Few Housing Options Drive Sex Offenders to Parole Office, For Sleep

May 31, 2006 — -- In Fairfield, California parole officers keep close watch on sex offenders -- very close. Because sex offenders are restricted from living close to schools, every night in the parole office conference room cots and sleeping bags are set up for a half dozen offenders who can't find anyplace else to sleep.

"This is not an optimum situation, it's certainly an option of last resort," said Elaine Jennings, spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections. "It really illustrates the difficulty we've got in placing offenders back in the community once they've been released from prison. "

In California and across the country a patchwork of laws making it difficult to live near schools and places where children congregate is pushing sex offenders away, without giving them anywhere to go.

California has 100,000 registered sex offenders and 7,500 on parole, and you can find out where they live by looking at the state sex offender Web site. Two thousand are classified "high risk", forbidden to live within a half mile of any school. And this week a new bill before the California Assembly prevents even lesser offenders from living near a high school, making the housing crunch worse.

"No it's not easy," said California Assemblyman Rudy Bermudez, the bill's author. "You just can't release a high-risk sex offender the next day and find housing for them."

The situation is happening across America as sex offenders are driven from cities into the country. Near Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the 24-room Ced-Rel Motel has been filled to capacity with registered sex offenders, and new laws keep getting passed.

In Georgia, a new state law is forcing possibly hundreds of sex offenders to move, because they are no longer allowed to live near bus stops and other places where children congregate.

One specific town may already have the most restrictive sex offender law in the country.

Restrictions in Snellville, Ga. say that sex offenders may not live anywhere within 2,500 feet of any school, bus stop, daycare center, park or playground, making it impossible for any sex offender to move there.