Welcome to the Perv Palace

By Jimothy Inkslinger

This novel is about a guy named Vern who is hired to work at the Minnesota Sex Offender Reconditioning Center as a Therapy Guard. He is surrounded by rapists and child molesters in a secure psychiatric facility. He is assigned to work on the Behavior Modification Wing, where the most dangerous and unpredictable men reside. In this stressful environment Vern and his co-workers use humor and reason in attempt to talk some sense into these mentally ill and dangerous men. Hardly an ideal workplace, Vern begins to adapt to his new surroundings before he learns that he is under investigation. His professional conduct was challenged by a rapist, so the administrators decided to investigate Vern based on a psychopath not being happy with his job performance. Vern continues to work on the other wings where he learns the scope of silliness in this facility. He discovers that therapy has never been the goal of the program.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jan 28, 2014
• ISBN: 9781483518459

Book preview

9781483518459

CHAPTER 1

THE SMEGMA OF SOCIETY

In the northwoods of Minnesota, just off the interstate, down a winding road, obscured by rows of pines and groves of poplar, sits a state-operated secure psychiatric facility. In it resides the smegma of society: civilly committed sex offenders. This facility is known as the Minnesota Sex Offender Reconditioning Center (MSORC). From the front entrance it appears to be just another government building. But along the far edges of the parking lot, one can see the razor-wire swirls topping the two ten-foot high, parallel mesh fences. At this vantage point and from the air above, one would swear this is a penitentiary. But it is not. The sex offenders are considered patients, not inmates. They are only allowed to leave while placed in handcuffs, a belly chain, leg shackles, and two escorts.

My name is Vern Wharfington, and I found myself in this place not because of sex offending, but for a new job as a Therapy Guard. I worked on the Behavior Modification Wing with violent patients who displayed a plethora of behavior problems.

These are the guys your mother warned you about. At first, it was hard for me to believe that men this ridiculous existed. They were so manipulative, cunning, sadistic, prone to violence, and completely lacking in the ability to feel authentic compassion for other human beings. Where do such monsters come from? Are they born that way or do they just develop that way because of neglectful parenting? A constant parade of questions marched through my mind. Few answers were forthcoming.

You punk-ass bitch, thinking you’re so tough. Fuck you. You’ll get yours, hollered a murderer named Saulos. Behind a pair of cheap glasses his cold, sadistic eyes stared at me. It was only my third day. More bewildered than intimidated, I stared back. Saulos stood six feet tall with a slender frame and balding dark hair. Only a few feet and a half-door separated us.

Now Saulos, let’s just cool it and be appropriate, said the veteran therapy guard Lara.

A befuddled rage simmered within me. I wanted to fight this horrible person but that wasn’t part of my job description. A million mean phrases whipped through my mind, yet I continued to bite my tongue. The hate in my eyes probably said enough. Saulos and the other patients on the wing could see it already. They knew I wouldn’t be a pushover.

This day was the toughest so far. This strange occupation required me to be surrounded by rapists and kiddy-fiddlers for at least eight hours at a day. I was employed to monitor these monsters. Just hired three weeks earlier, it’d been a steep learning curve. But with a wife and child to provide for, and a mortgage to pay, I quelled my honest instincts which yearned for violence. I sized Saulos up and knew he was greasy to his core. I could slaughter Saulos within a half dozen moves, but instead I took a deep breath and swallowed my pride.

New guy has gotta learn. Show some respect or pay the price, hollered Saulos walking away.

Just go to your room Saulos and calm down, Lara said nonchalantly. She had worked at the MSORC since it opened in 1995. She was short but didn’t take shit from anybody.

I’m sorry, I didn’t know what to say, I said.

Don’t worry about it Vern. Sometimes it’s best not to say anything at all, said Lara. These guys are nuts, but they’ll use your words against you, so you’re better off not saying much.

I’ll keep that in mind Lara, thanks, I said. Just how have you been able to deal with such hostility for so many years?

I’ve heard it all sweetheart, replied Lara. Nothing bothers me anymore. I try to treat the guys with respect, but I can’t control how they treat me in return. So I don’t worry about it. None of them will probably ever taste freedom again. Screw them and their idiotic opinions.

Good to know. I guess I’ve got a lot of learning to do around here.

It’ll come with time, don’t worry about it, Lara replied.

