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Lile: C iise sparks debate about testing done in prisonContinued from Page A1gram.Non-participants are moved to a more dangerous part of the prison and can’t have the better prison jobs, he said.Prison officials counter that inmates have no constitutional rights to such things as a television, a job, or to live in a particular part of a prison. They consider privileges part of prison management, not as constitutional rights.“Inmates don’t get a choice of where to live, Corrections Secretary Charles Simmons said in a court deposition.If they agree to participate in treatment, prisoners also don’t get a choice on whether to take the polygraph and penile plethysmograph tests. Those who refuse are booted.Madden said officials don’t want to spend time working with inmates who deny having a sexual abuse problem.“It’s a waste of time and a waste of a slot,” he said.Officials say they use he detectortests to verify accuracy and completeness of the offender’s sexual history. They say the plethysmograph test is used only for diagnosis and treatment.During the test, inmates listen to audio recordings of sexual scenar ios that include graphic and violent scenes of nonconsensual behavior while a machine measures their arousal.Results are discussed in group therapyPrison officials say offenders must accept responsibility for their actions, and that the program helps them live a better life when they gain freedom by learning what triggers their arousal.Robert McGrath, clinical director of the Vermont Treatment Program for Sexual Aggressors, calls the plethysmograph test an important tool.“Sex arousal, as measured by the plethysmograph, is the single most powerful predictor of sexual arousal, he said.Yet some studies question the reliability of that test, and experts saythere’s a difference between arousal and action.The test has been ruled inadmissible in courts of law, and in court filings, Lile's attorney, David Waxse, called it “an unproven experimental technology that is especially ineffective and meaningless when the participant is being coerced to participate.”He contended that the 70 percent of prison programs that don’t use the plethysmograph test could be considered equally effective.Tracking its use in a national survey, the Safer Society Foundation, a non-profit agency specializing in sexual abuse prevention and treatment, found the test used in 28 percent of community programs and in 45 percent of residential sex offender programs for adult males.Barbara Schwartz, Boston, said in a deposition that the test shouldn’t be used for predictions, but could be used for treatment and therapy That’s how Kansas uses the program, Madden said.“It identifies issues to be explored,” he said.
Newspaper Details
Garden City Telegram
Garden City, Kansas, US
Fri, Dec 22, 2000
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Emily S.
NA, 04 Oct 2020
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