Proposed legislation to tighten the monitoring of sexual predators released from Torrance State Hospital into the local community is expected to be introduced this fall, according to a state lawmaker.
State Rep. Eric Nelson, R-Hempfield, said Thursday the bill being drafted would address safety concerns raised last month related to the Sexual Responsibility Treatment Program. The one-of-a-kind program operates at the Derry Township facility and is for former juvenile offenders deemed too dangerous to be released into the community.
Program participants can be indefinitely detained and can be released from the secured mental health hospital only by Common Pleas Court judges.
Local officials said they believe an increase in the number of program participants — as many as 14 in recent years — has potentially put the community at risk.
During a public meeting Thursday afternoon of the Torrance State Hospital Board of Trustees, administrators said there are 57 people being treated in the sexual predator program. Twelve participants are living outside Torrance under supervision. Three of those people are expected to be discharged from the program by year’s end, said Torrance Chief Operating Officer John O’Donnell.
O’Donnell declined to provide additional information.
The sexual predator program, administered by the Department of Human Services, was authorized by state law in 2003 under Act 21. It gives county judges the authority to indefinitely detain violent juvenile sex offenders once they reach adulthood. Individuals are held in a secure unit at the mental hospital to undergo treatment, and judges must review each case annually to determine if a participant requires continued secure detention.
Once released from Torrance, participants are subjected to at least one year of oversight that includes continued outpatient treatment, weekly staff visits to provide food and medications, and behavior and location tracking through an online app.
Nelson said the proposed legislation would lengthen the mandatory monitoring period outside of Torrance from one year to two years. The proposed bill includes a provision that triggers an automatic appeal to Commonwealth Court in cases where a judge discharges a program participant over objections from medical staff at Torrance. It also requires all those who are discharged to register with the Pennsylvania State Police as sex offenders.
“We’re trying to install some real protective measures and refocus and update the program. We want to give Torrance greater input,” Nelson said.
Torrance officials are expected to weigh in on the proposed program changes, Nelson said. A meeting with hospital officials and medical staff is expected to be held in early August.
Meanwhile, O’Donnell said state Department of Human Services Secretary Dr. Val Arkoosh will tour Torrance’s sexual predator program during a visit to the hospital on Aug. 18.
Work on Nelson’s proposed bill, expected to be backed by Westmoreland County’s legislative delegation, continues.
“We’re really trying to work with Torrance,” Nelson said.
