Department of Corrections reviewing chemical castration draft rules

A total of 1,060 sex-related crimes have been recorded by Guam police between 2019 and 2023 and there are 846 in Guam’s Sex Offender Registry.

The registry statistics were about the same nearly a decade ago when the chemical castration for sex offenders act was signed into law. 

Department of Corrections director Fred Bordallo was the chief of police then.

He said, “There hasn’t been any movement on it.” 

He is now working with the Guam Parole Board to go over the Attorney General’s recently submitted proposed draft rules for the Chemical Castration program.

“They are keeping in communications with us, having us have the opportunity to review that proposed draft rules and if there is any issues, we will be communicating that with the Office of the Attorney General,” said Bordallo. 

It is public law also known as the Hormone or Anti-Androgen Pilot Treatment program.

An article published on the Justice department’s website notes the treatment is meant to stop offenders from committing any new sex crimes, ultimately resulting in a benefit to both them and to society.

AG Doug Moylan noted their draft rules were developed following a survey of various mainland state programs that are similar to Guam's statutory requirements.

Bordallo said, “Especially when it comes down to the criteria of these individuals who are sex offenders and what criteria they will need to meet for this type of treatment…It’s going to involve a triple process with the type of implications and what it calls in the provisions of the law…This is a volunteer program based on the statute and could be a condition on parole. There’s a lot of controversy about this practice.”

Lt. Governor Josh Tenorio said he hasn’t taken a specific position on chemical castration, but he said they are not putting anything off the table knowing Guam’s rate of sex crimes. 

“I think that the work that the attorney general has done is going to help him meet that mandate. I think this is probably the first time we got any legal assistance on an issue with regards to chemical castration so we’ll have to push that out,” said Tenorio. 

No timeline as to how soon that could happen.

For now, Bordallo said he is noting some immediate issues before any steps are taken to implement the program.

He added, “The Department of Corrections doesn’t have within our staffing any medical physician or any psychiatrist or staff psychologist. We operate with a memorandum of understanding with the Guam Memorial Hospital Authority. So these are going to be some of the issues with this policy that is drafted.”