FL - Colony of Outcasts: Some sex offenders find refuge in Fort Myers woods

Ery day we're shufflin'!

Original Article

Florida, and across the country, these draconian laws have been creating these types of homeless camps. Take Julia Tuttle for example (And here).

02/01/2014

By Janine Zeitlin

A camp hidden off Veronica Shoemaker Boulevard is the only place in area some sex offenders have to go

_____ unzipped his pup tent, his abode in a patch of wilderness off Veronica Shoemaker Boulevard in Fort Myers.

He grabbed a flashlight and his ID and stowed them in a book bag hitched over his shoulders.

He was a Boy Scout, he said, but that did not prepare him for this.

“It’s survival of the fittest,” said _____. He is 46, but looks older.

A hammock stretched between melaleuca trees is the most comfy spot for his 250-pound frame. His kitchen is an upside-down grocery cart fashioned into a grill for coffee and soup. A wooden palette is his coffee table.

On this afternoon last month, _____ was in pursuit of a hot meal. He stepped onto a worn path hemmed by slash pine trees. He passed the camps of his neighbors, who reside under makeshift hovels of tarps and tents in this small colony of homeless people.

But this camp is unique: its inhabitants include sex offenders, who said the Lee County Sheriff’s Office directed them to this hidden spot about a quarter mile east into woods that run along a trail. The woods sit across from the city’s Trailhead Neighborhood Park and abut the Sienna at Vista Lake complex of one- and two-bedroom apartments, where on this afternoon young men played football in the parking lot.

_____ had lived there since October. He had struggled to find someone to hire him after five years in federal prison for possessing child pornography. And it was difficult for him to retain jobs because of mental illness.

He said the sheriff’s office showed him the camp location.

“They’re trying to give us a safe haven,” _____ said. “They keep a close eye on us.”

The sheriff’s office refused to comment on the assertions.

Sheriff Mike Scott has directed his personnel not to answer questions from this newspaper. “As you know, we don’t entertain interviews or answer questions with The News-Press,” spokeswoman Tiffany Wood wrote in an email.
- Except if it suits them!  Police are always having press conferences, etc.  But this makes them look bad, so of course they aren't going to speak with the news media.

But Fort Myers police and social service providers said they’ve also been told it was the sheriff’s office that sent them there.

This much is for sure: Law enforcement knows about the camp. Last year, the sheriff’s office tallied about 120 routine calls checking on sex offenders near the intersection where the camp is located, mostly occurring after another camp of sex offenders off Ortiz Avenue was disbanded by city police at the property owner’s request. Since May, at least 10 transient sex offenders and one sexual predator have registered to the camp, records show. Six are currently registered there with convictions that range from sexual battery to lewd behavior toward children, according to a check Friday of Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s sex offender public registry.
- So I guess Florida is still playing the sex offender shuffle (Here & Here)?

Offenders can register as homeless without a precise address. The camp meets state requirements, which say that sex offenders can’t live within 1,000 feet from a park, playground, child care facility or school, though last week Fort Myers police said they found a few people living too close to the trail, which qualifies as a park. The sheriff’s office told the police they would move them, police said.
- Come on, a trail is not a park!

Over the past years, residency restrictions for sex offenders have grown increasingly harsh across the nation. But the question of where they can live is less easily answered. Yet, it’s one that more Florida cities will have to confront as some experts expect the number of homeless sex offenders to multiply.

“It’s in their best interest to escape scrutiny and go to a place where they have less probability of being identified,” said Duane Dobbert, an FGCU professor in the department of justice studies and author of “Halting the Sexual Predators among Us: Preventing Attack, Rape, and Lust Homicide.” “You can live outside here and you can avoid and evade public scrutiny because we’re a warm climate.”

A 2013 study by four university researchers, “Transient Sex Offenders and Residence Restrictions in Florida,” called for reconsideration of such restrictions. They cited them as a factor in contributing to higher rates of homelessness in sex offenders. It pointed to housing instability as a risk factor for recidivism, which is lower for sex offenses than other types of crimes.

Hop on the Merry-go-round

“When someone has stable housing and a good relationship where they’re with family and supported by the community, recidivism drops dramatically,” said Gail Colletta, president of Florida Action Committee, a nonprofit that advocates for reform of sex offender laws. “We make it difficult for them to get a job and find a place to live. We do everything we can to keep them from being productive citizens.”
- Well they need ex-offenders in the merry-go-round prison system so they can continue to rake in the money to keep the prison injustice system alive, and so politicians / organizations can exploit the issue for their own gain as well.

