Right here in America there is an island where hundreds of the nations most violent sex offenders are being held and treated. Cameras are almost never allowed inside this controversial facility, but our own Lisa Ling was granted rare access. Here is why you need to watch- what we learn from these predators could and perhaps will save your children. It is Part 3 in our in-depth series of child sexual abuse and already the response has been everything we hoped for and more. Young victims are coming forward and in some cases the abuse has actually been stopped. Here’s a look back at parts 1 and 2, says Oprah.

They air extracts from February’s episode where child sexual offenders confessed their crimes. A week later they explored the rarely discussed topic of mother’s who molest their own children. They air extracts from the show.

Both of those shows struck a nerve for so many viewers and we will hear from them a little later, says Oprah. But first, Lisa Ling’s report from a place in America that is home to the nation’s most violent sex offenders. Lisa says that they are one hour outside of Seattle, in a beautiful town known for it’s luxurious homes. That is not where they are going. They are about to board a ferry to a small island where 300 of Washington’s State most dangerous sexual predators are housed. At the port, Lisa is met by Kelly Cunningham, the superintendent of this special commitment center on McNeil Island. This is a mental health facility for Level 3 sexual predators, Lisa says. “The worst of the worst.” All the people on the island have completed their prison terms. Yes, this is a civil commitment, says Kelly. “It’s not voluntary, not by any means,” Kelly says. “Our primary purpose is public safety. We don’t want any more victims.”

After serving their prison sentences in Washington State Prison, violent sexual predators who were deemed too dangerous to return to society, were committed to McNeil Island indefinitely. As they pull up, Lisa says that it looks more like a prison than a treatment center.  Lisa tours the $60 million facility with Kelly. First, she visits the control center where guards monitor 200 security cameras. This is the heart of the institution. “There are only three other facilities in the country that have a similar system,” Kelly says. “They’re all super max prisons.” Despite the need for high-level security, most residents roam freely around the 5-acre campus. Walking through the yard they are approached by a man. Lisa asks Kelly is they can talk to the gentleman on camera. Lisa asks him if he should be here or should be kept away from the general population. He says no, not after treatment, he would not reoffend, he would not want to.

Inside is set up like a college dormitory with a gym, rec room and library. Computers and TV’s are permitted in the rooms but the internet is strictly off limits and only approved TV shows are allowed. Phone calls can be made freely but no inappropriate phone calls are allowed. Lisa asks what kinds of magazines are permitted. “Something as seemingly benign as a catalog isn’t allowed,” Kelly says. “We’ve had residents take those catalogs and tear out the pictures of the little kids in their underwear and use them for deviant fantasies.” Lisa learns that about 60 percent of McNeil Island’s residents are pedophiles.

Wow, says Oprah, Lisa joins us by Skype from North Hollywood, California. Oprah asks what it was like for her- as “all of us in this business” have been in uncomfortable situations- but what did it feel like to be with so many people who molest children?

“This assignment was certainly one of the most disturbing assignments of my career, especially to be amongst so many people with literally thousands of offenses toward children,” she says. “But I really tried to approach this with an open mind.” We are increasingly hearing more warped stories about child molestation in this country, but Lisa wanted to understand the behavior more.  “I believe that the only way to be able to treat this issue is if we understand the behavior.”

So these people have served their prison time, who decides that they spend more time here? Asks Oprah. All of the residents, as they are called, have been before a judge and review board who will determine if the person is fit to be out in society or have to go to the civil commitment facility, explains Lisa. They can stay there indefinitely – they have the option of going in to treatment, and only if they go through the process and get reevaluated, do they have any chance of leaving, otherwise if they refuse treatment they stay indefinitely. Oprah asks how effective the treatment is? Well, no one knows definitively. Since its inception in 1990, 4 residents have been able to leave unconditionally and 16 others have been able to leave with supervision. But we are talking about a small number of the hundreds of residents. Oprah asks if they are a population who cannot control their sexual desires, what is going on there in the facility? Lisa says that they are stringently monitored, there are cameras everywhere and it is set up like a prison. Sex with other residents is strictly forbidden. Oprah asks if Lisa believed the man who said that he didn’t need treatment. Lisa says that initially most people say that they need to be there before treatment, but that if that man who is having treatment says that he is able to control his behavior then he may not reoffend. This is a controversial program, Lisa says, in a sense these people are being sent to this island to prevent them from committing crimes that they haven’t yet committed. There’s a lot of debate about this, says Lisa. Oprah says that she knows a lot of families who have lost their children, their babies, to predators, who wish that there had been programs like this to stop the death of their children.

