Sex Offenders Under a Bridge

[No_OnE]

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Story?id=3096547&page=1

 

 

 

Miami's South Beach is known around the world for its glamorous lifestyle and decadent parties. One of the bridges you can take to get there is the Julia Tuttle Causeway, but most drivers on the bridge don't know what's lurking beneath them -- eight convicted sex offenders who have taken up residence with the official blessing of the authorities.

 

 

 

The men committed such crimes as sexual battery and molestation. Many of the offenses were against children.

 

 

 

Kevin Morales, one of the homeless predators under the bridge, went to prison for 10 months for assaulting three girls. He said he served his time, and this is just another sentence.

 

 

 

"I would ask anyone to come here and sleep from 10 to 6 and live the mental torture that I live every day," Morales said. "You hear the rats coming your way, nibbling at your bags to any little food you may bring."

 

 

 

Morales and the other men are required to be there every night from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. The state lists their official address as the Julia Tuttle Causeway, and parole officers come by regularly to make sure the predators show up each night.

 

 

 

An ordinance intended to keep predators away from children has made it nearly impossible for the men to find housing.

 

 

 

Miami Dade County has one of the strictest sexual predator laws in the country. Once predators are released from prison, they are required to live more than 2,500 feet from anywhere children congregate. But they are barred from leaving the county while they are on parole.

 

 

 

In a county as dense and as expensive as Miami-Dade, there is no place the men can legally live that they can also afford.

 

 

 

Morales actually found one apartment he could afford, but the state did not allow him to stay there because the building had a pool where children sometimes congregated.

 

 

 

He then joined several homeless sex offenders living in a Miami parking lot -- until state officers realized it was across from a center for sexually abused children and moved them under the bridge.

 

 

 

"Look at this act that they've imposed what they are creating is a nightmare, is making people to become homeless, not the productive members you worked for us to be," Morales said.

 

 

 

Along with some of the offenders, he is required to wear a GPS tracking device that runs on electricity. However, there are no outlets under the bridge to charge it.

 

 

 

Corrections officials admit the ordinance could actually make the community less safe because it may they drive the offenders so far underground that parole officers can't supervise them.

 

 

 

"Certainly, it's not ideal, it's not a situation we like, and we're working very hard to remedy it and find places for them to live," said Bruce Grant, the assistant secretary for community corrections at the Florida Department of Corrections. "To push sex offenders under a bridge or into a homeless status is to set them up for failure and for reoffending."

 

 

 

Morales sees no solution either. That is why he is asking the county to send him back to jail.

 

 

 

"I plead with anyone before they act, think, 'Is it worth it?' -- because for me it hasn't been," he said. "This has been a living hell."

 

 

 

I think this is wrong. Though they may have made a stupid decision, they don't deserve to leave one prison and enter another that is possibly worse. What does everyone else think?

[rocketman089]

Maybe they can just set up some halfway houses for em.

[hellbellz]

I think the government should allow them to find a place that doesn't have children near them and they can afford. I'm sure the government can do that. :| They're still humans.

[Giordano]

Nah, they're fine under a bridge.

[Deiophobus]

does seem sort of harsh

[yomom1919]

Umm... that should be illegal. This is beyond [developmentally delayed]ed... We pass laws that force us to treat terrorists in captive like gold and we cant even attempt to reform our own criminals, we torture them instead? If anything, this would enrage the offenders, not reform them like the original intention of the "Corrections Department"

[vilageidiotx]

I think they should at least send them back to jail, because the are people and people shouldn't be forced to live under bridges. In fact, something like that might force them to go after children again, or some other crime, so they have to go back to jail.

[Viktorkrum77]

Nah, they're fine under a bridge.

 

 

 

Agreed. Or else send them back to jail. But this is cheaper, and I'm all for whatever costs less of our tax dollars.

[Nadril]

They shouldn't be forced to live under a bridge. The least they could do is make it so that from 12-6 they have to stay in jail, it would be reasonable.

 

 

 

 

 

I realize they comitted some sick crimes but people who do things like that (child molestation) are just sick in the head. usualy they are still very kind people.

[rocketman089]

Nah, they're fine under a bridge.

 

 

 

Agreed. Or else send them back to jail. But this is cheaper, and I'm all for whatever costs less of our tax dollars.

 

 

 

Yeah, lets just keep the convicted kiddie-touchers out on the streets with no way to keep track of em.

[xxxShade]

Nah, they're fine under a bridge.

 

 

 

Agreed. Or else send them back to jail. But this is cheaper, and I'm all for whatever costs less of our tax dollars.

 

 

 

Yeah, lets just keep the convicted kiddie-touchers out on the streets with no way to keep track of em.

 

Yeah, when I was watching it on TV they said it could potentially make it more dangerous because they do wear GPS tracking devices, but there is no way for them to charge them. Oh well, I guess they should've thought about that when they were caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

[Viktorkrum77]

Yeah, lets just keep the convicted kiddie-touchers out on the streets with no way to keep track of em.

