FORT MYERS -- Eight sexual predators detained under the Jimmy Ryce Act have sued the state, claiming they are getting inadequate treatment for their mental health problems, which leaves them with little chance of being released.
The federal lawsuit filed Friday named the state Department of Children & Families and Liberty Behavioral Health Corp., the company contracted to run the Florida Civil Commitment Center in Arcadia.
The suit claims Liberty Behavioral Health is short staffed and fails to provide adequate, individualized treatment. Some detainees spend as little as two hours per week in treatment, according to the suit.
Under the 1999 Ryce Act, sex offenders who have served their criminal sentences are subject to indefinite civil commitment if a jury deems them unfit to return to society. The law allows sexual predators, who are likely to repeat their crimes, to be held for treatment until officials show it is safe to release them.
DCF spokesman Tim Bottcher said the center is run ``in accordance with state law.''
But without adequate treatment, the detainees allege, they are being ``warehoused'' in the state center.
``They have essentially locked them up and thrown away the key,'' said Alice K. Nelson, an attorney in the Gainesville office of Southern Legal Counsel, a nonprofit, public-interest law firm.
The law was named for a 9-year-old South Florida boy who was kidnapped, raped and murdered by a sexual predator in 1995.
His parents, Don and Claudine Ryce, issued a statement Wednesday saying, ``The Jimmy Ryce Act is an extremely important law protecting the safety of children from sexual predators. We stand behind the strength of this law 100 percent.''
Plaintiffs include Lawrence McGee of Collier County, Roger Canupp of Orange County, Jacob Myers of Hillsborough County, Hubert Davidson of Duval County, Bruce Kramer of Brevard County, Daniel Fabian of Pinellas County, and Tywaun Jackson and Charles Durden, both of Palm Beach County.
They are asking that the complaint be designated a class action on behalf of more than 420 detainees.
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