Lisa says it costs taxpayers $165,000 per resident each year to keep them on the island. Dr. Carey Sturgeon, the clinical director for McNeil Island’s special treatment program says “There are some who say that taxpayer dollars shouldn’t fund treatment,” she says. “That people who commit crimes against children or sexual crimes should just remain in prison or remain locked up without services.”"I guess I want to live in a world where we believe in grace and that people can change,” she says. “Knowing that treatment can work for sex offenders is one way of living that.”

For the first time ever, Dr. Sturgeon allows cameras to film her therapy session with a group of convicted sex offenders. Not all of the residents want their faces shown. Lisa is introduced to the group. Since therapy is voluntary, Lisa says less than half of the residents participate. The ones who do are required to go to group sessions three times a week. While sitting in on the session, Lisa meets Brent, a man who has multiple convictions against both boys and girls. He talks about his victims and his deviant thoughts- he was attracted to the way the children looked. After an hour in the therapy session, Lisa says “When Brent first started talking, it was very uncomfortable for me,” she says. “It felt very, very awkward sitting there listening to the things that he had done.” She says that she looked around the room and it became clear to her that everyone else in the room had engaged in similar behaviors- she tried to just listen. It was certainly challenging, is seemed as an addiction and whether it can be cured, or not, all she tried to do was listen.

After therapy, Brent agreed to talk more with Lisa in his room. She asks why he asked to be here- one reason is that he saw one of his victims in the courtroom and didn’t want to put anyone through that process again. Lisa asks him how many victims? Over the years, he says he’s molested more than 40 children. Lisa asks what his life was like on the outside; he was married for 9 1/2 years he says and has 3 children. He says that he molested other children throughout his marriage but was never sexually attracted to his own. Lisa asks what would be going through his mind when he was around children he was attracted to. He says he would experience sexual preoccupation. “putting them in a role, elevating them to like a partner instead of seeing them as a child,” he says. When he was 10-11, he was a victim of sexual abuse from the man down the street. Lisa says that she was struck in group that he said he would go to church to look for victims. Brent says that it was to spend time with them, not find them.  “Some of my victims attended the same church that I did,” he says. “So that was a place for me to go and spend time with them.” It was part of his front, that he believed in God, that he was going to church, that everything was ok. Lisa asks if there was always penetration.  With almost every victim—up to 98 percent—Brent says the assaults involved sexual penetration. There was occasional touches through clothes but almost always there would be penetration, whether that would be anally or orally. “If you are able to get off this island, do you think you’ll ever be able to be around children?” Lisa asks.

“Realistically? Probably not. Not in the sense of having interpersonal relationships,” he says. “I never offended against my children. They’re adults now. But to be around say, my grandkids? No. My nephews? Nieces? No. No. That’s not an option, and that’s a tough one to take.”

Back in the studio, Oprah says to Lisa that Brent is one of the more enlightened ones as he knows that he cant be around children. Lisa says that she was told that during treatment the residents often come to realize that they may get off the island but they will still have fantasies about children, they know that they would engage in wrong behavior. Oprah asks if Lisa got a sense that Brent had a sense of remorse? Lisa says that she got the feeling that after a lot of treatment, he had a sense of what he had done wrong. He is someone who said that he would have reoffended when he got out of prison, and that is why he asked to be sent to the island.

