Minn. Sex Offender Treatment Program Head Retires

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The executive director of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program is retiring.

Dennis Benson will retire June 5. He joined the Minnesota Department of Human Services as executive director of the sex offender treatment program in 2008.

Benson was charged with helping separate the sex offender program from the department's State Operated Services, which serves people with mental illness, development disabilities, chemical dependency and traumatic brain injury.

During his time as director, the program has opened a new 400-bed unit in Moose Lake and paid off a $16 million program deficit. The program also saw the provisional discharge of its first sex offender in more than a decade.

Benson began his state service in 1974 as a correctional officer. He served as a Department of Corrections deputy commission for 12 years.