DENVER - A court ruling that could free more than 100 Colorado rapists, child molesters and other sex offenders from prison has alarmed victims of sex crimes and sent law enforcement officers scrambling to undo the damage.
Nine inmates were turned loose before Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar stepped in and halted the releases Saturday. Authorities were still looking for them on Wednesday.
''I frankly was outraged that this number of offenders could be given the green light to walk without taking as much time as could be taken under the law to make sure victims were notified,'' Salazar said.
He has asked the state Supreme Court for another hearing to reconsider its Sept. 18 ruling.
Corrections Department officials tried to calm dozens of victims fearful that their attackers were free to strike again.
''You live in a state of fear that either your attacker or someone else will victimize you, and to know that more of them are out on the street today, it's scary,'' said Marianne Mayer, a rape survivor from Denver. ''It upset me enough that I was close to tears.''
Allison Morgan of the agency's victim notification unit said callers are told the agency must follow the ruling. ''They fully understand that this comes down from the Supreme Court,'' Morgan said. ''They are shocked that the court would do this.''
The court ruled that a 1993 law imposing mandatory five-year parole sentences did not apply to sex offenders, who were not covered until a new law was passed in 1996.
Corrections officials responded by releasing nine inmates who had been jailed for violating parole, Corrections Department Director John Suthers said.
A lawyer in the attorney general's office recommended the inmates be released to avoid lawsuits for false imprisonment.
The agency also notified 84 paroled sex offenders they no longer had to attend mandatory therapy sessions or make visits to parole officers. All but five have been notified they are back on parole pending the court fight, Suthers said.
If the ruling stands, it could free 112 sex offenders in prison for parole violations and release an additional 170 offenders from parole supervision and mandatory therapy, Suthers said.
An additional 600 offenders could be released from prison without parole once they complete their sentences.
''To release them without supervision is contrary to what society needs and to what they need,'' Suthers said. He said pedophilia is best controlled with mandatory therapy sessions.
Karmen Carter, executive director of the Rape Assistance and Awareness Program, said most victims of sex offenders take steps to improve their home security and other precautions when they know their assailants have been released from prison.
''There really wasn't time for victims to do the kind of work they need to prepare for it,'' she said.
However, she noted that the authorities' efforts to seek a rehearing are comforting to many.
''At least there is the hope by the victims that there is somebody who is paying attention to these perpetrators, which is different that just letting people out,'' she said.
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On the Net:
Colorado Department of Corrections: http://www.doc.state.co.us
Rape Assistance and Awareness Program: http://www.raap.org
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