Oprah says that we are watching this so that If you have ever been molested, or if you have children, to understand and get into the minds of predators. Out of the nearly 300 residents on McNeil Island, only one is a woman. Until now, Laura has never spoken to a reporter about her crimes against children.

Lisa is in the housing unit for the one female resident, to see if she is willing to talk. She is a little intimidated by this but agrees to talk if there is Lisa and one camera man only. Lisa thanks Laura. Lisa asks her why she’s here. In 1989, Laura was sent to prison for the first-degree rape of a child. Lisa asks if Laura should be here-absolutely says Laura. Lisa asks if she is a danger to society and Laura says that is a tough one, she’ll just say that she has more things to work on. Lisa asks how many offenses she has committed? Laura says she took responsibility for 15 offenses, but she says she’s guilty of many more. “I would say, as I said in all of my testings and stuff, that I’ve done, I would say, 100 or more,” she says. Before she was arrested, Laura was a caretaker for babies and toddlers. She admits she sexually abused her young victims while babysitting them. Lisa asks what would go through her mind when Laura was offending “It’s not like every time I see a kid, I get aroused and know I want to hurt them,” she says. “It’s being in the line of their care, like having to bathe them or change them or take care of them physically … I did bad things, really bad things.” Once, Laura says she almost killed one of her victims by suffocating her with a pillow. “I had a friend there, so that got interrupted, which I was very glad for after the fact,” she says. Lisa asks if anything would have stopped her- Laura says she doesn’t think anything would have stopped her.”I didn’t need to groom my victims because they were so young,” she says. “But I did have to groom their parents.” Laura says she groomed low-income, drug-addicted moms by offering them drugs and alcohol.

Lisa asks her what things parents should be aware of. “Don’t just let any Joe Blow babysit your kids. If your kids are uncomfortable around that person or they don’t want to leave with that person, don’t make them go,” she says. Lisa asks if there were signs, if people were paying attention? Yes, that’s the thing says Laura. “I think that there are actually more women out there just like me. I just think they haven’t been caught.” “Back when I was offending, if I saw a parent who seemed negligent or they didn’t want to be bothered with their kid or they didn’t want to go to the park or they didn’t want to play with them or they were messy and dirty or they needed a bath, those were the kind of people that I targeted,” she says. Any child is vulnerable, says Laura, but especially those who don’t get what they need, says Laura. Lisa asks if she has had any interactions with her victims? No, she is not allowed to talk to them, she prays for them, she hopes they are happy and that their lives are not ruined by what she did. Lisa asks if she feels remorse, Laura believes that she does. She has 4 children, 4 girls, they don’t live with her and they never have. She offended against her youngest- it was more physical abuse than sexual abuse, but it was still abuse, their is no difference, she says. Lisa asks if she was molested as a child? Yes, she was, she was 7. Lisa asks if it was violent- Laura says that all molestation is violent, or rape. She has a hard time with the word molestation, because it’s like you didn’t molest, you raped. She sometimes thinks that molestation is an attempt to clean it up. So, Lisa says, you raped. Yes, says Laura.

Back in the studio, Oprah says she agrees with Laura- the word molestation gives everyone a break. Lisa was shocked by Laura’s candor and to reiterate what she said, she sought out environments where she could be in the care of children. This is why these programs they are doing are so important, to inform parents that they need to be ultra diligent: people may not have a criminal background, but they may have multiple offenses against children, like Laura did. Oprah says that she found interesting that Laura said the same as the offenders that she interviewed; they are looking for kids who are neglected and needy, whose parents have not paid attention to them. The abusers are preying on vulnerable children, often of single mothers. Lisa says that they are professional exploiters. Oprah says that the stories we hear on the news of children being chopped up and left in a ditch are the extreme stories, what we are talking about here are the rapes and sexual abuse by people that the families know, by those who gain the trust of the family. Lisa agrees that this is the most important issue- the fact that Brent went to church with his victims to build up confidence and trust within the family. Oprah says that we are looking fro the bogeyman but he may live down the street or be in the house. He may be a relative says Lisa. It often is, says Oprah.

