Sex Offender Releases Reflect Loosening Of Treatment Program

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - The upcoming release of a twice-convicted rapist from Minnesota's sex offender treatment program to a halfway house reflects a loosening of the state's process for freeing patients.

Fifty-year-old Oliver Lenell Dority was convicted of raping two women within three weeks of each other in 1995. He's the latest in a growing number of violent sex offenders who have been approved for conditional release since the Minnesota Sex Offender Program came under federal scrutiny.

Six offenders, including Dority, have been conditionally discharged from the program in just over a year. All of them are repeat rapists.

The releases indicate state officials and judges are showing more willingness to discharge people with violent histories and some risk factors for reoffending.