” It was secured and being sent for
“media review.” I suggest you review the media policy to see what appeals you can make.
Upon speaking with Mr. Peterson, Russell asked what specifically was the “questionable content.” Mr.
Peterson indicated to the article “How MSOP keeps the Murder Machine Running: Big Money & a Little
Nepotism Goes a Long Way.” Stating he understands staff wages are public information, he seemed to be more
concerned about the comments about nepotism.
Any and all material used by OCEAN editors is vetted, fact-checked through multiple research methods and
double checked to be accurate. The material used in the OCEAN article: “How MSOP Keeps the Murder
Machine Running: Big Money & a Little Nepotism Goes a Long Way,” was taken from multiple newspaper
articles and other credible sources, as referenced in the article itself.
The OCEAN Newsletter in question covered the nepotism at MSOP, ridiculous staff salaries, and citations of
sexual misconduct on the part of some staff. All of the information was either cited from public sources or
considered common knowledge at MSOP. We were told that it could potentially “incite a riot” even though
what we wrote is daily talk among the clients. None of it is new, and the newsletter is not intended for MSOP
peers anyway. It is written for the public.
Our newsletters inform why MSOP, and many other civil commitment centers across the nation, need
reformation immediately. OCEAN believes that MSOP staff should be accountable to the tax payers that pay
them. MSOP staff seem to disagree. We hope the fact that they are trying to censor us makes our case even
stronger.
Although we were not the first to do so, we were also targeted for comparing MSOP to Nazi death camps, and
MSOP staff to SS officers. One security guard got on my case about it after she briefly “skimmed the first
page.” The comparison was “offensive” to them, (not necessarily inaccurate, just “offensive”) and for this
reason they need to stop us from writing … See the irony? One of the very first things the Nazi’s did when they
took over Germany was they censored the media and people of Germany. Those who fought for freedom of
speech often faced the concentration camp, torture, or death. Similarly, Japan and Italy did away with free
speech, free assembly and free press because they knew that abolishing these fundamental rights where the first
steps to achieving their goals.
The 8th issue of the OCEAN newsletter, the one heavily focused on the Nazi and MSOP comparison, was
inspired by a friend of ours who wrote the following:
There may be guys at the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (M.S.O.P.) who are very dangerous and
should never get out. Perhaps I am one of them. There are assaults that happen here. Most of them are
emotional or mental. Rarely are they physical. These assaults have happened to staff and clients alike. I
should know, because I have seen and experienced them myself. The assaults are being perpetrated by
both clients and staff. Having said that, we should also know that there are hundreds of men in here
that could be let out, who are not dangerous, and do not belong in this Concentration Camp. I am not
associating M.S.O.P. to the Nazis Germany Concentration Camps of WW 11. However, I do want to
expose the truth about the real life Concentration Camps of the 21st Century. I encourage you to get
your dictionary and look up the definition of “Concentration Camp.” I have done this with many
different dictionaries and Encyclopedias. We ought not ignore the fact that by definition, the U.S. has
modem day Concentration Camps that you, as Minnesota taxpayers, have built.
We are not at MSOP because of the crimes we committed. Most of us already have done prison time
in the Department of Corrections, (D.O.C.) and even completed real sex offender treatment. Instead,
we are all here because of what we might do. There are even about 90 guys here who have no criminal
record at all. This is a political ploy, which violates our rights to be free from preventive detention. Of
course, there are some individuals here that should probably never get out. However, most men in here
do not have a mental illness recognized by the psychiatric community. Generally, MSOP residents are
no more dangerous than felons being released from prison every day of the week. But the political
7 1
scare tactics you see on the news are hyping up the lies just to get the public to look away from what
they are doing here at in this Concentration Camp.
The Webster’s Third New International Dictionary from 1993 said the following about Concentration
Camps: “A camp where persons ( as prisoners of war, political prisoners, refugees, or foreign
nationals) are physically and mentally abused.” The World book Encyclopedia Volume 4 from 1986
defined Concentration Camps as: ” . . . a place where political enemies, real or assumed, are imprisoned,
usually without trial. The term was first used by Great Britain for prison camps it set up during the
Boer War in Africa around 1900. Russian secret police imprisoned millions of persons in labor camps
after 1928, during Joseph Stalin’s dictatorship. During World War II, the United States and Canada
held thousands of persons of Japanese ancestry in special camps ( also see WWII Internment of Aliens).
But the best known Concentration Camps were those set up in Nazi Germany before and during WW
11.”