After Oprah aired her no-holds-barred conversation with four admitted child molesters in February 2010, letters, emails and phone calls started pouring in. “We were overwhelmed by the response to that interview. So many victims and parents—and even molesters—came forward. That is exactly the reason why I wanted to do these shows,” Oprah says. “To get people to step out of the shame, to come forward, to tell somebody.” They wanted to create a platform for people to continue to share their stories. For the rest of the program, they will show just what happened when they kept that conversation going in their studio.

After her no holds barred conversation with four molesters, this is what one woman wrote: I’ve been living with the secret for 50 years and having you look into the camera and saying that it was not your fault, you were the victim, I feel  like 50 pounds have been lifted from my shoulders.”

Some people have disagreed with the point that Oprah made when she said if an abuser does his or her job well, the abuse feels good. This can add to a victim’s feelings of shame and confusion. A survivor of sexual abuse, Diane, wanted to share a differing viewpoint, based on her own violent childhood. On the phone she says that “I just wanted to make people aware that it’s not always that you’re going to feel good or get pleasure from it. A lot of times, it’s fear and intimidation. It’s abuse. It’s the fear of being beat again. It’s the abuser using abuse to get you to do what they want.” Oprah asks her how old she was when it started.  She was raped at 9 years old “There was violence throughout my childhood,” she says. “He abused us enough that, when he said he was going to do something, we believed it.” Oprah says she understands where survivors like Diane are coming from. “There are many situations where that happens,” she says. “And as I’ve said before on this show, I’m speaking broadly and in, of course, general terms.” Diane says that she does not disagree with Oprah at all, but she wanted to tell others that sometimes it is violent. Oprah asks when the abuse stopped. The abuse stopped just before Diane’s 13th birthday. Diane says she and her sister, who was abused by the same man, were intimidated into keeping their terrible secret. she says. Oprah asks if others in the household knew that it was going on? No, absolutely not- there was so much physical abuse going on that no one saw beyond that. Oprah asks why they didn’t tell? “When he said he would kill us, we believed him.” He stabbed her mom, he did so many different things that they believed what he said. I get that, says Oprah.

Since Oprah launched her series, two convicted child molesters have also come forward. Ken, one of the molesters, calls in to share a message with vulnerable children and parents. “Once a child molester, always a child molester,” he says.

First off Ken says that he was molested for 1 – 1/2 years by a man who was living with them at the time. When Ken was 10 or 11 years old, he says he was groomed and subsequently molested by a man well known to his family. Now, at 48 years old, he admits that he followed the same violent pattern. “I molested my relative, a 10-year-old girl,” Ken says. Ken says this was the only time he molested a child…but he tried unsuccessfully twice before. “I tried with two other relatives, but they didn’t let me,” he says. “I didn’t force.” “What did they do that stopped you?” Oprah asks. “One, when I started reaching my hand, she would block it, and I never actually got to touch her,” he says. “In the back of my mind, I think that child, either somebody else had done something with her or somebody taught her well. The other relative, I tried a quick, accidentally-on-purpose touch, and I got a very negative response from that person.”

The reason that Oprah is doing this series of shows is to educate parents and children on their own power. Oprah says to her girls at the school all the time- when you are 4 and 5 it’s hard to stand up for yourself and have a voice but when you get old enought to use your voie or block, you can. Oprah says this is an important takeaway for children and parents. “No molester wants trouble. No molester wants to be identified,” she says. “Train your children that, regardless of who it is, you’re not supposed to be touched in a certain way, in a certain place or you’re not supposed to allow that to happen to them. If they say no immediately, the molester is going to look to find somebody who will.”They are looking for a more vulnerable child, they will move away from the big mouth. Nobody wants to mess around with somebody who will expose them.

