Ex-priest at center of church sex scandal about to be released from state prison

One of the most notorious figures in the Boston clergy sex abuse scandal has completed his prison sentence on child rape charges and will be released this week after two experts hired by prosecutors found he does not meet the legal criteria to be held as a sexually dangerous person.

Paul Shanley was known in the 1960s and '70s for being a hip street priest who reached out to troubled youths. But in 2005 he was convicted of repeatedly raping and fondling a boy at a suburban parish in the 1980s, and he was sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison.

Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said Tuesday that her office hired two psychiatric experts to evaluate Shanley, now 86 years old, to see if he should continue to be held after completing his sentence. Both experts told prosecutors that he does not meet the legal cri- teria for civil confinement as a sexually dangerous person.

Once Shanley is released Friday, he will begin 10 years of supervised probation.

Shanley was defrocked after dozens of men came forward and said he had molested them when they were children.

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represented some of those men in lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Boston, said his clients are upset that Shanley is getting out of prison.

"Unfortunately, there is no mechanism in place which will prevent Paul Shanley from sexually abusing once again," Garabedian said. "When it comes to a sexual abuser abusing an innocent child, the abuser can be 35 or 95 — there's no age limit."

Ryan said Shanley is prohibited from interacting with children.