The American Heritage Student Dictionary from 2 007 defined Concentration Camp as: “An area or
group of buildings where civilians, political prisoners, and sometimes prisoners of war are confined,
usually under harsh conditions.” The Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary from 1996
defined Concentration Camps as: “A guarded compound for the detention or imprisonment of aliens,
members of ethnic minorities, political opponents, etc., esp. any of the camps established by the Nazis
prior to and during WW II for the confinement and persecution of prisoners. (1900-05) … ”
So as you can see there are many levels of the same thing, and just because we are not in Germany
and the Nazi’s are not in charge here at MSOP, doesn’t mean that MSOP is not a Concentration Camp.
Similarly, there are also many different levels of prisons today. Some prisons kill their prisoners with
lethal injections, some just warehouse individuals until they die of old age, while other prisons lock
them up 23 hours a day in a cell, letting them out only for an hour a day to shower and exercise. Yet,
some institutions allow inmates free roaming visits. Other prisons have swimming pools, baseball
fields and barbecue picnics. But they are all still penitentiaries where they have Supervised Release
Dates (S.R.D.). Similarly, although M.S.O.P. does not treat their captives in the same horrifying,
shocking and appalling ways as the Nazi’s did, this does not make M.S.O.P. any less a Concentration
Camp.
So I ask you, “Are you OK with paying for Concentration Camps here in this modern day U.S.A.?”
Don’t let the media fool you in to thinking that this is a treatment center. If you just take some time and
do some research you can find the real facts about what your tax money is really paying for. The
taxpayers are paying millions and millions of dollars each year. Did you know it costs $393.00 per
person, per day and there are close to 740 men (and one female) here? This money is used just to
house us in this Concentration Camp with their fake treatment. They are now asking for additional
money to make room for more men. Do you think there is something wrong with all these people
committed in Minnesota?
I also want to reveal some of the ways M.S.O.P. is similar to other Concentration Camps. We are
housed in buildings with two man prison cells that is surrounded by two layers of barbwire fencing and
patrolled by guards. No one has an out date. This is a life sentence. We are constantly being told that
we are the “worst of the worst” and that we will never get out unless we follow every little rule they
have, which has proved to be nearly impossible and those that have followed all the rules, are still here.
The “therapists,” the lawyers, Judges, and the politicians are told that if we complete the “treatment,”
we can go home. Even when the Governor stood up and said on record that “As Long as I am in office
NO ONE from M.S.O.P. will EVER get out on my watch! ” Mr. Berg, the associate clinical director of
M.S.O.P. was asked under oath in court during the Karsjens v lesson trial, if anyone could ever
complete the treatment at M.S.O.P. his answer was, “No” and he went on to explain that the program is
not designed to be completed.
Within the last 25+ years of M.S.O.P.’s commitment, only a few men ever got out and the ones who
did, got out through technicalities in the law and fighting their case in court. Not from completing
M.S.O.P.’s “treatment.” We are being deprived living with our families, friends and loved ones.
72
They try to force us to do “treatment” if we want a job and/or any privileges. They lie and twist
everything we say and do. The only reason they push treatment is to train everyone into the Stockholm
Syndrome so they can control us and get us to obey with all these impossible rules. Like I already
stated, there is no real releases from this Concentration Camp.
I believe that the psychological abuse is a whole lot worse than physical abuse. But that is just my
opinion. I know others who say the physical is worse and I can’t argue with them, everyone is different
and has different experiences
If MSOP is not psychological abuse, psychological starvation, and psychological torture, then I don’t
know what is.
This friend, also said, “I only wait and pray for the day I get to die. I have intentionally over-dosed on meds 2
times now to speed it up, but with no success.” For this friend, his freedom to express this was important and we
knew his story had to be told.
After doing more research, we realized that his concerns that MSOP closely resembles a concentration camp
are valid, even if they are not yet as egregious as those of Nazi Germany.
Our friend is still with us today, thank God, but he is still struggling. I hope OCEAN helped him find some
purpose by telling his story.
We are not saying that MSOP is just like Nazi Germany. We are saying it is heading in that direction. We are
saying that humans, left unchecked, always have the potential to display cruel and abusive actions towards
others – especially if they have an opportunity to abuse a class of people that they think are despised by the
masses – like “sex offenders.” Besides the media propelled stigma, there is no objective oversight at MSOP.
The reason MSOP doesn’t have an incinerator is not because they can ‘t have one, it’s because they don’t want
one. However, one day they will.
MSOP gets away with a lot. OCEAN hopes to change that by exposing them. We are not surprised that they
now want to snuff us out by censoring us.
