SAN DIEGO -- A convicted pedophile should remain in a mental hospital because he is a sexually violent predator, a prosecutor said Friday, but the man's attorney said he is ready to be released back into society.

Prosecutors want Matthew Hedge to stay at Atascadero State Hospital.

Hedge, 43, was convicted in 1989 of molesting four children and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

After serving six years in prison, he completed several years of treatment at Atascadero and in November 2005 was allowed to live in a trailer in a remote area of Otay Mesa, outside the walls of Donovan State Prison.

Two months later, he was sent back to the hospital for violating conditions of his outpatient release. Prosecutors said he talked to two teenage girls at an outpatient treatment center, lied to staff about his past and had a deviant fantasy involving a minor.

On Friday, Deputy District Attorney Kristen Spieler told jurors that Hedge meets the state's criteria as a sexually violent predator.

Experts agree that he remains a pedophile, for which there is no cure, and that he has also been diagnosed as having a chronic anti-social personality disorder, she said.

Spieler told the jury in her opening statement that Hedge is likely to molest children again if released into the community and should remain at Atascadero under the supervision of the Department of Mental Health.

The first time Hedge was released, he wouldn't follow the rules set out by his outpatient treatment team, Spieler said.

"Mr. Hedge agreed there were some problems," the prosecutor said.

One of Hedge's attorneys, Marion Gaston, told the jury that her client did not fit the state's criteria as a sexually violent predator.

Hedge is committed to treatment and understanding why he's done his past crimes, Gaston said.

"Treatment is as precious to Mr. Hedge as air," Gaston said.

She said her client will testify about his commitment to treatment.

Gaston said Hedge's father died when he was 3 years old and he was molested when he was 6.

Hedge turned to alcohol and methamphetamine early in life and "viewed the world as a scary and cold place," Gaston told the jury.

She said Hedge was "angry" and felt "betrayed" and was "frustrated" when he was sent back to Atascadero in 2005 but has thrown himself back into treatment.

Gaston said Hedge talks as if treatment "has saved his life, because it has."