State finally finds place to house sex offenders

Offenders in Texas’ civil commitment program are required to abide by a host of rules relating to their confinement, monitoring, interactions, treatment and sexual activity. Violations of the rules can result in criminal charges, a jury trial and imprisonment.

The following are examples of the rules, which program participants are required to agree to with a signature. less Offenders in Texas’ civil commitment program are required to abide by a host of rules relating to their confinement, monitoring, interactions, treatment and sexual activity. Violations of the rules can result ... more Photo: Mayra Beltran, Houston Chronicle Photo: Mayra Beltran, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 26 Caption Close State finally finds place to house sex offenders 1 / 26 Back to Gallery

AUSTIN — A long-running crisis over where to house Texas' most violent sex predators appeared solved Friday as officials announced they have contracted to house them at a long-vacant lockup in remote West Texas.

Marsha McLane, director of the Texas Civil Commitment Office, said Florida-based Correct Care Recovery Solutions will house 190 offenders at the privately owned Billy Clayton Detention Center in Littlefield, about 36 miles northwest of Lubbock, starting Sept. 1.

The company currently operates a mental unit for prisoners in Montgomery County.

RELATED: Two 'high risk' sex offenders free without supervision

State officials had been scrambling for more than a year to find a place to house the offenders, all of them ex-convicts who had served their prison time for sex crimes but who continued to be held in custody because they had been deemed a continuing danger to society.

Halfway houses in Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and El Paso that held most of them had demanded that state officials relocate the men by Aug. 31, because they needed the space for regular parolees and wanted to avoid getting drawn into growing litigation over the troubled program.

RELATED: State to investigate judge over sex offender commitment cases

McLane said the state will pay $128.70 per day per offender at the new site, a price that will drop to just under $100 per offender if the population grows to more than 250, as it is expected to do in coming years.

State officials had hunted for months for a centralized site where all the offenders could be housed. More than 200 sites had been considered and rejected during the past year since McLane took over as head of the troubled agency, and Littlefield at one point had been rejected as too remote.

Read more exclusive coverage on the battle of the state's controversial sex offender program on Houston Chronicle.com.