There are over 80
registered sex offenders currently registered as transient, living within feet
of the railroad tracks at NW 71st Street and 36th Court
in Miami.
Yesterday, The
Florida Action Committee sent a letter to the head of the Circuit Administrator
for the State’s Department of Corrections, Maria DiBernado, asking what will be
done about the growing encampment.
A copy of the
letter is below:
Dear Ms. DiBernado:
As you are aware, an encampment of sex offenders has developed in the above-referenced area. At present, the FDLE registry shows approximately 75 individuals registered as transient there.
These people sleep alongside the railroad tracks within feet of passing trains. They are forced to urinate and defecate in bushes across the tracks, as there is no alternative.
A majority came to that location because they
were displaced from homes at the River Park Trailer Park or surrounding area
within the past few weeks as a consequence of the County’s harsh sex offender
ordinance.
Some have spouses and children. Most have
families or other stable living situations they could arrange if not for the
residency restrictions.
Setting aside the question of whether forcing
people into homelessness facilitates the goals of supervision and the fact that
studies have shown that housing instability is consistently and strongly
associated with criminal recidivism and absconding, our community is in a
situation where dozens of human beings were thrown to the streets for no new
crime other than being on a list of second-class citizens.
The Florida Action Committee (FAC) is not a
law firm. We will leave the legality of this situation to those qualified. We
are, however, an advocacy group comprised of concerned citizens and
professionals who seek to promote the prevention of sexual abuse while
preserving the safety and dignity of all citizens.
Over the past several weeks we have been
contacted by individuals displaced and their family members. They have
described to us the inhumane conditions at the encampment. That they were
ordered to move from their homes with less than a week’s notice. That many were
originally directed to River Park and then forced out, as was the case in Shorecrest
and the Julia Tuttle Causeway.
We implore you to speak with experts in the
field of sex offender management, read the well- documented studies on
recidivism rates amongst this population and the effects of housing instability
and transience. We then hope that you will work with legislators and municipal
administrators to come up with a solution to this serious and growing problem.
As to the immediate problem; the County or
State should, at minimum, provide a safer field, warehouse or portable toilets
to accommodate these individuals in the interim.
Kindly let us know what is being done with
respect to this situation in both the short-term and long-term.
Florida
Action Committee (FAC), founded in 2006, is a state-wide consortium
of concerned citizens and professionals whose purpose is to promote the
prevention of sexual abuse while preserving the safety and dignity of all
citizens through carefully structured laws targeting the truly violent, forced,
and/or dangerous predatory acts of sex. FAC believes that many aspects of the
current approach to sex offenders seriously undermine justice and actually
increase the threat of sexual assault against others, particularly children.
FAC opposes a publicized registry of sex offenders and seeks to bring an end to
the humiliation of people who have already paid for their crimes. FAC asserts
that only by supporting justice for all people—offenders and victims alike can
a truly safe society be built and secured for all Americans.
Only our government is insane(definition:doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result)enough to keep making hundreds and hundreds of registrants homeless and hopeless and expect a positive result. It is infuriating. I pray that this time someone with some intelligence, common sense, and influence will finally put a stop to this insanity.
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