To date, we are not allowed to print the 9th Issue of the OCEAN Newsletter. Currently, as I write this, I have
no idea if I will be able to print it. The guards at the desk are reading everything we print. But if you are reading
this right now, consider it a miracle.
We have not printed much in the last 2 weeks. We are waiting for things to cool down a bit. We are curious as
to what other kinds of retaliation MSOP is capable of. Although OCEAN operatives are willing to make
personal sacrifices for justice, we are not willing to make unnecessary and arrogant risks that do nothing to
support our cause. We are obviously considering a lawsuit, but rubbing it in their faces by printing 50 copies of
the 9th newsletter right now is simply not productive.
We will keep our readers informed, hopefully. [DAW /RJH]
STOP THEM! THEY’RE OFFENSIVE !
I st Amendment freedoms are most in danger when the government seeks to control thought or to justify its
laws for that impermissible end. The right to think is the beginning of freedom, and speech must be protected
from the government because speech is the beginning of thought. 1
The Constitution protects the right to receive information and ideas, regardless of their social worth, and to be
generally free from governmental intrusions into one’s privacy and control of one’s thoughts.
The First Amendment states, in relevant part, “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of
speech.” Although this language specifically targets federal Congress, the First Amendment has been held
applicable to the states by virtue of selective incorporation 2 and most state constitutions have a similar
provision protecting freedom of speech. 3
Freedom of speech has been the focus of countless judicial opinions. To summarize, US Supreme Court
precedent, the word Speech has been interpreted to cover virtually any form of expression, including verbal and
written words, pictures, photographs, videos, and songs. First Amendment sreech also includes expressive
conduct such as dressing a certain way, 4 flag burning, 5 and cross burning.
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Although the First Amendment protects peaceful speech and assembly, if speech creates a clear and present
danger to the public, it can be regulated. This includes fighting words, “those which by their very utterance
inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace.” 7 However, any criminal statute prohibiting
fighting words must be narrowly tailored and focus on imminent, rather than future harm. Modern U.S.
Supreme Court decisions indicate a tendency to favor freedom of speech over government’s interest in
regulating fighting words, and many fighting words statutes have been deemed unconstitutional under the First
Amendment or void for vagueness and over breadth under the Fifth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment
due process clause. 8
An example of an Unconstitutional “fighting words” statute comes from Gooding v. Wilson, 405 U.S. 518
(1972). Georgia enacted the following criminal statute:
Any person who shall, without provocation, use to or of another, and in his presence. ..o pprobrious
words or abusive language, tending to cause a breach of the peace … shall be guilty of a misdemeanor
(Ga. Code §26-6303).
The US Supreme Court determined that this statute was overbroad, void of vagueness, and unconstitutional
under the First Amendment. Similarly, Brandenburg v. Ohio, an incitement to riot statute must prohibit
imminent lawless action.9 Statutes that prohibit simple advocacy with no imminent threat or harm cannot
withstand the First Amendment’s heightened scrutiny.
Another example of an unconstitutional incitement to riot statute is from Ohio. The state legislature enacted a
statute that criminalized:
advocat[ing]. .. the duty, necessity, or propriety of crime, sabotage, violence, or unlawful methods of
terrorism as a means of accomplishing industrial or political reform” and “voluntarily assembl[ing]”
with any society, group or assemblage of persons formed to teach or advocate the doctrines of criminal
syndicalism (Ohio Rev. Code Ann. §2923.13).
This was also found to be unconstitutional.
A Ku Klux Klan leader was convicted under the statute after the media broadcast films of him leading a KKK
meeting. The US Supreme Court held:
Accordingly, we are here confronted with a statute which, by its own words and as applied, purports
to punish mere advocacy and to forbid, on pain of criminal punishment, assembly with others merely
to advocate the described type of action. [Footnote 4] Such a statute falls within the condemnation of
the First and Fourteenth Amendments. 1 0
OCEAN questions how our newsletter can be determined t o contain “questionable content” when the
document is leaving MSOP-via United States Postal Service-not being distributed here or entering the
facility?
Nothing in the OCEAN newsletters threatens the safety and security of the facility for clients, staff or the
public. MSOP’s argument that what we write is “offensive” just isn’t good enough to bar OCEAN from
writing-especially if the comparison is accurate.
[RJH/DAW]
1Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, 535 U.S. 234, 253 122 S.Ct. 1389, 152 L.Ed.2d 403 (2002).
2Gitlow v. New York, 268 U.S. 652 (1925), http://supreme.justia.com/us/268/652/case.html.
3Minn. Const. art. I, §3, Sec. 3. Liberty of the press. The liberty of the press shall forever remain inviolate, and
all persons may freely speak, write and publish their sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse
of such right.
4Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969),
74
http://supreme.justia.com/us/393/503/case.html.
5 Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989)
http:// caselaw .1 p. findlaw. com/ scripts/ getcase. pl ?court=us&vo I =491 &invo I= 3 97.
6 R.A. V v. St. Paul, 505 U.S. 3 77 ( 1992),
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=505&invol=377.
7Sable Communis. Of California, Inc. v. FCC, 492 U.S. 115 (1989)
http://supreme.justia.com/us/492/1 l 5/case.html.
8Schenck v. U. S. , 249 U.S. 47 (1919) http://supreme.justia.com/us/249/47/case.html.
9 Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444 (1969), http://supreme.justia.com/us/395/444/case.html.
1 0Ibid.
MINNESOTA EXPLOITED A SCHEME OF MORAL PANIC
Ronald Sullivan from Harvard Law School says:
The right to be free from confinement is “of the very essence of a scheme of ordered liberty.” Palko
v. Connecticut, 302 U.S. 319, 325 (1937). It forms the basis of other rights deemed fundamental in this
country-the right to earn a living, to have children-and it prevents this nation from devolving into
tyranny. The government must tread lightly when it intrudes on that freedom, enacting safeguards to
prevent it from overreaching.
That is not what occurred in Minnesota. Rather than carefully develop a sexual civil commitment
scheme that confines only “a small segment of particularly dangerous individuals,” (Kansas v.
Hendricks, 521 U.S. 346, 369 1997), Minnesota enacted the broadest scheme in the country after just
ninety minutes of discussion. They did so in the midst of a moral panic over one inmate’s potential
release. Minnesota then failed to provide resources so that those confined could receive treatment, and
it did not enact procedures to ensure that those no longer posing a risk are released. 1
This comment came from the Summary of the Amicus Brief for Criminology Scholars and The Fair
Punishment Project. The Fair Punishment Project (FPP) is a joint project of the Charles Hamilton Houston
Institute for Race and Justice and the Criminal Justice Institute, both at Harvard Law School. The mission of
The Fair Punishment Project is to address ways in which our laws and criminal justice systems contribute to the
imposition of excessive punishment. In the Amicus Brief cited above, Ronald Sullivan commented:
FPP believes that the Minnesota civil commitment statute is a punitive scheme that responds
excessively to moral panic rather than in a narrowly tailored way to a compelling government
interest.2
Ronald Sullivan and four other Criminology Scholars-Tusty ten Bensel (University of Arkansas at Little
Rock), Robert D. Lytle (University of Arkansas at Little Rock), Christina N. Mancini (Virginia Commonwealth
University), and Lisa L. Sample (University of Nebraska at Omaha), believe that the Court has relied on faulty
statistics about recidivism-the same faulty statistics OCEAN has consistently reported on-as a basis to
uphold the durational limits of institutionalization and physical liberty.
FPP and the four criminology scholars further went on to say:
When Republican institutions pass laws in response to moral panics and popular passions, with little
thought, deliberation, and scrutiny, the rights of the most vulnerable and unpopular suffer. When
“prejudice” against unpopular groups curtails “the operation of those political processes ordinarily to
be relied upon to protect minorities,” “more searching judicial inquiry” is required. (internal citations
omitted) 3
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Ronald Sullivan continues:
Forty years of research has showed that “moral panics” can have profound and devastating effects on
vulnerable populations. Moral panics are outsized public reactions to “a condition, episode, person or
group of persons” that prominent stakeholders in society, and the public at large, view as “a threat to
societal values and interests . ..
A moral panic often begins with a real and disturbing event which is disseminated through the
popular media … The response is disproportionate, exaggerating “the extent of the conduct, or the
threat it poses,” and the individual case is portrayed as symptomatic of greater societal woes.4
One of the most recent moral panics in our present history involved fear over same-sex marriage in which led
to the passage of thirteen referenda barring same-sex marriage in 2004, which led to harmful infringements on
the right to physical liberty, free speech and association, as well as the right to marry. 5
OCEAN asks, where is the compelling state interest of those subjected to pre-crime preventive detention laws
and registry? It is the Minnesota Legislatures responsibility to ensure this comprehensive standard is met
through abolishing the DHS-MSOP variances and enforcing our Constitution’s broad provisions designed to
safeguard individual freedom and to preserve human dignity. This protection is accomplished through our
Constitutions Eighth or Fourteenth Amendment:
Those whom we would banish from society or from the human community itself often speak in too
faint a voice to be heard above society’s demand for punishment. It is the particular role of courts to
hear these voices, for the Constitution declares that the majoritarian chorus may not alone dictate the
conditions of social life.” 6
For the past twenty-five years, MSOP has relied heavily upon the public’s moral panic to maintain its
functioning as a pseudo-treatment program. Case in point, MSOP does not operated on the ethics of
transparency and has intentionally mislead the public to believe that the recidivism rate for men involuntarily
civilly committed to MSOP is high. However, A 2003 Department of Justice study of nearly 10,000 released
sex offenders found that only 5.3% were arrested for a sex crime within three years of release. 7 This is a
relatively low rate of recidivism, and a far cry from the hysteria that recidivism rates are “as high as 80%.” 8
Minnesota’s SPP/SDP scheme is arguably the broadest sex offender civil commitment scheme in the country.
