Sex offenders. The very words make some people shudder, cringe, screw up the face in disgust.

That's why when people ask Steve Larson what he does for a living, he usually just says he works at the State Penitentiary. He doesn't always mention that he works with sex offenders because people sometimes react angrily, going off on a tirade about how they should lock 'em up and throw away the key.

But society doesn't lock up sex offenders and throw away the key. North Dakota judges lock up sex offenders for an average of 2.8 years.

And despite the current outrage over the fate of University of North Dakota student Dru Sjodin, and the arrest of Alfonso Rodriguez, the Minnesota sex offender suspected of kidnapping her, the case will eventually fade from the public eye. When lawmakers meet again in 2005, it's doubtful anybody will be clamoring to build another prison to lock up all the sex offenders.

When the fervor dies down, Larson will continue doing what he does every day, which is to try to make sure that when those sex offenders leave the prison walls, they'll never be back again. But that's not easy when there are only two treatment counselors trying to help 230 sex offenders change their ways. Currently, 63 sex offenders are on a waiting list for intense treatment.

"We're not keeping up," Larson said. "We've been in need for a long time."

Ideally, sex offenders would get a minimum of 24 to 36 months of intense treatment, Larson said. But with a waiting list and an average sentence of 2.8 years, "The math doesn't work," he said. "We just kind of run out of time."

The two counselors can handle 20 to 24 people at a time because most of the treatment is done through group therapy. So they try to treat those who will be released the soonest.

"We end up in a triage position," said Larson, adding that another "four to six counselors, at a minimum," would be "just wonderful."

Some sex offenders don't get any treatment before being released, which is unfortunate because Larson said he believes it's best to "strike while the iron's hot." In other words, treatment is most effective while a sex offender is in prison and undergoing all the stress and shame that goes along with it. People who aren't treated in prison are referred to community treatment programs.

Dr. Myron Venstra is a clinical psychologist who works with sex offenders in Grand Forks and serves on the committee that classifies the risk levels of North Dakota sex offenders. He questions whether two staffers can adequately treat 230 sex offenders.

Venstra said it's also important that sex offenders make a seamless transition from prison to some kind of community treatment after they're released. But few sex offenders continue treatment after being released, and there are only about a half dozen outpatient treatment programs statewide.

Jon Byers, a prosecutor who puts away sex offenders for a living, said the prison treatment program is effective, but it's understaffed and overwhelmed.

"We need to have judges, prosecutors, citizens, the police and Legislature get together and at least double the treatment staff," Byers said. "I think that it's been left to the Department of Corrections to try to fight for their own treatment budget money, and it's not just the Department of Corrections that should be concerned."

He said police, judges, prosecutors and citizens should all care about the problem, if they want sex offenders to get the treatment that has been proven to reduce recidivisim rates. Byers said studies have shown that with appropriate treatment, the recidivism rate for sex offenders can be reduced to 5 percent to 15 percent.

"When someone is sent to prison you kind of forget to think about them," said Mike Froemke, director of the prison's treatment department.

Froemke said that while he thinks his staffers do a great job, he agrees they need more resources and staff. He said part of the problem is that sex offenders are getting shorter sentences than they did a few years ago. About a decade ago, sentences were about double what they are now, he estimated. Those shorter sentences work against the prison trying to squeeze in three years of treatment.

"Unfortunately, I think the numbers kind of outstrip the resources," he said.

Froemke said he believes a minimum of three years of treatment is best because it usually takes a long time to make progress with sex offenders.

"Most have years of planning, plotting, convincing themselves that what they're doing is legitimate," he said. "It takes a long time to get through that and (get them to) realize the victims are truly victims."

He said the Department of Corrections supports his effort to get more resources, but he's not sure why it doesn't happen.

State corrections director Elaine Little said she agrees that more staffing is needed, but she said it's difficult to get additional positions approved by lawmakers. She said additional staffing was one of the main recommendations recently identified by a consultant from the National Institute of Corrections.

"We've tried to get a lot of different staff from the Legislature in the last two bienniums, but because of resources that didn't happen," she said. "We have a lot of needs for staff. I couldn't say that this would have been our highest priority because there's others that are more critical than this, but it's definitely something the penitentiary could use."

But she said the staff does a great job with the resources it has.

Larson said he feels the same way the rest of society does about sex offenders: "I hate what these guys do," he said.

"I like to think that I'm doing something to protect victims," he said. "It's not good enough to just punish people."

(Reach Deena Winter at 250-8251 or deena.winter@bismarcktribune.com.)