Virginia wants sex offender locked up beyond sentence

CHESAPEAKE

The Virginia Attorney General's Office calls him a "sexually violent predator."

A psychologist believes the twice-convicted sex offender has a personality disorder that makes it difficult for him to control his predatory urges.

But unless the state succeeds in making that case in court, Reginald C. Artis, 48, will be released March 5 after almost 25 years in prison.

In a petition filed in Circuit Court, Assistant Attorney General Erin Whealton has asked to have Artis civilly committed to the custody of the Virginia Department of Corrections.

Artis' mother said her son should be allowed to return home.

"He's not dangerous," said Yvonne Brown of Harbour North Drive in Chesapeake.

If released, Artis would be supervised by the state's Probation and Parole Office in Chesapeake and would have to register as a sex offender.

If committed, Artis would join 273 other offenders at a secure facility in Nottoway County that is operated by the state's Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. He would be released only when cleared by the facility's staff and the court.

Artis, who was 24 when he was last on the streets, pleaded guilty in 1987 to one count of forcible sodomy of a 17-year-old boy. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison, but "mandatory parole" will shave 15 years off his sentence, said Larry Traylor, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections.

According to a news report at the time, the 1987 conviction came three years after Artis - he lettered in three sports at Great Bridge High School - was convicted of sexually battering a 16-year-old boy. He was sentenced to 13 months in jail in that case, but the entire sentence was suspended on the condition he stay out of trouble.

In the petition, Whealton noted that Dr. Stephen C. Ganderson, a clinical psychologist, has diagnosed Artis with an unspecified personality disorder with narcissistic, avoidant and antisocial traits. She said he believed the disorder makes it likely Artis will continue to engage in violent sexual acts.

The General Assembly created the Sexually Violent Predator Program in 1998 to keep sex offenders deemed likely to re-offend locked up after they finish their criminal sentences. It was first funded in 2003, according to a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office.

Over the past eight years, the program's operating budget has increased more than eightfold - from less than $3 million in fiscal 2004 to more than $24 million this fiscal year. Gov. Bob McDonnell's proposed budget would give the program $27 million in 2013 and $28 million in 2014.

A steady stream of new offenders at the Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation is driving up the price tag. The facility, which opened in 2008 with a planned capacity of 300, housed 214 offenders in September 2010. That grew to 252 last January and 273 this week.

Between four and five new offenders enter the program each month, officials said. Only 27 have been released since the facility opened.

Budgetary concerns prompted the General Assembly in 2011 to direct the facility to start double-bunking in 150 rooms, raising the capacity to 450.

McDonnell had asked to borrow $43.5 million to convert a closed prison in Brunswick County into a second 300-bed treatment center, but the legislature scrapped the plans.

"Increasing (the facility's) capacity ... has allowed more time to study the issue and work with the General Assembly to identify ways to ensure the program is receiving the most appropriate admissions," said Meghan McGuire, a spokeswoman for the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, explaining that current projections have the facility reaching capacity in late 2014 or early 2015.

Legislators are moving to keep more offenders in prison and out of the treatment center. The House of Delegates unanimously approved a bill on Tuesday that would impose a mandatory minimum life sentence on any adult convicted of rape, forcible sodomy, or object sexual penetration of a child under the age of 13. The Senate passed a similar bill last week.

Mary Devoy, an advocate for modifying some of Virginia's sex crime laws, complained recently that the proposed mandatory minimums were a bad idea. They are designed more to save the state money than to address any real problems with the system, she said.

"It's all about saving a dollar. Prisons are cheaper" than treatment, she said.

Scott Daugherty, 757-222-5221, scott.daugherty@pilotonline.com