What do you do with a person so broken and damaged that he can’t tell right from wrong and refuses to help himself? You could lock him up and throw away the key. That’s essentially what has been done with Shawn Fletcher. Fletcher was among the first sex offenders in the state of Minnesota to be committed to psychiatric custody. The court has determined that he continues to pose a high risk to society if he were released into the public. The problem was that he had served his prison sentences – and then some – and was about to be released. Stearns County Attorney Janelle Kendall initiated the process to commit Fletcher. The commitment hearing was in late April, and District Judge Elizabeth Hayden issued her decision May 12: Fletcher will be committed to psychiatric confinement at St. Peter and/or Moose Lake indefinitely. Essentially, the only way he can be released into society is if he can prove to doctors, law enforcement and the judicial system that he no longer poses a danger to anyone, including himself. In Fletcher’s case that could be very difficult, if not impossible. Kendall provided the Tri-County News with the 45-page summary of Fletcher’s medical, psychiatric and criminal history that influenced the judge’s decision. Any one of the many tragic pieces of Fletcher’s history potentially could scar a person for life. The combined weight of them is apparently insurmountable for Fletcher. He began drinking and taking speed at age 9, and became a heavy user of alcohol, speed, marijuana, LSD and experimented with other drugs. He was molested as a child by an uncle. His mother abused alcohol and drugs, and she was physically abusive; Fletcher was removed from his mother’s custody as a baby and lived in one foster home or group home after another; he was frequently kicked out because of his conduct. As a juvenile he frequently caused trouble by fighting, lying, vandalism, cruelty to animals, choking his siblings, assaulting teachers and running away from home. Fletcher saw many therapists beginning in grade school; his first psychiatric confinement was at age 10 after he threatened to kill his brothers. During Fletcher’s years of incarceration he was diagnosed with a number of psychiatric disorders, any of which could make him dangerous today. The records are full of professional opinions that Fletcher has problems with depression, uncontrolable rage, substance abuse, self-mutilation, an eating disorder and racist thoughts and actions. Perhaps more troubling, though, is Fletcher’s unwillingness to accept responsibility for the crimes he has committed or to acknowledge the seriousness of them. Fletcher was under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol when he committed all of his crimes, and he has told officials that he will use again as soon as he is released. Despite several attempts, Fletcher never completed chemical dependency or sex offender treatment programs either in or out of prison. Prison psychiatrists and psychologists indicate that Fletcher was not serious about treatment, but rather went through the motions, biding his time until his release. In October 2001, Fletcher created a sensation in Kimball when a public notification meeting was held at the Kimball Elementary School before his release from prison. Fletcher had raped several girls, from the age of 12 to 18, and he had served the required time in prison. He lived near South Haven until he was re-arrested in December for a violation of his supervised release. The May 12 court decision states that Shawn Fletcher is a “sexually dangerous person” with a “sexual psychopathic personality.” He meets all the requirements for commitment. “He’s the strongest one we’ve seen yet [for commitment],” Kendall said of his case two months ago.
