Douglas Carlin can't leave the commitment center even though last year clinicians there said he was ready to rejoin the community - more than five years after his prison term ended. Photo by Patrick Farrell/Miami Herald

The first man cleared for release from the state's treatment center is not allowed to leave because he still needs supervision.

ARCADIA -- While hundreds of offenders have been set loose from the treatment center through the courts, a flaw in the Jimmy Ryce Act prevents others from earning freedom by working their way through therapy.

Consider the case of Douglas Carlin.

Clinicians at the treatment center cleared the 50-year-old convicted rapist for release last year after more than five years of therapy -- the first time psychologists ever recommended an offender rejoin the community since the program started seven years ago.

But there was a catch: They said that despite Carlin's progress, he still needed some form of supervision. Those in the profession call it a "less restrictive alternative'' and say it's an essential part of any civil commitment law.

"Individuals who are released from civil commitment programs should have some form of supervised reinte gration into the community. That is a standard across the country," said Adam Deming, the clinical director of the center, in a court deposition.

But Carlin's criminal sentence did not include supervision and the Jimmy Ryce Act provides no provision or funds for keeping tabs on offenders ready to be released.

"It is a gaping hole," said Carlin's attorney, Mark Miller. "But no state lawmaker wants his name on the bill that will ultimately allow Doug Carlin released."

In 2002, the Department of Children & Families requested a budget increase of less than $1 million to provide supervision for those who are ready for release. The Legislature declined.

More than 100 men face a similar fate as Carlin. In its budget request, DCF said at least 10 of them are ready for release now.

"This is political," Carlin told The Miami Herald. "Treatment is the excuse politicians use to incarcerate me after my legal sentence."

In 1983, Carlin broke into the home of a 41-year-old Jacksonville woman as she lay sleeping in bed. She screamed.

Placing a screw driver against her throat, he threatened to kill her if she screamed again, then he tied her up and raped her.