(a) The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, subject to the legislative appropriation of the necessary funds, may establish and operate, after January 1, 2007, a specialized sex offender treatment pilot program for inmates whom the department determines pose a high risk to the public of committing violent sex crimes.

(b) (1) The program shall be based upon the relapse prevention model and shall include referral to specialized services, such as substance abuse treatment, for offenders needing those specialized services.

(2) Except as otherwise required under Section 645, the department may provide medication treatments for selected offenders, as determined by medical protocols, and only on a voluntary basis and with the offender’s informed consent.

(c) (1) The program shall be targeted primarily at adult sex offenders who meet the following conditions:

(A) The offender is within five years of being released on parole. An inmate serving a life term may be excluded from treatment until he or she receives a parole date and is within five years of that parole date, unless the department determines that the treatment is necessary for the public safety.

(B) The offender has been clinically assessed.

(C) A review of the offender’s criminal history indicates that the offender poses a high risk of committing new sex offenses upon his or her release on parole.

(D) Based upon the clinical assessment, the offender may be amenable to treatment.

(2) The department may include other appropriate offenders in the treatment program if doing so facilitates the effectiveness of the treatment program.

(3) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, inmates who are condemned to death or sentenced to life without the possibility of parole are ineligible to participate in treatment.

(d) The program under this section shall be established with the assistance and supervision of the staff of the department primarily by obtaining the services of specially trained sex offender treatment providers, as determined by the secretary of the department and the Director of State Hospitals.

(e) (1) The program under this section, upon full implementation, shall provide for the treatment of inmates who are deemed to pose a high risk to the public of committing sex crimes, as determined by the State-Authorized Risk Assessment Tool for Sex Offenders, pursuant to Sections 290.04 to 290.06, inclusive.

(2) To the maximum extent that is practical and feasible, offenders participating in the treatment program shall be held in a separate area of the prison facility, segregated from any non-sex offenders held at the same prison, and treatment in the pilot program shall be provided in program space segregated, to the maximum extent that is practical and feasible, from program space for any non-sex offenders held at the same prison.

(f) (1) The State Department of Mental Health, or its successor, the State Department of State Hospitals, by January 1, 2012, shall provide a report evaluating the program to the fiscal and public safety policy committees of both houses of the Legislature, and to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee.

(2) The report shall initially evaluate whether the program under this section is operating effectively, is having a positive clinical effect on participating sex offenders, and is cost effective for the state.

(3) In conducting its evaluation, the State Department of Mental Health, or its successor, the State Department of State Hospitals, shall consider the effects of treatment of offenders while in prison and while subsequently on parole.

(4) The State Department of Mental Health, or its successor, the State Department of State Hospitals, shall advise the Legislature as to whether the program should be continued past its expiration date, expanded, or concluded.

(Amended by Stats. 2012, Ch. 24, Sec. 47. (AB 1470) Effective June 27, 2012.)