Some of the guys that are in my son weekly meetings were sent to homeless shelters.

Echo,

In some jurisdictions, the DOC will require the inmate to give a lot of registration information prior to their release. I am not sure how they handle a federal conviction. If a few states do not already do this, then in the future, they DOC might even be authorized to do the first registration upon release. I don't know if any of them actually do the first registration at the present time, but that could possibly happen in the future.

In some states, this initial registration process could easily be done in prison since the DOC is the agency that handles all the registration process for the sex offender registry. It is certainly that way in Oklahoma.

If I remember correctly, there have been a couple of cases in which an inmate with sex crimes did not have a place to go upon their release, and they were reluctant to release him or her. But most cases if they have no place to go, they just become homeless and another sad statistic in this poor excuse of a criminal justice system we have in this country.

I suppose it they are released with paper time behind their prison sentence, then their PO or the state in which they are convicted has some input in the decision where they can go.

If they are unable to work, find a job, or support themselves, they will have to rely on family or government or public assistance.

I they are eligible for social security disability then yes, they can collect that and I think in most states they can get food stamps, although some states are placing restrictions on food stamp recipients.

I have no personal experience with any of this as I discharged my sentence in prison with no paper time. All this information is just information that I have learned by reading and researching. Someone else who has had personal experience may come along and help me out here.

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They will not be able to draw social security disability just because of their conviction or the fact that their conviction has made it impossible to live because of the restrictions of the registry.

They can draw the SS disability at any age at which they can prove a legitimate reason. And of course, they can draw SS at age 62 or 65 or whatever it is now as a retirement without having to have a legitimate reason as needed for disability.

But, the registry will not suffice as a reason to draw SS disability.

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I know personally that at least once a person was released from prison and returned to county jail over the lack of living place. As far as collecting SSDI payments since I only went to county jail my SSDI was not stopped however I believe prison might be handled different. I should add here this was a FL story so as they say consider the source.

These links will explain everything an inmate, a person with an outstanding warrant, or someone with charges pending needs to know regarding SS.

http://tinyurl.com/p3k39bn

http://tinyurl.com/p6ccumj

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Federal requires a means support yourself (either a job or family) before they will allow you to leave a halfway house. Mind you, you are required to pay for your halfway house for the first month before you can even go there. The last year of your sentence can have reduced payments from your wages (minimal as they are) towards fines and restitution to allow for this, but you still must have payment for the halfway house and medical insurance before you can go to the halfway house and then you cannot begin "supervised release" (probation) without a place to live (halfway house or otherwise) with proper phone service for monitoring, medical insurance, and "a support system". The judge "may" allow living in a shelter provided the shelter will provide the dedicated phone line for the monitoring AND there are no other registered sex offenders living there.....but you're probably still lacking a support system. They will, however, lean VERY heavily on family members to take responsibility. I talked to someone who's wife divorced him and they guilted his son into renting an apartment nearby to his own home for his father and spending nights from 11am until 7am to prevent his father from remaining in a halfway house. Eventually the father had a job that would sustain the apartment, but they still insisted that he spend nights there with his father. Thus resulting in his own divorce.....amazingly the probation officer was thrilled with this plan as that meant he was there from 5:30p until 7am daily.

I guess their goal of "maintaining strong family connections" only applies to the inmates, not the families of them!

I worry about people getting released and getting older. It is difficult enough to be elderly and find the care best suited to you, never mind being a sex offender. I work in an assisted living facility. Today, I went to visit another facility and right in the front of the patient's chart were the results of a criminal background check and a search of the sex offender registry.

It is possible for an SO to get into some residential care programs, but it is very difficult. Its an Adult Protective Services worker's worst nightmare.

I know a woman who is an APS worker. She says there are many people who are SO's who live on the street who have dementia. There is little they can do for them. Its cruel, and certainly does not promote public safety for anyone.

The bizarre part about this is that many people with dementia become sexually disinhibited as part of their disease. In fact, this guy I was going to see, who was not an SO as evidenced by the paperwork at the front of his chart, was swatting the aides on the butt, trying to kiss them during the shower, etc.. and reportedly enjoying it. It's odd to think that, in the rush to retribution, our society sees fit to put more and more people at risk by creating situations where people are more likely to offend.

