Mail To: 54 Camping Tent, Hwy Underpass, Miami
In the middle of downtown Miami, a tent city exists not far from the mansions and beaches that Miami is famous for. Yet despite their proximity, neither community ever mixes—it’s forbidden by law. Why? Because the tent city is “home” to approximately 70 sex offenders, who are forced to live there due to a local law that mandates sex offenders who abused children must remain at least 2500 feet away from locations where there are high concentrations of children.
This is outrageous! All of the people who are forced into the tent city have served their time in prison; completed the punishment that society had chosen for them. So how is it that they are still being punished long after they’ve left prison? They’re living in cramped tents with no running water or electricity. They’re cut off from friends and family. They are given no support, whether financial, medical, psychological, or otherwise. They’re surrounded by other sex offenders, many of whom suffer mental or physical disabilities. And in the middle of all this, they are supposed to rehabilitate, recover, and become productive members of society?
WTF? How are you supposed to go on with your life, start over, and become a better person in conditions like that? Who goes along with schemes like this?
Apparently, a bunch of people do. Police drop newly-released offenders off at the site. Local politicians won’t touch this issue with a ten foot pole, afraid that people will accuse them of being sympathetic to sex offenders. Some offenders even have drivers’ licenses with the underpass as their home address. It wasn’t until early this month that one brave city commissioner, Marc Samoff, dared to say something. He wrote a letter to Charlie Crist, the Governor of Florida, begging him to close the tent city and provide housing for the current inhabitants.
Kudos, Mr. Samoff, for recognizing that this is an issue that extends far beyond partisan politics–it’s a matter of human rights and basic dignity.
Here’s hoping the rest of Miami catches on.
