Come! Stay! Go! - That’s an Order!

When I was in prison I often heard rumors of correctional officers who would issue an impossible command to an inmate if they wanted to put that inmate in “the hole,” a sort of jail within a prison where inmates are made to serve time for disciplinary infractions. The officer would simply order the inmate to, “Come! Stay! Go!” so that no matter what he did he would be in violation of a direct order, a justifiable offense for placement in the Special Housing Unit known as “the hole.”

This same Catch-22 mentality is apparently being employed by lawmakers in most states as they craft laws that are seemingly unenforceable, but which are widely being used to harass, intimidate and in a growing number of cases are being used to actually remove former sex offenders from their communities. These laws completely ignore expert opinions on reducing child sexual abuse and maximizing public safety but instead have created a social powder-keg that is nearing an explosive point.

In some instances these laws are being used to eliminate all Registered Sex Offenders from entire cities. This is particularly the case in Tampa, Florida, home of sex offender vigilante, John Walsh, where that city attempted this year to develop a two-pronged plan of attack to rid the entire city of former sex offenders. The first prong included a proposed law that would have banned any further Registered Sex Offenders from moving into the city – those there already would have been “allowed” to stay.(1) The second prong was aimed at making life miserable for those remaining former offenders by limiting so strictly where they could live and go as to place a short leash around their necks and ultimately cause them to either move away or to become in violation of laws with a sort of “Come! Stay! Go!” combination of requirements and restrictions as to make it impossible for anyone to remain in compliance. Though this combination would have achieved the ultimate “one-upmanship” against all of the other Florida cities and communities who are racing to outdo their neighbors, the City Attorney of Tampa ultimately convinced lawmakers that such a counterpunch would have been blatantly unconstitutional. So they ultimately trashed the ban and have instead decided to focus completely on the second prong to send a clear message that Registered Sex Offenders are not welcome. The message seems to be, “Sure, come on in and live in our communities - just long enough for the next prison bed to come available!” What is surprising is that they even chose to listen to the city attorney's advice anyway given that what they are ultimately doing is also blatantly unconstitutional.

In my next article I will focus on two specific cases of men who are presently embroiled in a legal battle for their freedom after being called to the carpet on technical violations of the Sex Offender Registry. One is from Tampa, Florida and the other is from the State of Georgia. Both men are now facing lengthy prison terms for minor infractions, and in both instances neither were attempting to elude any registration requirements but rather were trying to remain compliant.

(1)

St. Petersburg Times Article