Seems like there's something really wrong with this picture to me.

well i was wondering about all of this not only if i'm not around when kelly gets out but i watched a video a last week and it made me wonder.

it was a song written and sung by women lifers. one of them had been locked up when she was 14. she is now in a wheelchair. i got to thinking what if she had gotten 40yrs or more instead of life? quite possibly her parents and siblings could have died or just dropped out of sight during her time in prison. wtf would she do, where would she go if released???
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Peek, you are SO right. My mother is bi-polar and we had a heck of a time getting her into a nursing home when she wasn't able to function at home just because of the label! Her illness had been stable for nearly 25 years. However, upon admitting her to one they decided her meds were excessive and reduced them and she was no longer stable. After being given 30 days to get her out and her being evaluated by Office for the Aging, she was admitted to a mental health unit and then NO ONE would take her until Office of the Aging forced someone to take her.

That being said, what am I to do when it's my husband and he'll have that label. Will Office for the Aging consider that an "illness" like they do my Mom's? They only forced the issue because they are a medical facility and hers is a medical need. It won't matter if they are even incapable of perpetrating anything....all that will matter is the label.

Sad....pitiful and sad.

I worry about growing old every day. I am the baby of my family and only have 2 nephews close by.

SC passed a law a while back requiring nursing homes notify it's residents of any RSO's who are admitted to the home. Not that I want to die in an assisted living facility I'm worried that when I need help I won't be getting any. Who would come to the house of an aging RSO to help???

My husband was in prison in another state and his terms of parole restricted him from living with us. Because of that, my home state would not approve his interstate transfer request. He lives in an apartment complex that is specifically for parolees. He lives off of SSDI, which he receives because of his prison experience.

dang, it sure doesn't sound good..... i guess i had better keep my fingers crossed that i am available and able to take kelly. if not she will have to rely on her brother to provide a home of some kind.

my heart breaks for anyone who doesn't have some kind of support or back up.

Fortunately, my husband is a veteran and the VA does not discriminate. Plus, I bought long-term care insurance for us a long time ago and have kept it up. I had to go to a lawyer, but the insurance cannot be taken away because he is an RSO. I just have to keep up with the premiums. If I didn't know how to deal with these things myself, I would be terrified.

Even still, you have to wonder who will be there for us. There has been no contact with family for years now. They are very unlikely to come back.

Our society is very messed up. Apparently, we want to chose who gets to be taken care of and who doesn't. I'm so sorry you had to go through that, Sam. That is so wrong for your mother to be rejected because of a label. Bipolar is difficult but very manageable. Your Mom is lucky to have you, Sam.

Echo, I can only speak for Virginia. Anyone convicted of a sex offense is actually registered while in jail before they get transferred to prison and under DOC control. That way, when they are released, their first Probation & Parole visit updates their registration. Probation officers can compare the registry to the information their client has, but they rarely update the system, as it needs to be updated in Richmond.

In regards of where to go when someone gets out without a home plan? It depends. In Virginia, DOC sends prisoners back to the county jail where they were brought into the system. The county jail works with the Probation office on handling the release. I know of a few people that were released without a home plan and DOC (i.e. Probation & Parole) covered staying at a local Super 8 hotel and provided credit for meals at the IHOP owned by the Super 8. That generally lasts 30 days. During that time, the initial goals are to find a job, housing and go to weekly therapy and probation visits. A lot of the guys get work doing day labor construction.

If the SO cannot find stable employment, they can be violated. Those with mental issues generally end up civilly committed in Virginia.

Brain,

You said, "Those with mental issues generally end up civilly committed in Virginia."

So they were perfectly sane enough to go to trial, but now that they want to be released after COMPLETING their prison sentence, they all of a sudden have mental issues and may have to be civilly committed? I realize that the burden to prove someone not sane enough to go to trial is much higher than a mental illness, but still.....

And I will bet that the issue of their mental illness was never considered at trial by a jury or taken into consideration as a mitigating factor in any plea bargain the defendant may have agreed to.

Nice system we have here. Land of the free and home of the brave.

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