Sex Offenders in Miami Live Under Bridge

[Nikijad4210]

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Sex offenders in Miami live under bridge
Laws to protect children from predators leave some felons with no options


Updated: 4:48 p.m. ET April 6, 2007
MIAMI - Five convicted sex offenders are living under a noisy highway bridge with the state's grudging approval because an ordinance intended to keep predators away from children made it nearly impossible for them to find housing.

Some of them sleep on cardboard raised slightly off the ground to avoid the rats. One of the men beds down on a pallet with a blanket and pillow. Some have been there for several weeks.

"You just pray to God every night, so if you fall asleep for a minute or two, you know, nothing happens to you," said 30-year-old Javier Diaz, who arrived this week. He was sentenced in 2005 to three years' probation for lewd and lascivious conduct involving a girl under 16.

The conditions are a consequence of laws passed here and elsewhere around the country to bar sex offenders from living near schools, parks and other places children gather. Miami-Dade County's 2005 ordinance — adopted partly in reaction to the case of a convicted sex offender who raped a 9-year-old Florida girl and buried her alive — says sex offenders must live at least 2,500 feet from schools.

"They've often said that some of the laws will force people to live under a bridge," said Charles Onley, a research associate at the federally funded Center for Sex Offender Management. "This is probably the first story that I've seen that confirms that."

‘This is not an ideal situation’
The five men under the Julia Tuttle Causeway are the only known sex offenders authorized to live outdoors in Florida, said state Corrections Department spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger.

"This is not an ideal situation for anybody, but at this point we don't have any other options," she said. "We're still looking. The offenders are still actively searching for residences."

But she conceded a point that many experts have made: This "is a problem that is going to have to be addressed. If we drive these offenders so far underground or we can't supervise them because they become so transient, it's not making us safer."

County Commissioner Jose Diaz said he had no qualms about the ordinance he created.

"My main concern is the victims, the children that are the innocent ones that these predators attack and ruin their lives," Diaz said. "No one really told them to do this crime."

Parole officer checks bridge denizens
The men must stay at the bridge between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. because a parole officer checks on them nearly every night, Plessinger said.

They have fishing poles to catch food, cook with small stoves, use battery-powered TVs and radios and keep their belongings in plastic bags. Diaz has trouble charging the GPS tracking device he is required to wear; there are no power outlets nearby.

The whoosh of cars passing overhead echoes loudly under the causeway, which runs over Biscayne Bay, connecting Miami and Miami Beach.

About 100 feet away are the bay's blue-green waters, where a family with young children played in the water this week. In the near distance, luxury condominiums rise from the coastline.

Javier Diaz said he and the other men fear for their lives, especially because of "crazy people who might try to come harm sex offenders."

The five committed such crimes as sexual battery, molestation, abuse and grand theft. Many of the offenses were against children. The state moved the men under the bridge from their previous home — a lot next to a center for sexually abused children and close to a day care center — after they were unable to find affordable housing that did not violate the sex-offender ordinance.

Twenty-two U.S. states and hundreds of municipalities have sex offender residency restrictions, according to a California Research Bureau report from last August.

Has the push to protect civillians from sex offenders finally reached the point of becoming human rights abuses? And why ignore this? It's court-ordered homelessness. I'd bet good money that if this was in any other country, the US would be screaming "rights abuse" left & right.

 

[Ono Nadagin]

They should be castrated and be left alone to live where they wish, thats the only way to insure they dont repeat offend... Imo... you can not rehabilitate sex offenders the recidivism rate on them is extremely high

Sorry I know this sounds harsh sorry if it offends anyones sesnibilities

 

[genkisan]

Fuck 'em.



Let the kiddie-diddlers live with the other rats and vermin.....

 

[Duppy]

Anybody feeling all warm and safe reading this? Ono might right about the recidivism rate for sex offenders, but this shit sure can't help.

If you think these guys are an imminent threat, keep them locked up! Florida has a law that allows them to do that to sexual predators. If you DON'T think they're an imminent threat, then for chrissakes at least give them a chance to live some kind of normal life as law-abiding citizens.

 

[Nikijad4210]

Well, Genki, I think I'd rather see one of those isolated islands down there turned into offender housing.That ought to do the trick for the distance stipulation....Putting them under a public bridge is just a bit, well...Lowbrow. And considering the type of public area they're in, it's certainly not going to meet that distance requirement 24/7 anyway.

 

[robobond]

part of me agrees with the above and part of me doesn't. I have some sympathy but then I don't. I think they should be punished but they're punishment should not be homelessness. Perhaps tracking chips... Or permanent house arrest unless prior approval is asked.

 

[Nikijad4210]

I have some sympathy but then I don't. I think they should be punished but they're punishment should not be homelessness.

Exactly, homelessness won't solve a damn thing. And they don't even have immediate access to power to charge their tracking anklets, either. They've got to walk a good clip away (almost 2 miles) to a gas station that will LET them plug those things in to charge up.