 

 

 

I was under the impression they were guarded 24/7, misread my bad.

 

 

 

Ok, I agree with whoever said jail and the halfway house. :lol:

[Grim_Jokes]

You know, if a these were women who had molested boys; people would cry how unjust society is against women. They'd get help instantly.

 

 

 

Pathetic.

[Giordano]

Nah, they're fine under a bridge.

 

 

 

Agreed. Or else send them back to jail. But this is cheaper, and I'm all for whatever costs less of our tax dollars.

 

 

 

Yeah, lets just keep the convicted kiddie-touchers out on the streets with no way to keep track of em.

 

 

 

 

 

Morales and the other men are required to be there every night from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. The state lists their official address as the Julia Tuttle Causeway, and parole officers come by regularly to make sure the predators show up each night.

 

 

If they're not there they can load up the GPS.

[Rebdragon]

You know, if a these were women who had molested boys; people would cry how unjust society is against women. They'd get help instantly.

 

 

 

Pathetic.

 

Interesting way to look at it.

 

 

 

Even more interesting how true that is.

 

 

 

Put 'em back in jail.

[Tigra00]

Heard about this months ago.

 

 

 

Are we supposed to feel bad for them? Some here have said it's inhumane to make them live under a bridge...Tell me, did they not sacrifice their humanity by taking someone elses and raping them like they were a worthless peice of meat?

 

 

 

I submit that, yes, yes they did. Anyone who sympathizes with these guys is nothing but a bowl full of Stupid Flakes. They can't rape someone and then expect pity later because they have to live under a bridge. Don't like it? Punch your P.O. in the arm and go back to jail.

[rocketman089]

Are we supposed to feel bad for them? Some here have said it's inhumane to make them live under a bridge...Tell me, did they not sacrifice their humanity by taking someone elses and raping them like they were a worthless peice of meat?

 

 

 

I submit that, yes, yes they did. Anyone who sympathizes with these guys is nothing but a bowl full of Stupid Flakes. They can't [assault] someone and then expect pity later because they have to live under a bridge. Don't like it? Punch your P.O. in the arm and go back to jail.

 

 

 

It's not about sympathy for these convicts, its about the lack of supervision and control when theyre out on the streets like they are. They should be in a controlled environment at all times.

[Jaziek]

They're still humans.

 

 

 

no they arent.. by doing that i think they fofeit all right to be called a human and have human rights

[How2PK]

Heard about this months ago.

 

 

 

Are we supposed to feel bad for them? Some here have said it's inhumane to make them live under a bridge...Tell me, did they not sacrifice their humanity by taking someone elses and raping them like they were a worthless peice of meat?

 

 

 

I submit that, yes, yes they did. Anyone who sympathizes with these guys is nothing but a bowl full of Stupid Flakes. They can't [assault] someone and then expect pity later because they have to live under a bridge. Don't like it? Punch your P.O. in the arm and go back to jail.

 

 

 

I sympathize with these guys. Just because they did something bad, doesn't mean they shouldn't be treated as human beings. This isn't normal, and something should be done against it.

[Guest]

Am I the only one who found it ironic that one of the convicted had a last name, that was morales? :P

 

 

 

{give or take the "e"}

[Lovelydude]

Am I the only one who found it ironic that one of the convicted had a last name, that was morales? :P

 

 

 

{give or take the "e"}

 

 

 

I can't think past the fact that he shares a name with Franky Morales.

 

 

 

D:

[Mercifull]

Yeah these did something sickeningly bad but they have completed whatever sentence they were given which probably was many years in prison. And now they cant even reform their lives because of the squalor they are forced to live in. They have to live over 760m from any children, that's a long way an entire street. A convicted murderer is allowed to live close to people on release because released means that the system has admitted that these people are no longer a risk to society or children. What happens if someone is living in a house and THEN a family moves next door, is he (or she) forced to leave? People that have been released from prison for whatever sentence deserve to have at least some help from the government that put them inside.

[angryjoe]

Could hang them?

[IGoddessI]

Compared to the psychological damage they've caused their victims, it's a walk in the park.

 

 

 

I hope the rats bite.

[Lovelydude]

I have to agree with Mercifull, sure they committed a very serious crime, but you cannot dismiss them from society, and their rights because of that.

 

 

 

Goddess, this has nothing to do with those who they victimised, it regards the sex offenders' living conditions, it's a bit unfair to bring up their crimes, seems a tad spiteful. Also, why do you refer to the children victims only? Would have have as much compassion for an older man sexually abused by one of these offenders?

 

 

 

Regardless of what they have done, there should be a facility to support these people. I can only see worse things happening if they continue to live under a bridge. D:

 

 

 

Gar.