The facts underscore how restrictive the preventive detention scheme is. Nontraditional legislative deliberation
has created laws that have cost tax payers millions each year, has cemented the careers of legislatures who
claim to be “tough on crime,” and has permitted the courts to rely on unsubstantiated empirical support.
In over 25 years, only 9 men committed had have achieved full discharge through legal technicalities and
NOT by completion of the treatment program. With 731 men still languishing behind its walls, and nearly 80
lost lives, many are still waiting for the Minnesota legislature to correct this horrific, deliberate injustice. [RJH]
FOOTNOTES
1 Ronald Sullivan, FAIR PUNISHMENT PROJECT, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA 02138, (617) 496-
2054, rsullivan@law.harvard.edu, Amicus Brief for Criminology Scholars and The Fair Punishment Project,
June 22, 2017, p. 1, 2
2 Ibid. at 1
3 Ibid. at 2
4lbid. at 3
\c;;ee Michael Klarman, From the Closet to the Alter: Courts, Backlash, and the Struggle for Same-Sex
Marriage, 106 (1st ed. 2012)
6See United States v. Carolene Products, Inc., 304 U.S. 144, 153 n.4 (1938); McCleskey v. Kemp, 481 U.S. 279,
343 (1987) (Brennan, J., dissenting)
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7 Ibid. 11, also see Patrick A. Langan, PhD et al., Bureau of Just. Stat., Recidivism of Sex Offenders Released
from Prison in 1 994 (2003), https://www.bjs.gov/ content/pub/pdf/rsorp94.pdf.
8 McKune v. Lile, 536 U.S. 24, 33 (2002) (Kennedy, J., opinion for the Court).
WHAT TREATMENT? PEOPLE DIE HERE.
There is only one thing that attests to the indifference of the MSOP organization more blatantly than the
absence of a basic procedure for a fire drill: they seem to revel in the death of each sex offender.
An MSOP clinician is like a surgeon who leaves her patient on the operating table to die (but not before she
gets her paycheck from the tax payers). No client ever gets rehabilitated at MSOP. They just die. To date,
almost 80 men have died here in 25 years. That’s more than 3 deaths a year. However, it may be rising.
Since January, 2017 there have been 12 deaths here at MSOP. In contrast, there have only been 9 full
discharges from MSOP in the last 25 years. Of those 9 full discharges, the majority were juvenile offenders, so
MSOP was forced to let them go (although there are still many juvenile offenders still here). Of the 9 that have
gotten out of MSOP, the remaining clients are left to guess and sift through rumors to figure out HOW they got
out. Until the public raises a fuss, MSOP will continue to hold as many people as they can until they are all
dead.
Every new client in MSOP treatment is shown a movie called, What About Bob. This movie is allegedly meant
to illustrate the importance of boundaries between the client and clinician. Before the movie is played the
clinician will tell the clients that “Bob” represents the MSOP client and “Dr. Leo Marvin” represents MSOP
staff.
In the movie Dr. Marvin tries to kill Bob by tying him to a chair and strapping him with explosives. When that
fails, Dr. Marvin acquires a gun and goes after his client.
This analogy eerily communicates MSOP’s true intentions. MSOP clinicians explicitly tell clients that the
movie is meant to be an analogy of the client/staff relationship. It should not surprise anyone that people at
MSOP are dying left and right. They were fairly warned.
Ironically, Dr. Marvin ends up getting civilly committed to a state hospital and Bob marries the doctor’s sister
and lives happily ever after. This part of the analogy we like, because it illustrates how the MSOP saga will
hopefully end.
