1. (a) There shall be a sexual offender treatment services (SOTS) bureau which shall provide for the treatment needs of residents who are incarcerated for sexually-related offenses, and which meets the following requirements:

   1. (1) Presence of a full-time administrator who shall:

      1. a. Oversee and supervise the assessment and treatment of services for residents identified as in need of these services;
      2. b. Review the sexual offender treatment needs of the residents and implement treatment modalities as indicated;
      3. c. Provide individual and group therapy and supervise the provision of such services by other sexual offender treatment therapists; and
      4. d. Conduct staff training and supervision; and
   2. (2) Full-time clinical staff who at a minimum shall be qualified under the state personnel system.

2. (b) Residents convicted of sexual offenses who are willing to participate in SOTS shall be provided with an initial screening assessment in order to determine their treatment needs including:

   1. (1) A complete comprehensive clinical assessment;
   2. (2) A risk and needs assessment;
   3. (3) A review of any special accommodations necessary to participate in treatment such as language barriers, intellectual disability or accessibility issues; and
   4. (4) A referral to any other services as indicated.
3. (c) Residents shall be placed into the appropriate form of treatment services or on the waiting list for appropriate services.
4. (d) A determination of required services shall be provided to the resident.

5. (e) The goals of SOTS shall include:

   1. (1) Decreasing use of cognitive distortions or distorted thinking patterns;
   2. (2) Establishing and maintaining trusting, supportive, and equitable intimate relationships;
   3. (3) Increasing autonomy and self-sufficiency;
   4. (4) Developing a positive self-concept;
   5. (5) Increasing effective emotional management;
   6. (6) Reducing self-destructive or self-injurious behaviors;
   7. (7) Ensuring healthy sexual development, expression, and boundaries;
   8. (8) Developing open and honest communication;
   9. (9) Developing the ability to appropriately express thoughts, feelings, and wishes in a healthy manner;
   10. (10) Becoming more aware of feelings and developing appropriate coping mechanisms;
   11. (11) Developing an understanding of the cycle of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that lead to offender relapse;
   12. (12) Developing interventions to interrupt the cycle of offender relapse;
   13. (13) Increasing and improving pro-social skills;
   14. (14) Developing improved self-esteem and healthier relationship skills;
   15. (15) Developing victim empathy;
   16. (16) Demonstrating a consistent understanding and application of treatment concepts in the management of a resident’s daily life;
   17. (17) Self-disclosing entire sexual offending history and verifying offense history by passing a polygraph or other validated technology;
   18. (18) Identifying high-risk areas and intervention strategies;
   19. (19) Developing a comprehensive, workable maintenance contract that addresses appropriate identification of risks, past unhealthy patterns of coping and appropriate interventions for the future; and
   20. (20) Referring the residents to appropriate ancillary services as needed to ensure a systemic holistic approach to managing their sexual offending behaviors.
6. (f) Referrals to sexual offender treatment services shall be made through the initial classification process pursuant to Cor 400 and on-going as needs are identified by departmental staff. Assessments shall be based on risk and needs assessment and triaged into appropriate treatment services accordingly by qualified sexual offender treatment staff;

7. (g) The SOTS unit shall at a minimum provide the following services:

   1. (1) Specific needs assessment to determine the specific treatment needs of each resident as it relates to his or her sexual offender treatment;
   2. (2) The development of an individualized treatment plan specific to sexual offender treatment;
   3. (3) Group and individual therapy sessions;
   4. (4) Discharge planning;
   5. (5) Coordination with other prison services and external services as indicated by the resident’s specific sexual offender treatment needs; and

   6. (6) Treatment reviews of services to ensure public safety and risk mitigation through the establishment of an administrative review committee (ARC) as follows:

      1. a. The ARC shall review the outcome of sexual offender treatment services. The ARC shall provide oversight to ensure the department is meeting its mission in preventing further victimization from sexually-related crimes;
      2. b. The purpose of the ARC shall be to ensure that each resident participating in the department’s sexual offender treatment service has satisfactorily completed his or her treatment goals as specified on their individualized treatment plan and outlined by the clinician’s discharge summary proposal;
      3. c. The person whose case is being reviewed shall appear before the ARC unless the resident requests to be excused in writing. Residents who refuse to request to be excused in writing shall not be subject to adverse conditions. The refusal shall be noted in the official record; and
      4. d. The ARC shall be comprised of administrators and senior level clinicians from the division of medical and forensic services as assigned by the director of medical and forensic services.

8. (h) SOTS shall be staffed by qualified behavioral health professionals who meet the following 2 requirements:

   1. (1) Educational and license or certification criteria specified by their state licensing board; and
   2. (2) Qualifications established by the New Hampshire state division of personnel.
9. (i) Residents declining SOTS services shall be administered a behavioral status examination to determine if any behavioral health needs exist. Any concerns that might impact the resident’s ability to make decisions due to a behavioral health condition shall be referred to behavioral health services to develop a comprehensive treatment plan with the goal to engage the resident into the appropriate sexual offender treatment intervention. If a resident refuses treatment recommendations, he or she shall sign a waiver of responsibility indicating that he or she is refusing treatment and shall suffer no punishment by the department for the refusal.
10. (j) If a resident is eligible for sentence reduction by participating in the program, this shall be included in the calculation for his or her minimum release date to allow the resident timely access to treatment. The resident shall make SOTS aware of the potential for time off his or her sentence.
11. (k) An electronic health record shall be utilized to document the treatment of a resident participating in SOTS.
12. (l) Participant assignments shall be returned to the participant upon successful completion of treatment. No copies shall be maintained in the permanent record unless they document violations of state law or intention to engage in criminal acts requiring investigation.
13. (m) SOTS staff shall not maintain local treatment files.

14. (n) SOTS shall include but not be limited to:

    1. (1) An initial screening evaluation for sexual offenders to determine the level of treatment necessary;
    2. (2) Ongoing assessment and progress reviews;
    3. (3) Case management and coordination of ancillary services to meet the specific needs of sexual offenders; and
    4. (4) Gender responsive treatment consistent with the empirical research related to sexual offenders.

Source. (See Revision Note at chapter heading for Cor 500) #12793, eff 5-25-19