A study released last month on Minnesota's "civil commitment" policies regarding people convicted of sex offenses says the state has failed in proving the worth of programs run in Moose Lake and St. Peter, under the umbrella of Minnesota Sex Offender Program, or MSOP.

"Minnesota's uniquely aggressive civil commitment program threatens basic constitutional rights while exacerbating the very problem it is intended to solve," said Eric Janus, director of Sex Offense Litigation and Policy Resource Center at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, the creators of the study.

The report says the state "needl...