ALBANY – The Pataki administration has quietly begun locking up dangerous sex fiends in a Manhattan mental institution after they complete their prison terms, The Post has learned.
Frustrated that the Democrat-led Assembly has thus far refused to act on a civil-confinement law that would allow the state to keep sexual predators who finish their prison sentences locked up and away from the public, Gov. Pataki decided to take matters into his own hands, aides said.
Pataki three weeks ago directed the Office of Mental Health and the Department of Correctional Services to “push the envelope” by applying the state’s existing law allowing for the involuntary commitment of the mentally ill to sexual predators who have completed their prison sentences.
Since that time, five of 32 sexual offenders reviewed before their scheduled prison release have been sent to the secure Manhattan Psychiatric Center, where they will stay until doctors deem them safe to society or a judge orders them released.
Among those locked up, according to officials, are a man who raped a 3-year-old boy while babysitting and served just 3 ½ years, a repeat offender who was last convicted of sodomizing a girl under 10 years old, and a man who served almost six years after being convicted of abusing three girls.
The other 27 reviewed were let go after mental-health evaluations performed prior to their releases did not deem them serious threats to the public, officials said.
Pataki aides say they expect lawsuits to be filed to stop them. But they argue the administration has the power to unilaterally act under state law, even while recognizing that the law “was not specifically designed with the unique characteristics of sexually violent predators in mind.”
“The governor has been fighting for years to give our criminal-justice and mental-health professionals the tools they need to protect our children and families from sexually violent predators,” Pataki spokesman Kevin Quinn said.
Sexual offenders have the highest rate of recidivism, according to studies. But mental-health experts have been reluctant to include sexually violent predators in their definition of “mentally ill.”
Supporters of civil commitment say 16 other states and the District of Columbia have such laws on the books, a number of which have already been upheld by the Supreme Court.
The state Senate has repeatedly passed legislation giving New York the option, but Assembly Democrats have balked, instead holding public hearings on the issue over the summer.
“The governor can’t wait any longer for the Assembly leadership to pass his proposal,” Quinn said.
The five commitments already executed did not require a court order, Quinn said.
The administration believes that under state law, judicial permission is not needed, although the committed former inmates have the power to seek judicial reviews on their own, he said. None have to date.
Under the governor’s order, sexual predators will undergo a full mental-health evaluation upon entering prison, and those deemed to need it will undertake sex-offender treatment services.
Assembly Republicans recently have begun collecting thousands of signatures in hopes of pressuring the Democrats to take up the matter when they return to Albany.
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Monsters’ new cage
After completing their prison sentences, these five sexual predators were promptly thrown, involuntarily, into a mental hospital, on orders of Gov. Pataki (right):
* Inmate 1: served 3 ½ years after being convicted of raping a 3-year-old boy while baby sitting, causing internal injuries.
* Inmate 2: served 4 ½ years after being convicted of sodomizing and sexually abusing his 11-year-old cousin over two months.
* Inmate 3: is a repeat offender with an extensive criminal history who just finished a 19 1/2-year prison sentence for sodomizing a girl under 10.
* Inmate 4: served 7 years after being convicted of forcing a little girl to perform numerous sexual acts.
* Inmate 5: served almost 6 years after being convicted for sexually abusing three girls, two of whom were 10 years old and one who was 12.