I was happy just to have a job. Times were tough. A massive recession was underway, the state of Minnesota faced a several billion dollar shortfall, and millions were out of work, so I took a job as therapy guard even though I knew it was bullshit. Just maybe with my knowledge of philosophy and sports, I could help turn a few patients around? I could be an effective Agent-of-Change. Who knows, right? I attempted to be positive about my new line of work, my only chance of being successful.

So vile and filled with bile, once the rage switch was flipped on any particular patient things turned ugly. Most of them tried to maintain an image of compliance with the facility’s rules in order to earn privileges. The façade would quickly slip away once a patient lost his temper. Like when a therapy guard would question a patient’s honesty or motivation. I’d learn this too all too well.

Saulos blew up over the fact that I decided to send a piece of mail entitled: Realms of Fantasy Magazine the Media Review Panel. It looked sexually explicit with a partially naked Viking woman holding a sword on the cover of the periodical. Saulos was an odd ball. After serving his sentence for rape and murder, the state decided to civilly commit him as a Sexually Dangerous Person. Guilty of second degree murder for the death of a woman in his apartment complex, Saulos was not a quality human being. After he strangled her with a lamp cord, he shoved her keys in her vagina and a lighter in her rectum. He spray painted the corpse with green spray-paint and rolled her up in an old carpet, then telephoned a local news station. The authorities caught him a few days later.

After several years in MSORC, Saulos changed his name from Saul Sanderson to Saulos. Perhaps to somewhat shield himself from his deviant criminal history or maybe he just pictured himself the next Cher or Madonna? Saulos once attempted to curtail his sexual offending propensities by cutting his penis off with a plastic knife. The night staff discovered him and saved his life. Saulos was a dramatic diva who loved to cause trouble with other patients and staff. His psychological diagnosis was borderline personality disorder along with antisocial personality disorder. Saulos was just one of the fourteen patients on this wing.

________

Months earlier, I’d heard that the state was hiring for a facility in Goose Lake. This wasn’t far from where I lived so I thought it was worth a shot. The pay and benefits were better than my job as a child counselor working with mentally ill children. So I applied online, not expecting much. I’d forgotten about this job prospect after not hearing anything. Months later, I received a call from someone at MSORC and they offered me an interview. So I went, not expecting much.

A couple of middle-aged supervisors greeted me when I arrived at the facility. I didn’t feel my usual interview inspired angst, because I didn’t really expect to get the job. The mustachioed male supervisor asked: So what do you think about sex offenders?

I thought for a few seconds before answering, I think that they are people who have made some poor choices. I think that they have the ability to learn from their mistakes with therapy but the choice is ultimately theirs.

The two interviewers nodded and wrote down my answer. Then the female supervisor asked: What kind of experience do you have working with people of different racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds?

I’ve worked at a group home in Bemidji for mentally ill people, so I’ve dealt with all different sorts of folks. I try not to judge and to treat each person as a unique individual, I replied. Most of my answers were delicately contrived, politically-correct bullshit, yet they seemed to buy it.

A week later, I received a call for a job offer. I accepted and the training would begin the next week. I told my wife of five years, Kristen. To celebrate we delivered our daughter Zara to my parents and headed to the Olive Garden.

Well, congrats honey. I’m so proud of you, said Kristen.

Thanks dear. Now the bank should back off on their foreclosure threats, I said smiling. Now I’m just gonna have to watch my mouth around all these sexual deviants.

You’ll be fine. Just think before you speak.

The server arrived with their wine and breadsticks. After she left, Kristen put a breadstick in her mouth and brought it back and forth repeatedly.

You’re naughty. This is a family dining establishment. What if a child were to see?

I bet it got you hard though. Don’t you want to dip your breadstick in me later?

You know it. I just don’t like getting raging hard-ons in public, especially while I’m trying to eat.

On the car ride home, Kristen rubbed my inner thigh and whispered dirty things in my ear. My tumescent member throbbed in anticipation. Once home, I carried her to the bed and we made love. Zara needed a baby brother or sister.

The next day at work, I put in my two week notice. It was tough saying good-bye to the kids. They wanted to know why I was leaving. I told them I got a job keeping bad men from hurting people. A few of them cried, I hugged each one and said I’d miss them all.

CHAPTER 2

TRAINING

I reported for the first day of my three week training. At a Lutheran church in Goose Lake, my classmates and I learned about the therapeutic treatment of sex offenders. MSORC was just a couple of miles away; there wasn’t enough room at the main facility for training. A woman named Sara introduced herself and welcomed everyone to the church basement. With a pen in hand, I sat ready to learn. Sara instructed us to fill out paperwork. We did so, eager to join the ranks of state workers with benefits.