In Lee County, no homeless shelters will accept sex offenders because of children on their properties. But who wants a homeless sex offender in the woods near their home or the park where their kids play? Where can they go and who decides where to put them?
- Apparently the sheriff departments decide where to start homeless camps?

“There’s always a solution,” said Dennis Fahey, a criminal justice professor at Edison State College. “But the question is is anybody interested in finding a solution.”
- Sure there is, eliminate the residency restrictions, and no, they don't want a solution!

Must report

By law, sex offenders must report to their local sheriff’s office either twice or four times a year. If they don’t have a place to stay, they must report within 48 hours. The Lee sheriff’s six-person sexual offender and predator unit regularly checks to make sure offenders are living where they register. In Lee County, there are about 625 sex offenders compared to 74 sexual predators. Sexual predators have been convicted of a sexually violent offense. There are more than 200 sex offenders in Collier and 25 predators.

The city doesn’t have a specific sex offender ordinance, so Fort Myers Police Lt. Randy Jelks said the police enforce the 1,000-foot restriction.

The camp origins are a mystery to police, who discovered it in the city late last year.
- We doubt this, but when you are in the spotlight, play dumb.

“It did raise our concern given the proximity to a park and the proximity to an apartment building,” said Capt. Jim Mulligan of the Fort Myers Police, who has been monitoring it.
- So now, just wait and see, since the media has done this report, the Gestapo will come out in force to shut down the camp, and thus the shuffling will continue!  Another homeless camp will pop up elsewhere, until the fire gets hot again.  Florida has been doing this for years now.

Sgt. Tracey Booth, who is in charge of the sheriff’s sex offender and predator unit, told city police no one in her office has directed the homeless sex offenders to the location, city records show.
- We also doubt this.  Some ex-offender needs to get this on audio recording to show they know all about this, but we are not sure about the laws on recording someone without their knowledge in this state, but like we said, play dumb when the fire gets hot!

Florida Department of Corrections spokeswoman Misty Cash said her agency played no role. She declined to facilitate interviews on the matter but responded to written questions.

“We don’t know how these offenders came to know about this camp. They reported to us their address, which did not violate any local ordinances, Florida Statutes or the conditions of their court ordered supervision,” she wrote.
- Didn't you know that ex-offenders are all knowing?  They know everything, especially where homeless camps are.  Come on, you expect us to believe this?  We are not sheeple!

A review of Booth’s emails shows she did wish to keep the location quiet from the city.
- You just got burned!

On May 28, Sgt. Booth wrote Sgt. Roger Valdivia of the Fort Myers Police about a Fort Myers lieutenant ordering sex offenders off Ortiz to relocate.

“Its (sic) incidents like this that is the reason I want to work together,” Valdivia responded.

The next day, Booth sent an email to a detective in her unit, Stuart Foreman, asking if everyone had been relocated.
- Yep they are still shufflin'!

“City will be having Code Enforcement, enforcing a ‘no camping within the city limits’ ordinance. So we will have to see what happens to the new location,” she wrote. “I will not be advising the city of the new location.”

Her email included a list of four offenders at the camp with this description: “living in the wooded area approximately ¼ East of the Trailhead fire station on Veronica Shoemaker.”

Foreman replied: “I’d hate to move these guys again, it’s a real pain in the $%^.”

In a later email, she instructed her unit to “show” a soon-to-be transient offender to his new address in the woods, which later appears as the camp off Veronica Shoemaker.

Fort Myers Mayor Randy Henderson called on law enforcement agencies and city and county leaders to cooperate on a better resolution than using a specific area as a “dumping ground.”

“That’s a bigger issue we need to come together and solve,” he said. “It’s impossible to overdo oversight on this.”
- It's real easy to solve....  Get rid of residency restrictions!

“What’s not an option is moving them around like a checkerboard.”

Prison release

_____ emerged from the camp onto a trail frequented by bikers and walkers. He crossed the street toward the park he steers clear of because it’s against the law for him to enter and headed south to catch the bus to the Salvation Army for a meal.

After his April prison release, _____ stayed at Char Ann-Juanita apartments in south Fort Myers, one of the few places that accepts sex offenders, according to social service providers. But he could no longer pay the rent. One October morning, he remembers visiting the Lee County Sheriff’s Office to inform the sex offender unit he was going to be homeless. He was ready with a tent, tarp and few bags of clothes.

They told him he could go to the camp off Veronica Shoemaker, he said, and escorted him to an opening in the brush.

“Probation office isn’t really thrilled about this but that’s where the sheriff’s office put me so it legally allows me to be here,” _____ said.

