Tim Ryan, tryan@shawanoleader.com
Leader Photo by Tim Ryan Jackson Carpenter, right, confers with defense attorney Paul Zilles during a court trial Thursday in Shawano-Menominee County Circuit Court on Carpenter’s petition for release from forced commitment as a sexually violent person.
A convicted sex offender who has been kept in forced commitment as a sexually violent person since his prison sentence ended in 1998 was granted supervised release Wednesday after a hearing in Shawano-Menominee County Circuit Court.
Jackson D. Carpenter, 41, was convicted in 1993 of second degree sexual assault of a child and child enticement of a 12-year-old girl. The incident took place in the town of Navarino in 1991.
In 1998, a Shawano County court determined that Carpenter could be classified as a sexual predator and thus could be held indefinitely in a state facility for treatment.
Carpenter, formerly of Bonduel, has petitioned numerous times over the past 16 years for his release but up until now has been denied.
This time, however, the court heard from three doctors — including the head of the evaluation unit at Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center in Madison, where Carpenter is being held — who testified that Carpenter is making progress in his sex offender treatment and has been exhibiting good behavior for the past few years.
“Four to five years ago, he was a different person,” Sand Ridge’s Dr. Stephan Kopetski said.
Kopetski said Carpenter underwent testing last year that showed he was successfully suppressing his arousal to deviant sexual activities. That differed from the same tests back in 2006 that showed he was aroused by underage females.
Scott Woodley, a psychologist for the state Department of Health Services, said there was “less than a 50 percent chance” of Carpenter re-offending.
Under state law, a sex offender can be held under forced commitment if it’s found that he is more likely than not to re-offend.
Anthony Jurek, a forensic psychologist, disagreed with Woodley on whether Carpenter was ready for release.
He said Carpenter has an anti-social personality disorder and is predisposed to sexual violence.
“He would be considered psychopathic by most standards,” Jurek said.
According to court records, Carpenter’s history of sexual offenses stretch back years before his 1993 conviction.
Court records showed an assault of a 12-year-old girl in July 1989; an allegation of sexual abuse of a 7-year-old girl in the summer of 1990; sexual relations in September 1992 with a 15-year-old girl who became pregnant with his child; and a March 1993 offense against a 13-year-old girl where the charge of second degree sexual assault was later dropped.
Jurek said there was no way of knowing whether Carpenter’s treatment at Sand Ridge was reducing his risk of re-offending, even though, he said, “he has made significant progress in the last three years.”
He said that can only be known by having Carpenter out in the community, but still under supervision, where he could “road-test his treatment.”
Judge James Habeck said he believed Carpenter was ready for supervised release.
“All of our witnesses today were impressed with the progress he’s made,” Habeck said.
Habeck also said Carpenter had shown a significant increase in his ability to control his urges.
The Department of Health Services will draw up a supervised release plan for Carpenter over the next 90 days. That plan will come back to court for approval before Carpenter is released into the community.
Woodley said the plan would probably call for initial confinement in a residence for at least the first year, with Carpenter closely supervised. The length and conditions of his supervision beyond that are still to be determined.
