[Artcles & Essays - G] 

More Walls Await Freed Predators

Aimee Green, The Sunday Oregonian (Portland, Oregon)
January 7, 2007

< http://www.knowledgeplex.org/news/229495.html >

As post-prison laws get tougher for sex offenders, rehabilitation officials say, the limits may keep many from ever rejoining society

It's hard to pity a man who once molested three mentally disabled
adults in his care, just because years after leaving prison he's
still searching for a permanent place to call home.

The man, who was released in 2004, has applied to dozens of
apartments and been rejected. The only places that will rent to him
are run-down apartments in areas of town where prostitutes make a
living and drug addicts get their fix. A former alcoholic and drug
user himself, he knows he shouldn't live there.

The 54-year-old man's problem poses a troubling question: What does
society do with a class of people whose crimes are so repugnant, few
are willing to give them a chance?

A public outraged by cases of sexual predators repeating their
crimes has insisted on a blizzard of laws restricting where they can
live and what they can do when they leave prison. Yet some of those
laws have had an unintended consequence.

Officials charged with supervising the rehabilitation of thousands
of sex offenders statewide say they are finding it increasingly
difficult to get jobs, inpatient drug treatment and, most of all,
housing. Parole and probation officers say if a sex offender can't
find a place to live, it's tough to make sure he's getting treatment
and staying away from temptation. 

"We're not taking their side, saying 'Oh, poor them,' " said Scott
Taylor, community corrections chief for the Oregon Department of Corrections. "We don't want them to abandon all hope of being able to succeed."

A debate is growing over which measures help -- and which hinder
-- the rehabilitation of sex offenders.

In Oregon, laws in recent years have either allowed or required
public agencies to post the home addresses, photos, birth dates and
license plates of every predatory sex offender. There are 205
predatory sex offenders on Multnomah County's Web site. About 755 of
the 13,425 registered sex offenders in Oregon are on the Oregon
State Police predatory sex offender Web site.

State laws prohibit sex offenders from sharing homes, from living
within three miles of their victims or near schools, although the
law doesn't define "near." The Portland City Council may vote soon
on banning convicted child predators from public swimming pools and
playgrounds.

Recent high-profile crimes such as the 2005 rape and slaying of a
9-year-old Florida girl -- allegedly by a convicted sex offender
living nearby -- have prompted tougher legislation nationwide.

	California and Georgia created zones around schools, bus stops and parks where sex offenders aren't allowed to reside.
	Ohio and Missouri lawmakers approved lifetime tracking of some sex  offenders with GPS devices.
	And some towns in the Northeast essentially banned sex offenders  from living there at all.

Many of these measures are being challenged in the courts.

Offenders tell of troubles

A dozen sex offenders interviewed by The Oregonian described the
challenges they faced finding a place to live. Because they fear
harassment or injury, The Oregonian agreed not to use their names.
Their accounts were corroborated by their parole and probation officers.

One 68-year-old man spent a few thousand dollars fixing up a rental
house and installing new carpet before neighbors told authorities
the house was close to a school for pregnant teens and he was forced
to move. When he finally found a new place, a neighbor posted signs
in front of the house announcing his presence even though Multnomah
County officials already notified his neighbors.

Another man in his 20s, who is mentally disabled, lived in a motor
home parked off Southeast Powell Boulevard for weeks. No motor home
park in the area would have him because of his sex offender status;
he had been caught printing child pornography at a public library.

A 37-year-old man, convicted of sodomizing and sexually abusing two
young boys when he was a teenager, says managers of ramshackle
apartments are the only ones who'll rent to him --even two decades
after his crimes.

Public disgust, he says, has increased each year. Since Multnomah
County's Web site started posting his name, photo, license plate and
address last year, he's received a death threat and had his tires
slashed.

"I called the police, and the cop who came out said, 'What do you want me to do?' " said the offender. "And he was right, there was nothing he could do."

In July, residents of Sheridan in Yamhill County drove out a halfway
house for five sex offenders looking for permanent homes and jobs.
The house closed in less than a month after community protests. 

"When I hear something like that, I say, 'OK, then where do they
go?' " said Bobby James, a Multnomah County corrections counselor.

Staying employed difficult

Studies show that sex offenders who hold down a job and maintain a
stable home have the greatest chance of complying with the terms of
their court-ordered supervision.

In a Florida survey of 183 sex offenders, 27 percent said they lost
a job after the community was notified about their criminal past.
About 20 percent said they had to move when their landlords found
out about their sex crimes, and 15 percent said they were forced to
pack up when neighbors found out. One out of three reported being
harassed or threatened by neighbors.

Taylor, the head of Oregon community corrections, said that sex
offenders have a markedly lower re-offense rate than the general
criminal population. State figures show that three years after sex
offenders are released from prison, about 5 percent to 6 percent are
re-convicted of felony sex crimes, although 11 percent to 12 percent
are convicted of other criminal felonies.

That's compared with about 30 percent of car thieves, drug dealers
and other criminals who are re-convicted after three years.

The exception, Taylor notes, is high-risk sex offenders, such as
pedophiles who victimized boys and offenders who raped women.
Although it may take some years, some studies show, upward of 40
percent to 50 percent reoffend, and officials monitor and treat this
group more intensely.

Of the 205 predatory sex offenders under supervision in Multnomah
County, 14 are listed as homeless. Approximately 28 sex offenders
are listed as homeless countywide. Transient sex offenders must
register their addresses, as required by law, but the addresses
often are no more specific than 

"the corner of Fifth and Main" 
or
"underneath the west side of the Burnside Bridge."

"It's much safer to have parole officers know where these people are -- rather than have them randomly roaming out there in the
community," said Ed Blackburn, a director at Central City Concern.

The nonprofit started renting about 30 of its 1,500 available
housing units to sex offenders roughly a decade ago.

Officials worry that homeless offenders are more likely to ignore
treatment, polygraph tests and regular check-ins with authorities.
Parole officer Ian Clanton said one of the offenders he monitors
stopped showing up for his weekly appointments as he accumulated
more bedding and possessions. 

"They don't want to leave their stuff," Clanton said. "They don't
want to lose it." 

Officials say some sex offenders are homeless by choice. For others,
they just couldn't get a break. 

"Part of the problem is the public doesn't make a distinction
between people who are trying and people who are not --it's just so easy to say no," said Sarah Frost, a Multnomah County parole officer who supervises the 54-year-old offender who molested the three mentally disabled adults in his care.

Frost says that despite his past, he's one of the ones trying to
rebuild their lives.