A federal judge has ruled that Minnesota's civil-confinement program for sex offenders violates the constitution, The Star Tribune's Chris Serres reports. U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank opined the civil-commitment program "'is a punitive system that segregates and indefinitely detains a class of potentially dangerous individuals without [legal] safeguards.'"
One issue is that there are no periodic assessments to determine whether offenders are dangerous enough to be confined, Serres reports.
More than 700 men have been locked up after serving their prison terms. Minnesota civilly commits more sex offenders per capita than any other state, Serres reports.
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