Throughout the day, Sara clicked through PowerPoint presentations. I yawned, despite my efforts not to. Being indoctrinated failed to excite me. Sara’s glance made me try to look more attentive. Once she began talking about the MSORC patients my interest grew.

The patients are civilly committed sex offenders. They repeatedly raped women, molested children, and several committed murder in order to keep their depravity quiet. Most patients had already served time in prison for their criminal convictions. Minnesota lawmakers felt that these sex offenders were still too dangerous to be let out into society, so they devised a law to keep these individuals locked up even after their criminal sentences expired. The state civilly committed these guys for having a Sexual Psychopathic Personality and/or being a Sexually Dangerous Person.

Nearly 400 men lived within the walls of the MSORC when I started. The building was separated into seven wings. Six therapeutic wings separate the patients depending on their progress level. One larger wing housed patients who refused to participate in therapy. There are also over a hundred additional civilly committed sex offenders housed in another facility in St. Augustine, MN. The patients’ sentences are indeterminate. They will be released whenever they are deemed to be no longer a threat.

Two ten-foot high fences topped with razor-wire surround the center. Cameras, motion detectors, and staff monitor the patients’ movements. No patient has ever escaped from this facility, Sara explained. Several escaped from the other facility. That’s why many patients were transferred from St. Augustine to Goose Lake.

This place sure seemed like a prison, I thought.

Finally at 11:30, Sara let the class out for lunch. I was hungry and tired of PowerPoint presentations. I walked with many of my classmates down the block to Hobo Pete’s Pizzeria. As we waited for their pizzas to arrive we discussed our backgrounds.

Fred was formerly a contractor. With the housing market slowing down he needed to find consistent employment. Tessa studied criminal justice in college. This was her first real job. Mike was an ex-cop. He moved to Minnesota from Florida with his family. Sally was a social worker, eager to help people.

Then it was my turn. I told them how I had worked with mentally ill kids at a group home. Tessa asked me if I’d attended to college. I nodded. She asked what my major had been. I shrugged, smiled and told the group that I’d been a philosophy major. Fred and Mike laughed.

Bet that’s useful, said Mike.

That’s why I’m here, I guess. I don’t know why gaining some critical thinking skills is such a joke, but whatever, I said.

Oh, we all are just teasing, relax, said Tessa.

A waitress arrived with the pizzas. I was saved from further explanation as everyone stuffed their faces. The pies were delicious.

Following lunch, we returned to the church. Sara clicked through more PowerPoint presentations. Dull and tedious but at least we got paid to learn. I sipped on an energy drink while watching the boring PowerPoint presentation. It described what makes a good state worker: unquestioning obedience, respect for the patients and the facility, and strict adherence to the official policies and procedures. I nodded with the others showing we understood. Nobody said anything.

Hours later, Sara dismissed us from training. It was nearly four o’clock. I was more confused now than at the start of the day. The bureaucratic bullshit ride was on. I tried my best explaining to Kristen my unexciting day.

The next day started with more PowerPoint presentations. Already, I’d sucked down three cups of coffee. I quivered with caffeine-fueled anticipation, ready to learn. The presentations contained graphics with animated characters that attempted to make the show more entertaining. But the content was dull information concerning work ethic of a good state worker. Five minutes into the first presentation, boredom overtook me. I looked around the room and many others appeared to share my lack of excitement.

The second PowerPoint presentation was the most interesting one thus far. It elucidated the laws which civilly commit sex offenders.

Sara read: These laws are known as sexual predator laws. They are civil laws which differ from the more common criminal laws that are punitive in nature. Civil laws aim not to punish but to regulate behavior to prevent future harm. All of the patients have been civilly committed, which is confinement by a non-criminal process in a treatment facility because these individuals are a danger to the public.

She continued: "Minnesota is one of twenty states that civilly commit sex offenders. Nearly three thousand men are civilly committed across the country. The first law for civilly committing sex offenders was passed in Washington State in 1990. Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Kansas passed similar laws in 1994. The United States Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of these laws. In a 5-to-4 decision in 1997, the Court found that these laws do not constitute double jeopardy or ex post facto law because their aim is treatment for sex offenders, not punishment. The Court decided that ‘mental illness’ along with ‘dangerousness’ were the necessary constitutional predicates for civil commitment. It requires the state to prove that the individual has a mental disorder or dysfunction which keeps the individual from adequately controlling his or her behavior."

Wouldn’t a person have to be crazy to molest a child? I thought to myself.

