DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Supreme Court has declined to rule on the constitutionality of a state program that holds sex offenders in custody after they serve prison sentences. The court upheld Friday the civil commitment of 46-year-old David Taft who was convicted in 1987 for lascivious acts with a minor and molested two children within a week of his release from prison in 1991. He went to prison again until 2005 then was kept in custody under Iowa’s civil commitment for sexually violent predators law.

He challenged the law saying some of the requirements for release are unconstitutional. Justices concluded Taft’s challenges need not be decided because even if they ruled in his favor he doesn’t qualify for release because he’s failed treatment program progress and psychiatrists disagree on his readiness.