Opinion ID: 1276594
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Degree of Protection to the Community Under the Proposed Discharge Plan

Text: The proposed discharge plan would be the same as the partial hospitalization program under which supervision was provided by petitioner's own reports of his activities to the police. The only difference would be that he would be away from the hospital all 7 days of the week instead of just 4. He would fill the extra 3 days with outpatient therapy and the development of his home electronics business. The panel found that this proposal did not provide a reasonable degree of protection to the public. Petitioner argues that he has demonstrated his ability to control his conduct by his compliance with the terms of the partial hospitalization for 14 months without incident. Based on this, he contends that he can be safely released into the community. He also stresses the fact that he has not had an incident of sexual misconduct since 1976. Despite petitioner's apparent good conduct while on pass in the period 1981-1982, the evidence as a whole supports the panel's determination that the provisional discharge plan would not provide a reasonable degree of protection to the community. It was while petitioner was on unsupervised weekend leave that he committed the assault that led to revocation of his probation in 1976. Under the plan, the only supervision of activities would be provided by the Dakota County police and petitioner's social worker at Dakota County Mental Health Center. A Dakota County police officer and the social worker both testified that they relied on petitioner's own reports of his whereabouts and did not have the manpower to provide independent supervision. The social worker admitted that he would have to rely on petitioner's wife's reports as well. Mrs. Enebak never reported her husband's absence from the home to the police or to the Mental Health Center on the night of the 1976 sexual assault. The medical director of the Security Hospital suspects that she may play a role in facilitating her husband's behavior. The lack of supervision and the need to rely on petitioner's unverified reports are especially troublesome in light of the testimony that persons with petitioner's disorder require a great deal of control and supervision. Although petitioner has not had a reported incident of sexual misconduct since 1976, he has never received any substantial treatment for his condition. The evidence strongly indicates that petitioner's behavior disorder will not change if untreated. For the above reasons, we affirm the decision of the three-judge panel denying petitioner's proposed provisional discharge.