MSOP administration only recently started to announce when clients get released. This is at least in part due to
OCEAN’s willingness to point out their hypocrisy. However, MSOP has always been quick to tell us when
clients have died and has their way of acknowledging these “MSOP graduates” with their ad hoc meetings,
emergency community meetings, and “Celebration of Life” events. Sometimes, we even get details as to how
they died and if they suffered or not. We only wish we received as much information about how the 9 released
were able to survive MSOP and finally receive their long-overdue freedom.
[DAW]
COERCED PSYCHOTHERAPY
On January 29, 2020 I (Daniel) was asked to have a meeting with my primary therapist, her supervisor, and a
psychologist.”
Before the meeting, I asked if I could have Russell with me in the meeting as a “support peer.” My
therapist first said that they could not allow someone from a different unit to come onto our unit. When we
pointed out that we know this is not true, she changed her reason to, “we are going to talk about more than just
the newsletter.” So, I let it go, too a risk, and went into the meeting. The meeting was centered on whether or
not the OCEAN Newsletters where “therapeutic.” At one point I was told, “we can stop you from writing
these.” However, they knew the only way they could take away my 1st Amendment right to free press, was to
use psychology to convince me to agree to stop, by claiming that it was somehow “counter-therapeutic.”
Towards the end of the conversation, and in a desperate attempt to get me to stop publishing the newsletter, one
of the clinicians leaned in, looked me in the eye, and said, “Daniel, how can we help you get through this
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treatment?” I responded, “are you offering me treatment progression if I agree to keep my mouth shut?” She
desperately recanted what she had just said, and I terminated the meeting.
Most of the individuals participating in “treatment” do so under duress. In his book, If you Meet Buddha on
the Road, Kill Him!, Sheldon Kopp, explains:
[In Coerced Psychotherapy] … the patient does not freely choose to seek out the therapist’s services.
He comes instead under the duress of threatened sanctions by the court … or because “therapy” may be
his only hope of regaining his political and social freedom. The social power of the therapist is inherent
in his role. The inequality of the participants comes closer to that of warden and prisoner than the one
man being paid to help another. The real client seeking relief is the family or the community who sees
to it that the patient is vulnerable to the expert, and who pays the latter’s fees. The goal is not the relief
of the patient’s suffering, but rather the re-establishment of social control. Consequentially, as the
community’s agent (rather than his own or the patient’s), the therapist does not value or protect his
patient’s privacy and confidentiality. (pp. 112-113)
MSOP detainees are “encouraged” to participate in treatment with many incentives and discouraged from
quitting with many negative consequences. To encourage MSOP clients to participate in treatment, including
the new tier system, MSOP offers:
1. The privilege of more work hours and thus more money.
2. The privilege of lounging in certain rooms that are not allowed to the “other” clients.
3. The privilege to buy an X-Box
4. The privilege to buy fast food more than the “others.”
5. The privilege to go to the chow hall and eat meals before the “others.”
6. The privilege to lock down at night later than the “others.”
7. The privilege to sit anywhere in the chow hall that you want.
8. The privilege to wander around the facility more than the “others.”
9. The privilege to go to the music room and play guitar drums or keyboard.
10. The privilege to use the legal computer to exercise whatever rights you still have.
11. The privilege to plant in the garden.
12. The privilege to use certain vending machines.
13. The privilege to share food and media.
14. The privilege to exercise in the gym when you want.
15. The privilege to participate in extra social activities.
16. The privilege to go to extra therapeutic recreational events
17. The privilege to participate in therapeutic based unit-to-unit visiting.
This is text book coercion. Some may argue, “but you wouldn’t do treatment if you didn’t have a incentive.”
But we do have incentive: CHANGE. The only incentive should be a changed heart and mind. MSOP doesn’t
offer that though. They don’t even suggest that it is possible that we can actually change and that it would be
personally rewarding if we did. Instead they use coercion to create the illusion that guys are actually learning
something. The irony of it all is that, by their own admission, most of the clients at MSOP are not even mentally
ill, so many of them are pretending that they are “getting better” so that they can get the rewards. The reality is
that there was never anything wrong with them to begin with.
The big problem with coercion is that it is inherently corrupt. There is no way to know who is participating
genuinely, and who is not.
In addition, therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, clinicians, social workers, and the like are not objective.
They are human beings and are subject to bias like anyone else. The indefinite preventive detention of the
MSOP’s detainees and others nationwide solely relies upon “expert witnesses” and in the context of civil
commitment, this is usually a psychologist or psychiatrist whom our clinicians work under.
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Dr. Joel Dvoskin, Ph.D., ABPP immediate past President of the American Psychological Association,
discloses what should be known by all:
… We come to each other and every case with pre-existing values, learning histories, experiences, and
prejudices, some of which are beyond our awareness. Some of us-not me, thank goodness-are
members of political parties. We have different beliefs about social justice, personal responsibility, and
the exculpatory effects of poverty, youth, or mental illness .
