Stay as far as possible away from Florida!!!!!!!!!! Worst state imaginable for SOs.

Basically, any of the Bible Belt States----Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, etc. are not places an RSO wants to live. There may be a one or two state exception, but as a rule Bible Belt states are terrible.

I think Utah might be OK. Nathan or Coastie can weigh in here.

Arizona is bad, I think. Amynmesa can tell you more.

California is not too good. ThoughtasWeak can clue you in.

Oklahoma, as I said is not good. I can tell you that by personal experience.

I do not know too much about some of the New England states or some in the Midwest.

Some other offenders living in other states can advise you more.

rewdiazepam

Thanks so much. You know a lot more about this than I do! We are currently in Kansas (obviously a very conservative state!) and we really want to leave. I would never recommend it to anyone in this situation. I will look into the New England states though and see what I can find. Thanks again!

Kansas used to be not too bad, but they are so conservative and in the past few years things have gotten much worse for SOs there.

Missouri is bad. There are several people from the Show-Me-State here and they can advise you.

Arkansas, very bad.

I am not sure about Colorado, but I don't think it is bad as most states.

I don't know much about some of the states in the Pacific Northwest, so you might check on them.

rewdiazepam

Definitely stay away from Louisiana! See the article that was written in 2012. I hope I got the link correctly copied.

www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/.../louisiana_is_the_worlds_prison.html‎

MN has reasonable laws compared to the other states in the union. Where in the midwest are you?

We are in the Kansas City area right now. Thanks for the advice. I will look into MN.

Only tier 3 are listed on the public registry in MN and that amounts to about 3,000 names... the rest are not for the public and are only available upon request from LE.

Do not come to WI, MI, IA, IL or IN. none of them are welcoming and have some real pitfalls that can follow you to where ever you move next.

Depending on the charge and how it is interpreted by each state will depend on how he is treated in many of the west coast states. I would shy away from CA as they seem to be just like FL in many ways...

Thank you Heartbroken for letting me know to steer clear of Louisiana! Also thank you to rewdiazepam for another post. I think Colorado may be something to think into. Lots of research to do!

Wow, that's really interesting about MN. That could be a good option for us. I will cross those other states off of my list too. I was also curious because I've been hearing bad things about California. I thought maybe because it is pretty progressive, diverse and so big that maybe it could work- why might it not a good state for RSOs?

Ca is a tough on crime state. So much so that they are overcrowded. Anything will get you locked up. The state is progressive in a lot of ways, but when it comes to Crime (especially sex offenses), they are VERY Consertative, much like FL in SO laws.

I want to leave this state so bad, but stuck here while hub in prison and MIL still around to help take care of.

their laws are really harsh in CA as they have a real 'tough on crime' outlook on things.. I think the drug war started it... (drug war, an oxymoron if I every heard one... can't declare war on a thing... ) so they have some pretty nasty laws with some real teeth in them.

MT isn't all that bad from what I have heard but things are changing there and not for the better... WA is OK, but not great as is OR. They aren't as bad as WI but worse than MN. WI, if you register here, you will be registering here forEVER and paying their extortion fee as well forEVER. I know that MI is heading into the darkness lately with the crap they are passing over there... IL well, need I say more, the most corrupt city in the USA with the most corrupt government in the nation, well they remind me of FL.

Stick to rural areas too, at least in my opinion, although some areas can be far worse than others, cause people seem to be either more forgiving or just don't care all that much and have the live and let live attitude. I live in the country and feel very little affects of the RSO label and I don't think my husband feels it either all that much. Then again we are rather hermits and were like that before so I was expecting this more than much harassment.

ThoughtAsWeak- Thank you for the info on California. We will definitely not be going there then. I'm so glad you explained that to me. That makes a lot of sense now. Your situation sounds really tough. I wish you were able to leave CA too, but I know how family is a big part of things. I hope that things improve for you & that you remain strong. I wish you the best of luck.

wisconsinreform- Great information- thank you! A lot of negative stuff about California I'm hearing- will definitely cross that one off of our list. We just read an interesting article about Oregon being a pretty good place for ROSs. So you think that could be a pretty decent place? Definitely don't want to be registering forever in WI. I never thought about rural areas being a good thing. We have kids too so a rural area might be really great for us. We have been hermits lately actually! In general, my husband just doesn't feel as comfortable while he is on parole. We still go out and do things- but certain places make him really uncomfortable or anxious. I know he is technically not in any danger of being put back in prison because he isn't doing anything wrong- he just feels like he has no rights and just struggles sometimes. I hope a new place and being off of parole will improve our quality of life some.

Hub and I already talked (if he gets out) and when MIL has passed, he would be willing to move anywhere.

So, when it does come time that we can, I too will be looking at best places to go.

Gov Brown is under court order to reduce prison population, but refuses to do so because they will endanger the public (sorry, but MY ASS!) there are many who are in prison and are not dangerous in any respect. He is just trying to get elected for the 4th time, and doesn't want to do anything to jeopardize his chance at winning reelection.

Don't come to Colorado it's pretty bad also.