ACLU Urges Appellate Court to Uphold Alaska Constitutional Rights;
Department of Corrections Must Provide Needed Treatment
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 7, 2008
CONTACT: Jason Brandeis, ACLU of Alaska, (907) 250-8503
ANCHORAGE — The American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska (ACLU) today
argued, as amicus curiae, before the Court of Appeals, that the State of Alaska
must make in-prison sexual offender treatment available to prisoners amenable
to receiving it.
“The Alaska Constitution is clear,” said Jason Brandeis, ACLU Staff Attorney. “The right to rehabilitation means the Department of Corrections cannot simply warehouse prisoners and then release them into the general public without providing treatment during incarceration. Failure to do so not only ignores the Constitution, it is an abdication of the DOC’s responsibility to protect the public and provide offenders with the tools necessary to reintegrate into society.”
The trial court judge in these consolidated appeals had ordered in-prison treatment based on legal precedent and sound public policy. The ACLU urged the Court of Appeals to uphold these orders. The State, however, has terminated all in-prison sex offender treatment.
In the past, the Alaska Supreme Court has made it clear that a prisoner has the right to begin the process of rehabilitation while in prison.
###