The Sexually Violent Predator Act and Conditional Release Program was created by the Legislature in 1996 to protect the public from repeat dangerous sexual offenders.

Once a sex offender nears the end of a prison sentence, county district attorneys can refer the inmate to the state Department of Mental Health for a psychiatric evaluation. If state doctors diagnose a mental disorder, prosecutors can seek a jury trial to commit the person to the state hospital for at least two more years.

Every two years, state doctors evaluate whether the person is still a danger or fit to be released in the Conditional Release Program. That program provides intensive treatment, Global Positioning System monitoring, alcohol testing, polygraphs and random, unannounced checks.

While in the hospital, the offender is considered a patient and offered a five-phase treatment plan that takes on average eight and a half years to complete, said Dr. Gary Renzaglia, clinical director of the state's new $338 million Coalinga State Hospital.

All patients are enrolled in phase one, which consists mainly of group therapy. Only 25 percent of the population goes on to the second phase, which entails a deep inner study of their past, their sexual triggers and their crimes, said Dr. Deirdre D'Orazio, who works at Coalinga.

"We call it a psychological autopsy; the individual takes very thorough accounting of their history and their sexual deviancy," she said. "Sex offenders have very different, very entrenched deep thoughts about sexual behavior, like the belief that children enjoy sexual behavior and women enjoy rape."

Phase three teaches empathy, something sex offenders readily admit they lack, D'Orazio said. Patients write journals, depicting scenarios where they are caught, humiliated and punished if they act on deviant impulses. Doctors test patients' arousal to pictures of children or of nonconsensual sex to make sure patients' bodies tell the same tales as their words, D'Orazio said.

Phase four readies the patients for re-entry into society, while phase five consists of treatment once they are released into the community. Only 20 sexually violent predators in the state hospital are in phases four and five, Renzaglia said. Six of the patients in the final phase remain in the hospital because no housing can be found.

D'Orazio said the five-phase treatment program, which was created in 1996, is still too young to determine its long-term effect. The number of patients also is too small to have statistical value.

"They are never cured. They only learn to manage and control their urges and behaviors and triggers," D'Orazio said.

Ross Wollschlager made it through phase two. Two state doctors found he was not ready for release. Three doctors, including another state psychiatrist, testified at his 2006 trial that he was ready.

With the passage of Proposition 83 in November, California's $134.5 million civil commitment program for sex offenders is now the largest in the nation.

Since 1996, about 680 men have been committed and 180 have commitment trials pending. Eleven are from Ventura County.

But hundreds more are poised to enter the system under Jessica's Law, which lowered the number of prior offenses that qualify an offender for referral from two to one.

The state now receives 700 referrals a month from counties, up from 50 before the passage of Proposition 83.

"Since its inception, we've had more referrals in the last eight months than in the previous eight years," said Dr. Stephen Mayberg, director of the state Mental Health Department. "Housing will only become more of an issue."

In January, Gov. Schwarzenegger convened a task force to look at the state's sexually violent predator program, the largest in the country. The state is closing the sexually violent predator program at Atascadero State Hospital and transferring those patients to the new facility in Coalinga, designed to hold as many as 1,500.

— Tamara Koehler