Serial Rapist is Lone Resident of New Home for Sex Offenders

The issue of what to do with sexual predators continues to become as twisted as the people at the center of the problem. On one side are the law enforcement interests, the people who have to investigate, apprehend and incarcerate these monsters. On the other is the Psychology industry who think that the right therapy is all we need and the world will be shiny and new again. Finally there is the public that wants the predators caged and out of the way, but are paying for both the other two until a solution is found. In Washington State they are really being fleeced.

Since last September, a million-dollar, state-of-the-art residence for sex offenders in Seattle has sat vacant, open for business but empty, while officials dickered over who should move in.

Meanwhile, the state was spending about $62,000 to rent the converted warehouse, and another $385,400 to pay staff -- all in preparation for today, when Joseph Aqui, a convicted serial rapist, becomes the first resident.

Last Thursday, Aqui sat politely before King County Superior Court Judge Paris Kallas, saying he understood the conditions of his confinement -- a ban on pornography, prohibitions against social contact with women and children and several dozen additional rules. He thanked the system for giving him another chance.

Because a judge feels he has all knowledge on this issue he has commanded from the bench that sex offenders are and should be reintroduced into society. So the state has built a monument to nonsense, opening its doors to one Joseph Aqui, the first and only resident of the high security halfway house for integrating sexual predators back into the quiet neighborhoods of Washington. The place has sat empty waiting for a client since this seems to be voluntary and Aqui is the only one to step up.

The Seattle home, built after a federal court ordered the state to reintegrate sex offenders into society and the subject of much community debate over location, has a stark, institutional feel, the Pierce County sex offenders have said. Also, they say, it is too much in the public eye.

The state plans to spend $3.7 million to operate the secure community-treatment facility over the two years. With 1,800-pound magnetic door locks, 24-hour video cameras, solar lighting tubes and a high-tech command center, it cost $1.7 million to build.

A team of 17 staffers will be deployed in shifts to watch Aqui around the clock as the facility's sole resident does his own laundry, cooks his own food in the suburban-style kitchen and looks for work. At least once a week, he'll travel to Bellevue, under supervision, for sex offender treatment and during down time walk through the "garden," a fenced-in, plantless patch of cement beneath the highway.

Very impressive considering there is room for only six sex offenders to live there. That works out to just $308.000 per person. For all that you might expect that a close eye would be on them.

"We don't have a block on particular channels, but individuals know what they can and cannot watch," said Allen Ziegler, who manages community sex offender facilities at the Department of Social and Health Services. "It's like anyone -- you know what your limitations are and you shouldn't go beyond that boundary."

What would make a man who's job it is to rehabilitate sex offenders think that this type of person has any self control? It just might be he hasn't a clue. Mr. Aqui seems to know that nobody in charge has one either.

For 30 years his pattern has been to gain the trust of supervisors, then deceive them. Discussing Aqui's case before Judge Kallas in 2003, prosecutor David Hackett quoted an exasperated therapist at Western State Hospital as saying, "It is obvious that we were completely fooled by this very charming, clever and utterly unscrupulous individual."

Nevertheless, last week Hackett appeared relieved at the latest resolution to what he termed "a long and bumpy road with Mr. Aqui."

"I think this is a good solution," he said. "It gives both the community and Mr. Aqui a chance for success."

The only chance for success that's going to be realized in this situation is the successful picking of the taxpayer pocket for another expensive and useless experiment in solving the world's problems through therapy. One of the latest renditions of this is called Restorative Justice. The now famous Judge Cashman from Vermont subscribes to this bit of nonsense. It was his reason for giving a child rapist 60 days for a conviction for four years of abuse.

Hard to imagine how long the taxpayers will suffer the judges that pick their pockets for the latest rehabilitation craze, but when it's the welfare of their children that's at stake they may be ready to go for the torch light parade.