In an effort to protect Kansas residents, the state passed legislation in 1994 designed to confine people who had committed violent sexual crimes until they no longer were a danger to the public.

Perhaps, because of mental illness or other issues, some of those offenders would never meet that standard, but with proper therapy or medical intervention, it seemed likely that a sizable number could be released without posing a danger.

Now comes a report from the Legislative Division of Post Audit indicating that in the 20 years of this program’s existence only three people have been released. Far more, 27, have died in custody. A total of 258 offenders currently are in the program, which cost the state about $13.9 million last year. Unless changes are made, the audit said, both the size of the program and the cost to maintain it will more than double in the next decade to about 500 patients and between $26 million and $34 million by 2025.

The rising cost of the program gets legislators’ attention, but the human toll may be even larger.

The 1994 law provides for offenders to be involuntarily committed to a state facility after completing their prison sentences. Currently all of the offenders being treated are men. Most of those, 243, are at Larned State Hospital; facilities at Parsons and Osawatomie each have eight patients.

The audit compared the Kansas program with similar programs in Wisconsin, Washington and Iowa. The Wisconsin program, also established in 1994, has a current population of 312, but, since its inception, it has conditionally released 122 people and unconditionally discharged 118 people. Long-term data on those who are released committing new offenses isn’t available, the audit report said, but Wisconsin recently started to capture data that estimates its rate for re-offenses was between 3 percent and 5 percent.

In order to be released from the Kansas program, offenders must complete a seven-phase treatment plan. That’s a difficult goal when patients, according to the audit, receive fewer than three hours of therapy a week, much of it not tailored to their individual needs. Records of patients’ progress also are insufficient the audit says. State statute requires an annual exam of each resident’s mental condition to determine whether that person still meets the requirement for a involuntary commitment, but those exams haven’t been completed at Larned. Unlike sexual predator programs in other states, the Kansas program offers no GED or adult basic education programs and no treatment for drug and alcohol addiction. According to the audit, “staff said the program was not designed to provide rehabilitation such as addiction recovery services.”

Without rehabilitation, therapy or even proper evaluation, what is this program other than a way to warehouse people indefinitely, not meeting the intent of the original law and perhaps violating their civil rights?

Kansas and its Menninger Clinic once prided itself on progressive treatment of mental illness. About a decade ago, it also was known as a leader in rehabilitating prison inmates and successfully returning them to society. The audit report on the state’s sexual predator program should make state officials ashamed. If there are people in this program who can never be rehabilitated, the state should admit that and find another way to properly confine them. But those who might be able, with proper therapy and education, to re-enter society deserve better. The state has a moral and legal obligation to provide a program that gives them that chance.