There's always other alternatives, Miami-Dade simply threw their arms up and declared these people "not their problem."

 

[Duppy]

I think I'd rather see one of those isolated islands down there turned into offender housing.

You know, that ain't a bad idea. Put 'em down there in the mangroves where they can sit and swat mosquitos all day and all night.

There won't be any neighborhood kids around there to worry about.

 

[robobond]

Or just force them to move into one of those retirement communities where you have to be 55+ to live there.

 

[Yummybud]

sexual molestation island.

capital city: never never land

Mayor: Michael Jackson

 

[J0sh1]

I would always theorized that repeat offenders should be mandatory punishment castration and a lobotomy. Let's see if they feel like abusing children after that.

 

[robobond]

I would always theorized that repeat offenders should be mandatory punishment castration and a lobotomy. Let's see if they feel like abusing children after that.

idk mutilation sometimes makes them more eager to molest. take Micheal for example.

 

[Yummybud]

honestly, I don't think we should torture and kill sex offenders, they are people too even if they are a danger to society.

obviously the gov't needs to take measures to make sure they can't offend again as they are high reoffenders.

making them wear some gps tracking device maybe that signals authorities if they get close to a school or other restricted areas or after a certain time would be a good idea, and probation for life if they are released.

 

[dude06version]

well while i dont protect sex offenders, we have to establish the degree of sexual assualt.. like if some drunk 20 yr old touched a girls(not underage) ass or something obviously thats doesnt warrant getting your life trashed.. but like philes and rappist should be castrated.. then they wont have the desire to molest anymore.. and while michael was mutilated i think he still has his sack..that should be the law ,you mess with kids you lose your sack. simple.

 

[sackoweed]

i could type a friggn book on how to deal with these fuggn scum of the earth!!! I also think that anybody that would sympathize with this type of person needs to be done the same with. Because i think that to sympathize with such scum human being or not. then somewhere deep inside that person could have the same thoughts or be capable of doing such destruction to a child and or families. Man this makes me pissed. These bastards should not even be ALIVE to become homeless. Pieces of shit. grrrrrr...

sack

 

[eatlikekings]

fuck molesters..

they get off easier than possession of marijuana (certain amount but still) or growers

 

[robobond]

fuck molesters..

they get off easier than possession of marijuana (certain amount but still) or growers

now that is one thing that I have to agree with. Any molestation penalty should be double that of a grow conviction. What a world we live in...

 

[Guest]

Sympathy for these monsters is why the problem is totally out of control. Oh the poor guy, he made a mistake by raping and killing a 9 year old girl, but he's found Jesus now and feels remorse for what he's done ..... Bullshit, he should have found Jesus by being executed for it when they found him guilty without a doubt.

Child molesters serve minimal terms and are placed out of general population (for their own protection - even mass murderers believe these guys don't have the right to live for what they've done). Being out of general population, they get special attention and treatment. Even their own special interest groups and private church services. They usually are released early and again brought into special interest groups to reintroduce them into society with counselling. Blaming mental illness or some other bullshit for their actions. Thus, they do it again and again.

They are predators and should be treated as such. When you quite executing for heinous crimes, heinous crimes becomes the usual day of business. What fear is there for them to rape a child, rob and kill a store clerk, murder a family for their few items of possession? NONE!! A few years in prison is nothing; better food then they normally get, the RIGHT to earn a college degree with taxpayer monies, and whatever else deemed a right by them and their special interest groups that lobby for them in between treehugs.
There is no fear of what's going to happen to you if you commit a crime - no matter how heinous it is. Rarely is anyone executed for it and when they are - years of appeals.

Someone touches my daughter or sons, I WILL EXECUTE THEM MYSELF ON THE SPOT. I know, I'll only get a couple years for killing the monster - so I'll carry out justice where I know our system won't. I'll come out of prison in better physical shape and probably with a second Master's Degree, maybe work on a PhD.

Nowhere to put these monsters, save under a bridge? Conscript them and send them to Iraq, Afghanistan, or Africa for landmine removal duty. Take them to the Everglades to count the poisonous snake population or to the Antarctica to monitor the penquin populations. Or better yet, publically hang them and use them for flowerbed fertilzer.

 

[sackoweed]

Ganjalord
nice post i totally agree with you.. in between a treehug.. lmao.. peace brother..

sack

 

[Guest]

Ganjalord
nice post i totally agree with you.. in between a treehug.. lmao.. peace brother..

sack

Agreed!
side note,buddy of mine gets popped with an oz and gets sentenced to 60 days in county,drug court,and 3 yrs probation.while in he see's guys coming for weekends but 3 of them get segregated?whats up with them?well they are child molesters who got sentenced to a 6/5=6 months jail and 5 yrs probation!!!They get to do weekends cuz they have jobs,my bud does straight time cuz he was between jobs!!!