Then Fred asked Sara: Could you explain what is meant by double jeopardy and ex post facto law?

That’s a good question, said Sara. "Double jeopardy is getting charged for the same crime twice. This is avoided by the distinction between criminal and civil law. Just like O.J. Simpson, who wasn’t convicted in criminal court of double murder but he was convicted in civil court. As for ex post facto law, that’s basically making up a new law after the fact. These sexual predator laws were created long after some people had committed crimes. But because these laws are aimed not to punish offenders, but to provide offenders with therapy and to protect the public, they do not violate ex post facto law. Does that make any sense?"

Most of us trainees nodded. None of us were lawyers so we didn’t care to get that deep into it.

Sara continued the PowerPoint presentation by specifically focusing on the Minnesota statute 253B.185. Civilly committed sex offenders in Minnesota are committed as either a Sexual Psychopathic Personality or as a Sexually Dangerous Person or under both laws. The civil commitment proceedings are initiated by the county prosecutor where the sex offender resided. The Department of Corrections also refers many of their outgoing inmates who had failed sex offender treatment in prison to the county prosecutors for commitment. These sex offenders then face a sixty day initial commitment at the Minnesota Sex Offender Reconditioning Center. Once there, the patients’ behaviors are monitored and analyzed by psychologists. Before the two months is up the psychologists make their recommendation to the judge overseeing the case.

So these guys get locked up for observation before they are even committed? I asked.

Yes, that’s correct, said Sara. A person subjected to a commitment proceeding does not have the right to a jury trial. These cases are adjudicated by a sole judge. The burden of proof is lower than what is necessary to convict a person of a crime. The state has to prove that commitment is required because the sex offender is too dangerous for outpatient treatment programs. When a sex offender gets committed, it is for an indeterminate period of time. It is then up to the patient to convince the psychologists that he is no longer a danger to society.

So has anyone ever graduated from the therapeutic program? Tessa asked Sara. I wondered the same thing.

Yeah, one guy made it all the way through the program a few years back, answered Sara. But after being out on conditional release for a few months he was caught crossing over the border into North Dakota, which was a violation of the terms of release. So they brought him back here. He died shortly thereafter.

Many of us laughed. I smiled and thought of how pathetic it would be to lose one’s freedom because of a trip to North Dakota. Talk about not worthwhile.

Has Dru Sjodin’s murder affected the civil commitment process? inquired Sally.

Yes. The number of commitments has spiked since that awful crime, said Sara. Nobody wants to take a chance releasing another Alfonso.

The room was silence for a moment of collective contemplation. Heads hung, no one smiled, all lost in thought about the wickedness which some men do. Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. was a level 3 sex offender (the worst level) who been released from prison following the completion of his sentence. Not long afterward he raped and murdered a seventeen-year-old girl named Dru Sjodin. Across the state people were furious that Mr. Rodriguez had not been civilly committed to the MSORC. Men like him were the reason for the program in the first place. Minnesota’s Governor Tom Plentitude went so far as to declare that none of the patients would be released from MSORC while he was in office.

This PowerPoint is done. I think it’s time for a break, Sara announced ending the sad silence. With that we filed outside, some for cigarettes and others for fresh air. I took a solitary walk, needing to think things over. This was going to be more than just a job. Daily dealings with men who had done horrible things surely would test my tolerance. Did I have the resolve not to retaliate with violence against those who had harmed so many? I was unsure if the money and health care for my family would be worth all the unpleasantness to come. ‘Only one way to find out,’ I thought walking back to the church basement after ten minutes.

When the class reconvened Sara introduced Dr. Jan Mercer, one of the psychologists at MSORC. Dr. Mercer must have been in her early thirties and was quite a looker. She had a small frame but big juicy tits. Jesus, I thought to myself, maybe I’m a perverted creep. I struggled for a moment to change my train of thought back to learning.

Dr. Mercer began her presentation on psychological disorders and the therapeutic techniques employed to ameliorate them. Why would such a beautiful, bright doctor want to work with sex offenders, I pondered. She clicked through the slides explaining the most common diagnoses among the patients: antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, bipolar disorder, depression, and obviously pedophilia. Briefly she explained each diagnosis.

The most common diagnosis for the patients is antisocial personality disorder. It is marked by a general pattern of disregard for and the violation of other people’s rights. These men lack a moral conscience. They’re frequent law breakers, said Dr. Mercer. "Patients are difficult to work with because they are deceitful, impulsive, aggressive, manipulative, and lack remorse