Florida Housing Sex Offenders Under a Bridge

By Jeralyn, Section Crime Policy
Posted on Thu Apr 05, 2007 at 06:14:34 PM EST
Tags: sex offenders (all tags)

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Unbelievable. When will this insanity stop?

The Florida Department of Corrections says there are fewer and fewer places in Miami-Dade County where sex offenders can live because the county has some of the strongest restrictions against this kind of criminal in the country.

Florida's solution: house the convicted felons under a bridge that forms one part of the causeway. The Julia Tuttle Causeway, which links Miami to Miami Beach, offers no running water, no electricity and little protection from nasty weather. It's not an ideal solution, Department of Corrections Officials told CNN, but at least the state knows where the sex offenders are.

Then there's the rats and rodents that swarm over them.

With the roar of cars passing overhead, convicted sex offender Kevin Morales sleeps in a chair to keep the rats off him.

"The rodents come up next to you, you could be sleeping the whole night and they could be nibbling on you," he said.

Morales has been homeless and living under the causeway for about three weeks. He works, has a car and had a rented apartment but was forced to move after the Department of Corrections said a swimming pool in his building put him too close to children.

Florida, you may remember, is the state that enacted a law banning sex offenders from hurricane shelters. In the event of a hurricane, they are to report to prison. As an ACLU official put it:

The more steps you take to isolate and ostracize them ... there are very few options for them to live their lives and not reoffend."

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Florida Housing Sex Offenders Under a Bridge | 5 comments (5 topical)

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why do they care (5.00 / 2) (#1)
by Jen M on Thu Apr 05, 2007 at 06:59:38 PM EST

after all, florida police arrest, handcuff, and charge with felonies an ungodly number of small children under twelve - some as young as five. Teenagers die in their camps.

Protecting children is obviously not on their to do list anywhere.

If they truly cared about protecting children from abusers the entire florida criminal justice system should be living under that bridge.

When will this insanity stop? (none / 0) (#2)
by Edger on Thu Apr 05, 2007 at 07:18:42 PM EST

I hope not, but probably never...

I imagine there will be somebody along here soon enough to excuse and/or support treating people this way.

Either that or those who do will remain silent. But they are out there. And they know who they are. When they look in mirrors they feel nothing.

The term "sex offender" is too broad (none / 0) (#3)
by Nowonmai on Thu Apr 05, 2007 at 08:36:06 PM EST

If you get drunk and pee on a tree and are seen, you become a registered sex offender. If your whatnots fall out of the bottom of your swimtrunks, and are seen you become a registered sex offender. The list goes on and on. If you are 16 have consensual sex with your 2 days away from her 16th girlfriend, you become a registered sex offender.

I do agree, that if they keep pushing people into a corner, they will react, and probably not in a good way.

Golly ... (none / 0) (#4)
by Sailor on Thu Apr 05, 2007 at 10:07:37 PM EST

... if it's good enough for our vets it's good enough for these folks.

: That's what happens... (none / 0) (#5)
by 1980Ford on Fri Apr 06, 2007 at 01:14:49 AM EST

When you vote for BushCo and the Republicans. Bridges and Walter Reed.