No matter how people feel about sex offenders, he pointed out that they still need housing and services to help them rebuild productive lives after their convictions.
- Then like we said, exterminate the residency restrictions!

“How strenuous do you have to make something before a person just wants to climb in a box and put the nails in themselves?”

(Earlier this week, _____ was arrested for violating his probation, which called for him to find work, a stable home and show up to regular appointments.)
- How can you find work when you are homeless and do not have transportation?  This just shows how the merry-go-round system works, they need people in and out of prison to keep the money flow going!

There’s no extra state requirements for homeless sex offenders, according to FDLE. The sheriff’s office does have homeless sex offenders sign a letter saying Lee County has no designated land for them and that sex offenders and predators living on undeveloped private property have 45 days to obtain a certified letter stating that they have permission to be there. But some guys have been on the spot longer.

Trespassing signs

Around December, Fort Myers police began contacting property owners of the wooded area about erecting no-trespassing signs, which they need before they can permanently oust the offenders. The bulk of the land belongs to a land-holding company, Serena Park LLC, which was contacted by the city. Mike Kerver, the company’s vice president, expected to have the signs up soon.

Once the signs are up, police plan to give the offenders a few days to pack and will work in tandem with an advocate for the homeless to try to help them.
- So the police put them there, fires get hot, now they are going to kick them out?  Stay tuned for encampment #2 coming soon....

“We’re trying to balance everybody in this,” said Mulligan. “I know people don’t like sex offenders in their neighborhoods. They’re not anybody’s favorite.”
- You are just trying to put out the fire.  If the media never said anything about this, then this homeless camp would still be there, but that's just our opinion of course.

But, then what happens? There are scant places for sex offenders to legally live apart from the woods, the south Fort Myers apartments that accept sex offenders and pockets of Lehigh Acres, the local administrator for the Department of Corrections told The News-Press in 2012. The department declined a recent interview request. Mapping of sex offenders’ locations show they reside in pockets throughout Lee County.
- They live in the woods and in clusters due to the residency restrictions!  Eliminate that and the problem will surely vanish, or a huge dent put into it!  But hey, we can't look "soft" on sex offenders now can we?

Local social service providers could not offer housing options for homeless sex offenders and neither could the state’s homelessness director.

“It’s hard to get people to come forward to help that group of people and want to establish housing, but it is a public safety concern,” said Janet Bartos, executive director of the Lee County Homeless Coalition.

Nonprofit organizations do provide food, counseling and outreach to homeless sex offenders.

“There’s not an easy answer because of the background that they have,” said Ann Arnall, director of Lee County human services.
- So why don't you hire a night guard to watch the place while everybody sleeps?

“There’s not a high level of sympathy either. If somebody is going to start a program, who is going to support it?”

This week, on an afternoon of welcome sunshine, Priscilla Morley flipped through a magazine at a Trailhead Park picnic shelter. Morley was unaware of the camp just a walk away.

“It’s a concern because this is a park for kids,” said Morley, 40, a nurse. “As long as they don’t come into the park, I’m OK. You just have to watch your kids from anybody.”
- You should do that in the first place!

See Also:

• Editorial: This 'answer' for sex offenders is not right
• FMPD: Homeless sex offender camp cleared out

AL - Sex offender speaks out against Alabama bill that would regulate sex offender clusters

Community Notification Flyers

Original Article

10/28/2013

By Mike Cason

MONTGOMERY - A registered sex offender is doing what he says few other offenders will do, speaking out against a bill that would further restrict where they can live.

Derek Logue opposes a bill that would make it illegal for sex offenders to live at the same residence without a live-in monitor and a license from the sheriff. Legislators and a prosecutor in Autauga and Chilton counties say the licensing and monitoring are needed to protect the public from having large numbers of offenders in one place.
- If you want to prevent a large number of offenders from living near each other then remove the residency restrictions that are creating the clusters in the first place!

Logue says it’s already hard enough for them to rejoin society after leaving prison. They can’t live or work within 2,000 feet of a school or daycare.

“There’s not a lot of hope for us,” Logue said. “But transitional housing at least gives people some stability. What you want is to have a chance to reintegrate back into society.”

Logue said they need stability during the first couple of years after prison and said that's when they are more likely to commit another crime. He said the bill would effectively block halfway houses and group homes that could help offenders and reduce recidivism.

Officials in Chilton and Autauga counties say their priority is public safety.

C.J. Robinson, chief deputy district attorney for Autauga, Elmore and Chilton counties, said 49 sex offenders have lived at the same Chilton County address since 2010. An average of about 10 live there on most days, Sheriff Kevin Davis said. They live in trailers behind a small church. It’s not in a dense neighborhood, but there are houses scattered along the two-lane highway near Triumph Church, which is outside Clanton.
- And how many new sexual crimes have been committed by these folks?  Apparently none or we are sure they would have mentioned it!