Oprah continued raising awareness about childhood sexual abuse in part 2 of the series by by touching on a subject that’s rarely discussed—mothers who abuse. Gregg Milligan, a man who says he was brutally raped by his mother when he was a boy, shared details of his horrific childhood. His story inspired even more victims to come forward. Tom, a 39-year-old who says he’s a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, joins Oprah on Skype to thank her for bringing Gregg’s story to light.  Unlike Gregg, Tom never got married or had children because he says he’s afraid to bring children into this world. For many years, Tom also felt lost. Tom says that the story does not compare to Gregg’s, that story brought him to tears, he feels a lot for Gregg.

“A lot of us, I guess, it happened when we were younger, 8 or 9 years old. … You really don’t have much in your life at that age but your family, and for some people, a relationship with God,” he says. “When something like that does happen, and it’s a family member, you pretty much shatter that duality of the comfort of your family and your spirituality.” Tom was lost for a long time, set himself up and sabotaged himself on a number of occasions. He thanks Oprah for talking about this; 30 years ago this was taboo and would never have happened. Oprah says that as a reporter in Baltimore she had never shared her story. She was in her 20s and a woman came on the show and told her story- she was abused by her uncle and a friend of the family. Oprah was too ashamed and even though she wanted to say that it happened to her too, she couldn’t. “I know what it’s like, and I also know how freeing it is to recognize you are not the only one,” she says. At 22, she thought she was the only one that this had happened to. Gregg says that at first you believe that it is normal and happens in every family, then there is the dramatic shift where you think that you are the only person in the world that this is happening too. So you must be a freak, adds Oprah. Oprah thanks Tom.

We know Dr. Laura Berman as a sex therapist and as the author of books like The Book of Love. However, Dr. Berman has also worked extensively with child molesters and victims of sexual abuse, and she sees the aftermath. As Oprah keeps saying, its not just the act itself, it’s what happens after the act.  Dr. Berman says that even after the abuse ends, a survivor may struggle for decades. According to Dr. Berman, long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse may include:

Poor body image because the body was the instrument used during the sexual abuse. There are often bad attitudes towards the body, seeing it as bad and dirty and that deeply affects the survivor. The common feelings are shame, guilt, isolation, depression and low self-esteem. Sexual confusion or promiscuity can be a result of not dealing with the emotions and feelings surrounding the abuse. Confusing rape or sexual abuse fantasies may be a way of taking their power back. Many victims suffer with eating disorders, obesity and anorexia- the anorexia is a way to find control in a world that feels out of control. Obesity is often used to keep sexual attraction at bay and to stop the emotions.

If these feelings are not dealt with, it can often lead to other destructive behaviors such as

• Drug abuse and alcoholism
• Poor decision-making in relationships
• Difficulty with intimacy
• Suicidal behavior

Oprah thanks Dr Laura Berman and stresses the importance of listening to our children. She says that the caller gave great advice today- if you teach your children well, if an offender comes to them and they say no, that person will move on. If you are a child, tell someone today. Tell a teacher, and if they don’t believe you, tell a friend or a parent. And if you are a parent and you have that “Hmm, something is off there” feeling, that is an instinct, that is what it feels like. This is what has to happen. Parents all across America have to risk blowing up their families and stirring up all kinds of trouble  if you want to stop the molesting of your children. Thanks and bye.

WHAT WE LEARNED TODAY:

The treatment facility on McNeil Island houses 300 Level 3 sexual predators who are deemed to be unable to return to society without re-offending.

The facility is controversial as the”residents” are there to prevent them from committing crimes that they haven’t yet committed.

Interviews with the predators reveal that parents and childrena nd society need to be ultra-vigilant in our battle to stamp out child sexual abuse.

Predators prey on the needy and vulnerable. Teach your children to speak loudly for themselves.

The offense is only one part of the equation, the aftermath can have devastating consequences for the victim, including eating disorders, poor body image, drug abuse, alcoholism and suicide.

A VERY QUICK SUMMARY:

A child sexual predator may be in your house. Be ultra vigilant. Teach your kids that they have their own power.