In 2004 and 2005, Hatch challenged Minnesota's efforts to release sex offenders into the public rather than civilly commit them to a security hospital. In 2004 he sued a nursing home that locked vulnerable patients in a ward with sex offenders, some of whom assaulted patients. The Minnesota Department of Corrections sent the patients to live in the nursing home, where they were housed with regular patients amid rat and roach infestations. Employees were instructed to tell residents the rats were "bunnies." The nursing home was shut down.