Robinson said nothing in state law prohibits such a concentration of sex offenders. Laws pertaining only to Birmingham and Jefferson County restrict sex offenders from living together there.

Robinson compiled his numbers from notices the district attorney's office receives when a registered sex offender moves into the county. He points out that only two of the 49 men committed their crimes in Chilton County.

More than half of the 49 were convicted of rape. Most of their victims were minors, including many who were children.

Sheriff Davis said the men have not caused a problem. Robinson said he doesn't want to wait until they do.
- If you look at the facts and not your own emotions, you'd see the recidivism rate is already very low, so the chance of someone committing a new sex crime is very slim to none!

“I don't have the luxury to morally sit and wait until we have a child or a woman victimized by one of these men,” Robinson said in an email. “They have no ties to Chilton County and I would like to see them return to from where they came. We will take our troubled souls back, other counties should tend to their own as well. This community wants to send a message that we are not a landfill for the rest of the state to dump their sexual predators on.”
- We're sure if you had a large number in your own county you'd be saying you didn't want them either!

Ricky Martin, pastor of Triumph Church, declined an interview request from AL.com.

Logue said he doesn't know Martin or know about the program, but says the fact that the men haven't caused a problem seems noteworthy.

"Despite how they may feel about this group of people, it seems like the program is pretty successful," Logue said.

Bill pre-filed for January

Rep. Paul Beckman

Reps. Kurt Wallace, R-Maplesville and Paul Beckman, R-Prattville, are sponsoring House Bill 21, pre-filed for the legislative session that starts in January. It would define a lot where two or more unrelated sex offenders live as a “residential sex offender cluster.” It would make it illegal for a sex offender to live in a cluster that was not licensed by the sheriff. It would make it illegal for a person to own or operate an unlicensed cluster.
- And how much is the license going to cost?  Surely this will be knocked down by the courts?

In addition to the place in Chilton County, Beckman said multiple sex offenders live in trailers on a piece of land in Autauga County.

“We’re right now trying to protect the public,” Beckman said. “And the public is saying to us right now in Chilton County and in Autauga County, ‘We don’t want to take care of other people’s sex offenders.’”
- If no crimes are being committed, then how are you protecting the public?

Wallace proposed a similar bill during this year’s legislative session, but it failed.
- And surely this one will as well?

Logue spoke against that bill at a public hearing. He plans to return to speak against the new bill next year.

“Most registered citizens are too afraid to speak out,” Logue said. “Somebody has to be a voice because so few of us are willing to speak out.”

Logue pleaded guilty to first degree sexual abuse in 2001 in Franklin County. His victim was an 11-year-old girl. He was released from prison in 2003 and lives in Cincinnati.

Logue operates a website called Once Fallen.com and advocates for reforms of laws that limit where sex offenders can live and work. He supports punishment for sex crimes but says punishment should not continue after an offender has served his time.

Proponents of HB21 say sex offenders living together could negatively influence each other and make it more likely they will commit another crime.
- And that is strictly based on emotions and not facts.  Do they think ex-offenders are going to plan some mass molestation or something?  Give us a break!  Other offenders want to stay clean and so they keep each other in check, not the other way around.

"I don't like the idea that like minds are all together," Beckman said.
- Like in congress?

Logue takes issue with that and says sex offenders are not a homogeneous group.

“We’re not all pedophiles,” Logue said. “We’re not all rapists.”

Proponents of HB21 say they would not oppose sex offenders living in facilities that effectively counsel or treat them, although they say they know of no such program. The bill would authorize the Alabama Department of Mental Health to promulgate rules for residential sex offender clusters.
- Sounds like a conflict of interest to us.

David Jackson, chief operating officer for the department, said it does not certify treatment programs for sex offenders.

Concern about unintended consequences

A lawyer for a nonprofit organization that advocates for criminal justice reforms said there could be unintended consequences of restrictive laws that make it hard for sex offenders to find homes and jobs.

“First and foremost, I don’t think anyone disagrees that our first priority as a society should be to protect our children,” said Ateeyah Hollie, who works for the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta. “While I appreciate the lawmakers attempt at doing so, my main concern is that they do so in a practical manner that won’t further endanger our community.”

"The more restrictive we get with these residency and employment restrictions, the more likely we’re going to increase recidivism, which I don’t think is the lawmakers’ intent.”
- Well we think that is their intent, so they can keep the prison system raking in the money!