. . . we do this for a living. (Some of you may cling to the belief that money has no effect on you, but
if l paid you enough, I could get you to say that you like Barry Manilow.) Most people are influenced
by money. There is no reason to believe that we are exceptions .
. . . . most of us want to be praised. There is a plethora of research to support the proposition that
people will almost always do more of what brings them praise. To pretend that we are immune to this
apparently core human characteristic is self-serving and indefensible .
.. .. we are biased by the fact that the case gets initially “sold” to us by lawyers, many of whom are
skillful and persuasive advocates of their client’s point of view .
. . .. m any of us are competitive. Most people prefer to win rather than lose, and it is not by accident
that our legal system is called adversarial.
I know that we are not supposed to talk about these things. With a wink and a nod, we all claim to be
objective arbiters of wholly truthful opinions, and yet the plain folks who serve on juries are not
fooled. They know that it is never even a challenge to find one of us on either side of each and every
question. How is it, they wonder, that lawyers are seemingly never unable to find a psychologist or
psychiatrist to have an opinion that helps this particular client?
… It is only by acknowledging our blind spots, biases, and prejudices that we can take sensible steps
to correct for them.
This lack of objectivity on the part of clinicians and psychologists is not lost to most clients. MSOP detainees
know that they must pacify and impress clinicians to gain their freedom. However, the wise are not convinced
that it will ever pay off.
OCEAN continues to be baffled at what to call the “clients” at MSOP so if you have any ideas, let us know.
We are not actually clients, because there is no service being provided to us. “Detainees” just sounds negative.
We are not sex offenders or ex-offenders or even the new label giving to break the stigma: “Registrants” (many
of us do not have to register). Let’s try “Defender” for a while. However, not all offenders are Defenders, if they
are not willing to change their ways. As Defenders, we have cultivated empathy and atonement and have
become genuinely remorseful for past behaviors. As Defenders we have gained a portion of understanding of
how we have affected others and now we defend the perspective of those we have harmed, and strive to bring
light to the dark.
MSOP STAKEHOLDERS ARE NOT LEGITIMATE
Just like at Coalinga State Hospital in California, the Per Diem is always conveniently going up, up, up. Per
Diem Rates are updated each fiscal year to reflect the cost of operation:
a. State Fiscal Year 2018=$372 (July 1, 2017 – June 30, 2018)
b. State Fiscal Year 2019=$373 (July 1, 2018 – June 30, 2019)
c. State Fiscal Year 2020=$393 (July 1, 2019 – June 30, 2020)
You’d think that some of the money would be going to helping detainees reintegrate back into the community.
In fact, there have been meetings on “reintegration” for years, but with very little results. Actually between
December 2, 2014 and July 15, 2019 they had 268 meetings concerning “reintegration.” These are either the
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most incompetent people alive to have this many meetings for “reintegration” with no results, or they are lying
through their teeth … or both. These meetings involve “stakeholders.” MSOP administration invites these
“stakeholders” to MSOP on a regular basis for tours. The MSOP policy for this uses Minn. Stat. § 246.014, sub.
(d) (Services) as the authority for this policy, which states: “The commissioner of human services may establish
policies and procedures which govern the operation of the services and programs under the direct administrative
authority of the commissioner.”
MSOP administration claims that the purpose of the policy is to:
outline the process for providing tours of DCT facilities to exchange information and establish
relationships with community stakeholders in a manner ensuring safety, security, and privacy of staff,
clients, and visitors while minimizing potential disruption to the therapeutic environment.
But this is clearly NOT what stakeholders are for according to Minn. Stat. § 246B.06 VOCATIONAL WORK
PROGRAM, Subdivision 1. (b) Establishment; purpose, which says, in relevant part:
” … Prior to the establishment of any vocational activity, the commissioner of human services shall
consult with stakeholders including representatives of business, industry, organized labor, the
commissioner of education, the state Apprenticeship Council, the commissioner of labor and industry,
the commissioner of employment and economic development, the commissioner of administration, and
other stakeholders the commissioner deems qualified. The purpose of the stakeholder consultation is to
determine the quantity and nature of the goods, wares, merchandise, and services to be made or
provided, and the types of processes to be used in their manufacture, processing, repair, and production
consistent with the greatest opportunity for the reform and educational training of the civilly
committed sex offenders, and with the best interests of the state, business, industry, and labor.
