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Image provided by: Guilderland Public Library
BBWUSERLAND PUBUC UBRBRY DO NOT CIRCULATE lQZ.6t>80?l AN pueiJ^piinf, ******ly/iyy/-\ 17 ****** DO NOT CLIP ANYTHING from newspapers. This is defacing library property, and anyone found doing this •^jgj[l be held responsible for the cost of the items defaced. ******************************************* No. 19 - THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30,2006 For 122 years Albany County's independent newspaper Sex offenders at a crossroads: Rehab or commit? !' 5 5 % >; By Saranac Hale Spencer ALBANY — Just before he leaves office, Governor George Pataki has called a Dec; 13 spe- cial legislative session in which he wants to pass a bill that would commit some convicted sex offenders to mental health. facilities after they have served their prison terms. The governor is responding to last week's unanimous decision by the Court of Appeals, which ruled that the current practice is inappropriate. committing some convicts who had been set for release, using article 9 of the Mental Hygiene Law. In September of last year, Pataki directed prison officials and state mental health employ- ees to screen sex offenders who were nearing the end of their prison terms and commit those who qualified to a mental hospi- tal. Of the 787 who have been examined, 112 are currently committed, according to the gov- ernor's office. 'We've got the new Rockerfeller drug law coming up.' The Enterprise — Saranac Hale Spencer \We've got to give people hope,\ says Father Peter Young on the treatment of sex offenders. This has also served as his motto in treating people addicted to drugs and alcohol. \We've got the new Rockefeller drug law coming up,\ said Fa- ther Peter Young, referring to the push for a civil commitment law. The priest founded pro- grams, including one in Altampnt, to help alcoholics and drug abusers. The drug laws passed in the 1970's during governor Nelson Rockefeller's administration led to lengthy prison sentences for users and small-time dealers, effectively tying judges' hands when it came to meting out punishment. The state prison population swelled from 12,500 to nearly five times that today. Placing sex offenders in men- tal-health facilities is lauded as a public-safety measure by many politicians, but some mental health experts say otherwise. \The trend is actually away from civil commitment,\ said Dr. Richard Hamill, president of the New York State Alliance of Of- fender Service Providers and director of The Capitol District Center for Sex Offender Man- agement. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have a civil- commitment law and two of them, Florida and Kansas, are looking at dismantling them. There are a variety of other pro- grams for sex-offender manage- ment. \That's what the research tells us is effective,\ he said. Following orders from the gov- ernor's office, the state's De- partment of Correctional Serv- ices and Office of Mental Health have been evaluating and civilly Last Tuesday, however, the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, ruled that the mental hygiene law does not apply to prison inmates; rather, it said, \Correction Law § 402 is the appropriate method for evalu- ating an inmate for post-release involuntary commitment to a mental facility.\ In effect, Cor- rection Law can have the same outcome as the Mental Hygiene Law while also affording due process. Correction Law requires that a prison superintendent petition a court for the mental examination of an inmate by two court- appointed physicians. If the prisoner is certified as mentally ill, the superintendent must then petition the court for a commitment order. When the notice of petition is served on the inmate, he may then request a hearing before being transferred to the psychiatric hospital, whereas Mental Hygiene Law foregoes court-appointed physi- cians in favor of state-employed doctors and provides no mecha- nism for notification to the pris- oner nor for a pre-transfer hearing. \There can be no doubt that the Governor and state officials have a very valid concern about the risks posed to the public by repeat sex offenders,\ says the Nov. 15, 2005 decision by the state's Supreme Court, which was upheld by last week's Court of Appeals ruling. \Neverthe- (Continued on Page 20) •il h\ m ' 1 Bosworth supporters: Put him in Democrats' top seat By Jarrett Carroll ALBANY COUNTY — Al- though Albany County Democ- rats currently have a leader, there is no consensus on whether or not he was rightfully chosen for the job. Lengthy legal wrangling, recused judges, disputed voting processes, and a questionable vote total may sound reminis- cent of a Law and Order episode, but for the county's contested chairmanship, it's a reality. The post was sought by both Albany's Frank Commisso, who was groomed for the job and had served as first vice chair, and suburban David Bosworth, who heads Guilderland's Democratic party and was backed by a growing suburban contingent in the party. Commisso won by a 253-219 standing vote. The vote was called fraudulent by some suburban Democrats and a week later the case landed in New York Supreme Court, the lowest of the state's three-tiered judicial system. After first asking for a new election with a court-appointed monitor, the Bosworth slate now (Continued on Page 19) Aidala to retire as Guilderland's super — page 12