Hollie said instability in residency and employment are key factors in recidivism.

Hollie spoke against the bill Wallace proposed during this year’s legislative session. She has not read the new bill.

Registration and residency restrictions on sex offenders gained national attention in the 1990s. Congress and states passed what were called Megan's Law, named after a 7-year-old New Jersey girl who was assaulted and murdered by a neighbor who was a convicted sex offender.

A 2012 report funded by the National Institute of Justice, "Sex Offenders: Recidivism and Collateral Consequences," examined the effect of sex offender registration and notification laws on recidivism.

The researchers found that the laws had limited effect on recidivism. The report said sex offenders have an overall low rate of recidivism but that some are high-risk, and that laws would be more effective if they targeted the high-risk offenders instead of all sex offenders.

Logue said some of the restrictions on residency and work amount to continual punishment after a prison sentence ends.

“When a person has served his time and they get out they should be given an opportunity to become a productive member of society,” Logue said. “We don’t treat murderers the same way. We don’t say murderers can’t live within 2,000 feet of another human being. That would be silly.”

Logue said there are effective rehabilitation programs.

"If we're really serious about trying to prevent reoffending, we should be doing things that we know work," Logue said. "Rehabilitation is not popular, but it's the right thing to do."

Wallace and Beckman said their bill would allow Alabama counties flexibility on how to handle sex offender clusters because it would be up to sheriffs to decide whether to license them.
- And we are sure nobody would get a license also.

"Until somebody comes up with a program that can be sanctioned by the state that proves we can improve the frequency of these guys reoffending, I'm just going with what I say is common sense," Wallace said.
- You already have a ton of studies that show recidivism is low already, in the single digits, so what else do you want?  You are just exploiting the issue for your own political gain, in our opinion.

AL - Alabama legislators want to require license for 'sex offender clusters'

Original Article

This just goes to show you how ignorant and clueless politicians, who are making these draconian laws, are about their own laws. The residency restrictions are creating these clusters, now they want to pass a law to prevent clustering? Why don't you get rid of the residency laws then it wouldn't be a problem!

10/20/2013

By Mike Cason

MONTGOMERY - A few miles outside Clanton, Triumph Church sits on a two-lane county highway bordered by fields, farms and scattered houses.

On most days, about 10 men who have finished prison sentences for rape or other sex crimes live in trailers behind the small church.

A legislator from the county said the men's presence is troubling to some families who live nearby, even though the county sheriff says there's never been a serious incident involving the church and the men who live there.

“The community is not happy, I can assure you,” said Rep. Kurt Wallace, R-Maplesville.

Wallace wants the facility to be licensed by the county under an arrangement that would require a live-in monitor and other restrictions. He has proposed legislation (Bill, PDF) that would designate such places as “residential sex offender clusters.” He has pre-filed a bill for the legislative session that begins in January. The law would have statewide application.

Rep. Paul Beckman, R-Prattville, is co-sponsoring the bill because he said there is a similar place in Autauga County.

“You’ve got families with kids even though it’s out in the country, and you’ve got no way of safeguarding and protecting them,” Beckman said.

State law already restricts where sex offenders can live. They are not allowed to live within 2,000 feet of a school or child care center, or within 2,000 feet of their victim.

That can make it hard for sex offenders to find a place to live when they are released from prison.

"It's one of those things that nobody wants them, but they have to go somewhere," Wallace said.

Chilton County Sheriff Kevin Davis said a total of about 60 sex offenders have found a temporary home at Triumph Church over the last few years. The trailers where the men live are behind the church, Wallace said, but are not readily visible from the highway.

Ricky Martin, the church pastor, declined to be interviewed for this story. Martin and others were holding a yard sale next to the church Friday morning.

The sign in front of the church read: "Fear not, the Lord can help you."

A couple who live less than a mile from the church said the men who live at the church have never caused them a problem but they would prefer they were not there.

Sheriff Davis said about 9-11 sex offenders live there most days. He said the number has been as high as about 15.

“It has not been a problem,” Davis said. “Certainly I understand the concerns of having them all in one spot. But also, on the flip side, if they’re all there it’s very easy to go and check and make sure they’re all where they’re supposed to be.”

County sheriffs are responsible for keeping track of sex offenders under the state’s Community Notification Act.

Davis said one concern is that many of the sex offenders are not from the county. He said some have come from out of state.

“They have no ties to the community. They’re not coming because this is home,” the sheriff said.

Wallace said that is one reason the place bothers him. He said the county doesn't want to be home for sex offenders from all over the state.