[ emphasis mine]
On September 25, 2017, detainees were told via “client memo” that “stakeholders” would be coming for a
visit to the facility. OCEAN requested a list of those that would be attending. Noah Cashman, the Assistant
Minnesota Attorney General, along with many lawyers, judges, and forensic examiners are on the stakeholder
list. This seems like a clear conflict of interest, and these people are not the kind of people one would use for the
purposes we pointed out in Minn. Stat. § 246B.06.
In summary, MSOP is supposed to consult with stakeholders, which should be experts from the labor industry
to help with vocational programming. Instead, MSOP has a bunch of lawyers, judges and even the Attorney
General – who represents and supports the counties that petitioned for our commitments – helping MSOP with
security issues, and calling them “stakeholders”.
[DAW]
DROP INTERVIEWS
OCEAN newsletters have expanded across the states. One detainee in another hospital has replied to our
article in Issue 6: “Correcting false information in your detainee charts VIA DATA CHALLENGE-It’s your
responsibility.”
We received this letter from Jim Blessings in North Carolina and found it to be so imperative that we thought
we would simply share his story word for word:
My name is Jim Blessing, I am 77 years of age and I have been civilly committed 1 1 years. I
committed myself based on what an evaluator told me. It was obvious to her that I was heartbroken
over hurting my family and I was in need of answers. She told me that if I committed myself, I would
get all my questions answered and my family would be brought in to join me in treatment sessions, for
rehabilitation. My attorney said I would only be looking at one year. It didn’t take long after my
8 0
arrival to learn I had been lied to. My family would not be joining me and I got no answers in group
therapy because all they wanted was detailed disclosures of the past, nothing relating to the underlying
issues for my offense. I went searching on my own and found my answers. Dr. Fred Berlin was a great
help. I communicated with him over a 2 year period.
I was highly criticized for looking for answers outside of the program. Evaluators took it upon
themselves to destroy my good character in annual reports and create false information to punish me.
One evaluator even gave me a Narcissistic personality disorder for my contact with Dr. Berlin.
I appreciate the information you gave about false information in annual reports on page 3. I am
looking into what I could do.
I am putting together a class-action lawsuit addressing a number of issues including having a recourse
to challenge false information in our reports.
I received a copy of your OCEAN newsletter when I received my December Legal Pad from Eldon
Dillingham. I am so grateful he included a copy with his mailing.
Your OCEAN Newsletter is very much appreciated and I commend you on the great work you are
doing. I share your newsletter with others.
I was told that California passed a law that requires the sex offender program there must have max
out date. Is this true?
By the way, our case managers are social workers who know nothing about sex offending and they
focus on detailed pornographic descriptions of one’s offenses. I will address this in my lawsuit.
This program is controlled by a “for profit” company whose objective is to use us to make money.
The company is “Wellpath Recovery Solutions” and they are a 1.5 billion dollar institute.
They treat us like slaves and the conditions are far more punitive than prison. We have no privacy.
The staff comes by our rooms and looks in every 30 minutes and we cannot put anything on the
window to indicate we are getting dressed or using the bathroom. They control the lights and there is a
light that stays on 24-7 even when the regular lights are turned off and is bright enough to read by. The
portions of food are small, to save money! We have had 2 people to die recently from a lack of good
medical care. This is just a few things out of many that we deal with every day here in S.C .. I will close
for now. Keep up the good work!
Signed, Jim Blessing
Thank you Jim, and we will continue the fight for our constitutional rights, liberty and reform. Let everyone in
S.C. know they are in our thoughts and prayers.
OCEAN THANKS YOU
We want to thank Eldon Dillingham, Garnett B., Pearl, Roy, James, Chris K., and everyone that participated in
the civil Commitment Conference call on February 1, 2020.
It has been crazy trying to get the opportunity to be a part of the conference call. We are so glad that we were
able to hear the stories and the encouragements from everyone on the phone.
One thing that we noticed is that there are some serious similarities between facilities across the nation. The
punitive nature of civil commitment is consistently petty and harmful to detainees with absolutely no
therapeutic value whatsoever. We are praying for everyone locked up in these places and don’t forget that you
are not alone.
OCEAN thanks Galen and Garnett B for collaborating with OCEAN to find new ways we can expand our
reach. You are encouraging us to work harder and with more zeal than we could have conjured up alone.
Thank you again to Jim Blessings for your letter. We are sorry for your situation and although we are in a
similar place, it does not make hearing about your struggles any easier to accept. We hope and pray for your
peace of mind, even if it comes before our own.
A thousand blessings to everyone fighting for our constitutional rights.
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