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6-20-03 SPECIAL REPORT: Housing for Sex Offenders
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Today we bring you three stories! Here is what we see, from the earlier story of "Hope," and these three stories, when there is a will there is a way! Fears, prejudices and biases, whether real or not, will enter the picture. Outside influences will play a part in whether to house or not. i.e., Police and Parole/Probation Officers. But, who is more knowledgable of these clients, that the law places back into communities?
Establishing programs of re-entry and recovery, so that offenders interested in living clean with the support of their peers, does take someone with knowledge of the offenders they must deal with. I guess the goal must be, what is best for the community as a whole, remembering that, current law -by releasing folks back into communities- is a mandate to, include, not exclude! A true sense of community, requires leadership and a desire to resolve issues by compromise. When there is a will, there is a way!
» Florida: Shelter houses sex offenders leaving prison (slow loading):
Robert D. Taylor walked out of an Okeechobee prison last week, he had $100 in his pocket, a Greyhound bus ticket and the address of a homeless shelter in Hollywood.
The police, however, are pressuring the shelter's owner to stop taking in the felons. "The city doesn't want me to do it," said Sean A. Cononie, president of the Cosac Foundation, a nonprofit organization that runs the shelter at 1203 N. Federal Highway.
Although his shelter at times houses children, Cononie says they are not in danger; nor are the other adult residents. "There's so many security cameras here, we know what the hell's going on," Cononie said.
Cononie argues that he's performing a service by giving sex offenders, including two labeled "sexual predators" by the courts, a stable residence so they are less likely to lash out in anger at society. "We don't want them living under bridges where no one can monitor them," he said. Pictures of the sex offenders are fastened to the shelter's interior doors and bulletin boards. "We want everybody to know who they are," Cononie said. (by Megan O'Matz, The SunSentenial)
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» Utah: Disciples House Offers New Hope:
Released from prison more than six times, Robin Gardner each time had nothing to do and nowhere to go. A caseworker recently asked the 47-year-old how she could help him stay out of prison once and for all. "One thing's for sure," he replied. "What I've been doing isn't working."
That was before he moved into Disciples House, a state-licensed organization based in Salt Lake City's Central Christian Church, 370 S. 300 East. Under the Christian-based tutelage of other residents and the program's two pastors, Gardner said he has learned a lot in his first four weeks.
Disciples House earned its state license in April. Besides parolees and probationers, it accepts homeless and low-income men. Agents at the state Division of Adult Probation and Parole said they are unaware of another faith-based organization that accepts those recently released from jail or prison -- especially registered sex offenders like Gardner.
"I'm very pro-this program," said Bradley Bassi, a parole agent and spokesman for the division's Salt Lake office. "It's such a comfortable, positive environment here."(By Ashley Broughton The Salt Lake Tribune)
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::: NO ROOM AT THE INN ::: |
» Oregon: On Monday, June 9, I attended the public hearing for Homeward Bound in Sherwood.
The proponents of Homeward Bound, ... spoke with sincerity, knowledge and eloquence. The opponents, however, demonstrated little knowledge about recovery, and their comments were full of innuendoes and thinly veiled accusations based on unsubstantiated fear of what might happen. My real concern is with the media coverage. I found it very biased toward the opponents.
Homeward Bound does not accept men with a violent history, nor does it accept sex offenders or felons. It only accepts those men interested in living clean and sober with the support of their peers -- a recovery process proven to be successful.
I was dismayed to see people still so uninformed about recovery. I encourage anyone interested to go to the library and do some reading. Or ask one of us -- we in recovery welcome your interest and questions. Nancy Engeman of Tigard is co-founder and program director of Come Rest Awhile, a transitional housing program for women in recovery from substance abuse. .(by Nancy Engeman, The Oregonian)
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Copyright ©2003 LAMP.
"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one striking at the root."
- Henry David Thoreau -
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