“We don’t mind taking care of our own," Wallace said.

Wallace said he found out about the sex offender residence after a woman became alarmed when two men knocked on her front and back doors. She didn’t answer but called 911, Wallace said. The two men told authorities they were looking for work. The woman later learned the men were two of the sex offenders living in the trailers.

“When she found that out she of course went nuts because she had a couple of small grandchildren that occasionally stay with her,” Wallace said.

Wallace has proposed similar bills the last two years but they did not pass.

The Legislature has passed bills applying only to Jefferson County and Birmingham that prohibit more than one unrelated sex offender from living in the same residence.

Jefferson County Chief Deputy Randy Christian said the laws have worked well. Christian said he did not think placing a new requirement on sheriffs to license locations with more than one sex offender was a good idea.

“Simply say more than one cannot live at an address and a violation means jail time,” Christian said in an email. “I think that is the most effective way to deal with that issue and it has been effective here in Jefferson County.”

Montgomery County Sheriff D.T. Marshall said there are places in the county where multiple sex offenders live, like some low-rent motels.

“It’s getting harder and harder for them to find a place to live,” Marshall said.

When sex offenders reach the end of their prison sentence they are required to have an approved place to live. If not, they are returned to the jail in the county where they were convicted.

Marshall said Wallace’s licensing bill sounded like it could be a good idea but he didn’t want to give an opinion without reading the bill.

The bill sponsored by Wallace and Beckman would define any place that housed two or more sex offenders as residential sex offender clusters and any place that housed five or more as large residential sex offender clusters. The maximum would be 30 sex offenders.

The clusters would have to have a monitor with no record of a felony conviction who lived with and supervised the sex offenders. There could be no less than one monitor for every 10 offenders.

Large residential clusters would have to pay an annual licensing fee of $100 plus $20 per offender.

Chilton County Sheriff Davis said having sex offenders live together raised a concern about how they might influence each other’s behavior. He said jail inmates often express a desire to change their ways, but that can change if they run in the same circles after they’re released.

“A lot of times behavior is based on who we hang around," Davis said.

Wallace said he would not be opposed to sex offenders living together in a treatment facility that was certified by the state and said his proposal would exempt such a facility from the licensing requirement.

“I just don’t want them hanging out together with nothing to do but sit around and talk about the things that make them do what they do,” Wallace said.

CA - Sex Offenders Driven Out By 'Pocket Parks'

Joe Buscaino

Original Article

The REAL reason you are seeing this is due to the residency zones which do nothing to prevent crime or protect anybody, but they force ex-offenders into clusters and in areas like this. If the residency restrictions, which don't work, were repealed, then ex-offenders could live where they wanted and this wouldn't be an issue, but we all know politicians don't care about the truth and facts, only what can make themselves look "tough" on crime.

10/12/2013

By Greg Milam

Communities in the US who say their neighborhoods have been blighted by high concentrations of registered sex offenders have found an unusual way of driving them away.

The phenomenon of 'pocket parks', which are built on patches of waste land, is spreading across the country and forcing sex offenders to move out.

Under Jessica's Law (Wikipedia), which is named in honor of nine-year-old Jessica Lunsford who was abducted and murdered by a convicted sex offender, anyone on the register cannot live within 2,000 feet of a park or school.

Because of that, communities that are considered "park poor", with few schools or play areas, have become havens for high concentrations of registered offenders.

Local people have taken to calling them "perverts' row".

Civil rights campaigners claim the parks are driving sex offenders underground and do nothing to make children any safer.

However, communities argue it is a demonstration of people power.

In Harbor Gateway, a working-class neighbourhood close to the Port of Los Angeles, a former patch of waste ground close to a busy junction is now home to a new playground.

It often stands unused but since it was built, dozens of registered sex offenders who lived in the area, including more than 30 in one small apartment block, have been forced to move on or face violating their probation or parole.
- So much for the Constitutional issue of ex post facto laws (Wikipedia).  These people should be grandfathered in, otherwise it's an unconstitutional law / park.

Council member Joe Buscaino (Wikipedia), a former Los Angeles police officer who now represents the Harbor Gateway district, pushed for the playground to be built.

He told Sky News: "Parents would live in fear, close their curtains shut and lock their doors, and we sent a message loud and clear that we shouldn't have to live this way."
- And we shouldn't have to live with politicians who love to exploit fear, children and ex-offenders, but we don't see you passing a law against that!

Pocket parks are being built from Florida to Oklahoma as more communities learn of their impact.

The LA suburb of Wilmington is another that has become home to high concentrations of registered sex offenders, many of whom live in former hotels. A soon-to-be-opened playground will change that.

