On the afternoon of ___ ___’s 18th birthday, three parole officers showed up at his home in West New York, N.J. Sanchez was in his slippers and shorts, and when his mother asked if she could grab her son something else to wear, an officer assured her that ___ would be gone only for a little while.
That was five years ago. ____ is behind bars, but he is not in a regular prison. He is considered a resident, one who is detained involuntarily and indefinitely at the Special Treatment Unit for sexually violent predators, commonly known as Avenel. He is among 428 people who have been “civilly committed” at the facility, all of them living in limbo. Full Article
I still can’t get my mind around how “civil commitment” is in any way constitutional. Holding someone for a crime he might commit in the future? No trial, no due process?
What this government does is absolutely criminal. Anyone else detaining someone against his will would be charged with false imprisonment- after all, if someone isn’t free to go as he pleases, he is by definition imprisoned, not a “resident.”
Stories like this enrage me to no end.