Mum-of-two Corina Larios, who lives near the site, said: "I used to worry about me or my kids being out at night."
- So how is a pocket park changing that?  You are out at night when kids shouldn't be in the park in the first place.

"It is terrible that they feel that they can come and throw all of the undesirables into our city ... and we're upset because there are a lot of good families here."
- If you are upset, then you need to tell the politicians to get rid of the residency restrictions that force ex-offenders to cluster in your area, then it wouldn't be a problem.

Those who campaign for the rights of registered offenders say the parks simply make it harder to monitor them and suggest they are unconstitutional and misguided.

Janice Belluci, president of California Reform Sex Offender Laws, said: "The people who are already on the sex offenders' registers are the least likely to sexually assault their children, with the rate of re-offence less than 2%."

"The people most likely to assault your child are family members, teachers, coaches and members of the clergy."

Local police applaud community action but say society needs to find an answer to where rehabilitated registered offenders should go.

LAPD sergeant Catherine Plows told Sky News said poorest neighborhoods often suffer the most.

"Does that make it right for them to endure an inordinate number of sex offenders being placed here? No, it doesn't," she said.
- Well, like we said, get rid of residency restrictions and this wouldn't be an issue any more.

"There is no magical island they can be placed on. In the end they are human beings and they have the same rights as we do."
- They are suppose to, and since they don't, that is why these laws are unconstitutional.

NY - Counties face challenge of housing sex offenders

Original Article

10/07/2013

By Jeremiah Horrigan

They're destitute, without jobs or much hope of securing one. They're homeless and without much hope of finding one.

They're the people no one wants to employ or live near: level 2 and level 3 sex offenders — men and women who are legally required to report their presence to local authorities for the rest of their lives.

When they're released from prison, or move from another area, it falls to county Social Services departments to place them. Frequently, they wind up in small, family-run motels and boarding houses. And they have to report that address to authorities or face penalties, including arrest.

In the past year alone, 14 sex offenders — including 10 in Liberty in July — have been picked up for failing to register where they live, as required.

Their sometimes-clustered presence in some of the region's motels and boarding homes has prompted fear, anger and lawsuits in communities across the region, the state and the country.

And nowhere in the mid-Hudson has the outcry of late been louder than in the Town of Wawarsing in Ulster County.

Emotional, legal issues tangle

Wawarsing comprises five hamlets and the Village of Ellenville. According to the latest figures available from the state's Public Registry of Sex Offenders, there are currently 29 level 2 and level 3 sex offenders living in those communities. Only the City of Kingston, with 37, has more registered sex offenders in Ulster County.

The tiny and very rural hamlet of Kerhonkson is home to 17 sex offenders, according to the registry. Six of those offenders now reside at the Colonial Motel on Route 209.

To town Supervisor Scott Carlsen, those numbers strongly suggest that something's out of whack with the way indigent sex offenders are housed in the county.

Carlsen is recently retired from a career as an administrator in the state's correctional system, including years as a counselor in several sexual offender programs.

Housing sexual offenders in rural communities like Kerhonkson, he said, isn't good for offenders nor the community.

"They (sexual offenders) don't have cars. In order to get the services they need, they have to bike or hitchhike. Even from a therapeutic model, it makes no sense to me."

And, he says, the situation only gets worse when sex offenders are allowed to congregate.
- Worse how?  Due to new crimes being committed (doubtful) or public hysteria?

"I'm unaware of any study of any treatment that it's a good thing to stick a dozen of these guys together in a single facility."
- And there is no study to show it's a bad thing either!  People think that ex-offenders living together that they are going to devise a mass molestation plan or something, which is so ridiculous.

But there is little legal recourse available. Some, like the Town of Wallkill, or Middletown or Village of Ellenville, have passed laws that limit sex offenders from living near schools, playgrounds and parks.

Following the village's lead, the Wawarsing Town Board implemented a statute a couple of years ago that limits to 30 the number of days a person may reside at a town motel. Three of the town's motels, Carlsen said, have abided by the law. But not, he said, the Colonial.

After the motel's compliance became a campaign issue in 2011, with Republican candidates claiming that 12 sex offenders were residing at the Colonial, owner Shahida Rizvi filed suit in federal court contending the statute prevents her from operating her business.
- You'd think people would see politicians for what they are by now.  Fear, children and ex-sex offenders are their scapegoats! They will use and exploit any issue to get elected or to look good to the sheeple of the country.

In a 31-page brief, Rizvi's lawyer Mark Stern argued that the town "fully intends to prevent (Rizvi) from operating her business through the mechanism of fines, criminal charges and criminal penalties."

Carlsen's anger only worsened when a convicted criminal — who was not a registered sex offender — was placed by county Social Services at the Colonial and arrested and charged with raping a woman last August.

Carlsen called the incident "nothing short of an outrage and criminal" on the part of Ulster County Social Services.

He accused the departments of violating the town's statute.

Michael Iapoce, director of the county's Social Services Department, sees the situation very differently.

Homelessness a key problem

Every county in the state must find housing for any individual, regardless of their criminal history, if they say they are homeless.

As far as Iapoce is concerned, that's the bottom line when his Social Services Department deals with homeless people.

And while his department has taken a lot of heat for housing indigent sex offenders, he said there's a public "misperception" that Social Services has more authority and responsibility than it actually does.
- If you stop the insanity then maybe ex-offenders can get a job and live somewhere else, but the very laws the idiotic politicians are passing is what is causing all these problems, not the ex-offenders!

Sex offenders are emerging from a highly structured prison environment, he said; the services they require are determined by the county's Probation Department and state Department of Corrections.

Marijane Knudsen, the department's director of economic support, said that prisoners being released into communities — especially sex offenders — need better discharge plans to guide their re-introduction to society.

She also said there are larger issues, including the need for better housing for anyone who needs it.

"No one deserves to live in a hotel. Everyone should have access to permanent, safe housing," she said.

That need, said Nancy Schmidt, can be a pivotal aspect of what she called "an age-old problem."

Lack of jobs compounds issue

Schmidt is deputy director of the county's probation department. The lack of stable housing and job opportunities for sex offenders, she said, are the two biggest factors affecting the successful integration of an indigent offender into society.

Housing availability are sometimes prohibited by the very laws that are aimed at protecting children from predators, such as laws that restrict sex offenders from living near schools, playgrounds and parks.

In a city like Kingston, Schmidt said, that reduces the potential housing choices considerably. Rural, isolated locations like Kerhonkson are at least less likely to pose a threat to children living nearby.

And yes, she said, while Social Services is responsible for housing homeless sex offenders, there are times when the department will allow housing sex offenders in a facility with other offenders.

Sometimes, it's a better choice than having an offender move from "couch to couch" or live in a car or a tent, where supervision is more difficult and the threat of a recurrence could be increased.

"Without employment or stable housing, there's a higher risk of a return," she said.

And with a sigh, she summarized the situation in two words:

"It's tough."
- Not really!  Get rid of the residency restrictions and take the registry offline, then many can integrate back into society, get a job, home and move on with their lives.

See Also:

• Controversial homeless shelter could house sex offenders

VA - Sex offender clusters impacting neighborhoods

Original Article

The state has created this mess. Where someone lives has no impact on if or when they will re-offend. Most ex-sex offenders do not commit another sexual crime. And the residency restrictions are what creates these clusters. So if you don't like them, then you need to contact congress to eliminate the residency restrictions and then offenders can live where they want, not in your neighborhood.

10/03/2013

By Scott Wise

FARMVILLE (WTVR) - If you live near four or more registered sex offenders, you will have a more difficult time selling your home. In a published study, researchers at Longwood University found homes that sat within a quarter-mile of a “sex offender cluster” were on the market as much as 147 percent longer than other homes.

The longer a home stays on the market, the more pressure it puts on homeowners to drop the asking price.

“We wanted to know if sex offenders cluster and if that has an effect on home prices,” Dr. Ray Brastow, professor of economics, said. “The answer to both questions is yes.”

Dr. Ray Brastow and his colleagues used data from nearly 20,000 Virginia real listings between 1999 and 2009. The researchers said they focused the study on the Lynchburg area.

Their findings attributed the clustering of sex offenders to several factors:

• Lower home prices. Lower prices draw more potential buyers, especially buyers less concerned about living near a sex offender — namely – other registered sex offenders, the study found.
• Development choices. Some neighborhoods have made choices that would prevent sex offenders from moving in.

“We know this is something that people talk about,” Brastow said. “There are certain places that sex offenders can’t live—near schools, daycare centers and parks, for example. Because of this, some neighborhoods are creating small parks, called ‘pocket parks,’ or fighting school closings.”

Living near (one-fourth of a mile) one, two or three registered sex offenders, researchers found, can impact home prices as those homes stay on the market nearly two months longer than the average house.

“However, with four sex offenders, the situation changes dramatically,” Dr. Bennie Waller, professor of finance and real estate, said. “Here we find the ‘tipping’ point, the number at which people get panicky and a neighborhood takes an economic turn for the worse.”