Major Concerns:
- The need for nursing home care for people required to register is beyond a crisis state – it is catastrophic.
- Most nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and rehab facilities in Florida are not accepting people on the registry.
- The two major reasons are: (1) residency restrictions and (2) facilities will not accept people on the sex offender registry.
PLEASE Do the Following:
- Contact as many Florida legislators as possible, letting them know of the alarming situation in Florida where many people on the registry are in desperate need of long-term health care facilities but are being turned away.
- Ask family members and friends to contact our Florida legislators asking for help in this inhumane situation.
- Try to personalize your communications.
- Continue to be courteous in your communications with policy makers as they are more likely to listen to us if they do not feel under attack.
- If you have your own story to tell on how you or a family member was rejected by many facilities, you might prefer to share your story with our legislators rather than use our Talking Points. Or, if you are simply looking to future needs you might have and are concerned about the possibility that no facility will take you, share these concerns with our legislators. Legislators need to hear your story.
- YOU DO NOT HAVE TO USE OUR TALKING POINTS. THEY ARE ONLY SUGGESTIONS FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE AT A LOSS FOR WHAT TO WRITE.
Talking Points:
- There are tens of thousands of people on the Florida sex offender registry who have not sexually re-offended since completing their sentence.
- Most nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and rehab facilities in Florida are not accepting people on the registry.
- There are people on the registry in Florida in the last stage of Alzheimer’s Disease (vegetative) whose family members cannot find a facility that will take their loved one.
- The need for nursing home care for people required to register is beyond a crisis state – it is catastrophic.
- This situation of not being able to find a facility for people who are unable to live on their own and have not sexually re-offended since their release from prison is inhumane. We are living in the United States of American, not a third-world country.
- Florida is one of only three states where placement on the registry is for life, so the number of people on the registry needing long-term health care is only growing in our state.
- Early in 2023, the FDLE website showed that almost 8000 people on the Florida registry are 65 years old or older and 876 registrants who are 80 years old or older. This includes only persons currently living in Florida who are on probation, released, or in civil commitment or confinement. It does NOT include persons absconded, deported, or deceased.
- According to Elizabeth Jeglic, professor of psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, “the aging former offender population is skyrocketing. Having them in and out of the emergency room is much more expensive than developing facilities that are suited to their needs.” (Tampa Bay Times, “As sex offenders around Tampa Bay age, where will they go for nursing care?”, Hannah Critchfield, June 9, 2022)
- According to LongTermCare.gov, an official U.S. government website managed by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, “Someone turning age 65 today has almost a 70% chance of needing some type of long-term care services and supports in their remaining years. Twenty percent will need it for longer than 5 years.” https://acl.gov/ltc/basic-needs/how-much-care-will-you-need
- The two major reasons many long-term facilities will not take people on the registry are: (1) residency restrictions and (2) their refusal to accept people on the sex offender registry.State statute says that anyone on the registry must reside at least 1000 feet from the outermost boundaries of schools, daycares, and playgrounds/parks. Additionally, many counties/municipalities in Florida have greater residency restrictions than what the state has, with some going up to 2500 feet beyond the outermost boundaries of schools, playgrounds, and daycares and have also included school bus stops, golf courses that offer children’s programs, nature preserves, recreational areas within an apartment building complex, libraries, nursing homes, public beaches, YMCAs, arcades, Boy’s and Girl’s clubs, youth camp grounds, public zoos, youth sport’s facilities, public swimming pools, and other areas where children can congregate. These residency restrictions eliminate many long-term health care facilities that would be willing to take people with a past sex offense.
- In Georgia, their legislative body solved this problem by allowing people on the registry to petition for removal from the registry once they need long-term care and making the residency restrictions no longer applicable. This is a possible solution for the inhumane way a growing number of registrants in Florida are being denied long-term health care even though there are tens of thousands of Florida registrants who have never sexually re-offended after their release from prison. See GA Code 42-1-19 (2021).
- This year Iowa passed a law that requires the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services to come up with a formula to raise the Medicaid reimbursement amounts for nursing homes that establish a separate unit for sex offenders. https://www.kglonews.com/higher-reimbursement-rates-now-available-for-sex-offender-nursing-home-units/
- Please consider following Georgia’s example of allowing people on the registry who need long-term health care to petition for removal from the Florida sex offender registry. Georgia has been doing this for some years without an increase in sexual assaults in their facilities.
- Please consider following Iowa’s example this year when they passed a bill offering additional Medicaid funds for facilities that accept people on the registry.
- Refusing long-term health care to any U.S. citizen is a human rights violation.
- The Florida Legislature and municipalities continue to pound and pound people on the registry who have never sexually re-offended since release from prison. These same people served out their sentence and are now law-abiding citizens. Florida needs to use empirically-based risk assessments, not the offense, but the true risk to start removing people from the registry.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Emails and Phone Numbers for Florida House of Representatives:
(To save contact list in your Download folder in Excel format, click Florida Reps here)
(Two representatives resigned this past June.)
Name | Phone | |
1. Shane G. Abbott | [email protected] | (850) 717-5005 |
2. Thad Altman | [email protected] | (850) 717-5032 |
3. Daniel Antonio “Danny” Alvarez | [email protected] | (850) 717-5069 |
4. Carolina Amesty | [email protected] | (850) 717-5045 |
5. Adam Anderson | [email protected] | (850) 717-5057 |
6. Robert Alexander “Alex “Andrade | [email protected] | (850) 717-5002 |
7. Bruce Hadley Antone | [email protected] | (850) 717-5041 |
8. Kristen Aston Arrington | [email protected] | (850) 717-5046 |
9. Jessica Baker | [email protected] | (850) 717-5017 |
10. Douglas Michael “Doug” Bankson | [email protected] | (850) 717-5039 |
11. Webster Barnaby | [email protected] | (850) 717-5029 |
12. Robin Bartleman | [email protected] | (850) 717-5103 |
13. Fabián Basabe | [email protected] | (850) 717-5106 |
14. Melony M. Bell | [email protected] | (850) 717-5049 |
15. Mike Beltran | [email protected] | (850) 717-5070 |
16. Christopher Benjamin | [email protected] | (850) 717-5107 |
17. Kimberly Berfield | [email protected] | (850) 717-5058 |
18. Dean Black | [email protected] | (850) 717-5015 |
19. David Borrero | [email protected] | (850) 717-5111 |
20. Adam Botana | [email protected] | (850) 717-5080 |
21. Robert A. “Robbie” Brackett | [email protected] | (850) 717-5034 |
22. LaVon Bracy Davis | [email protected] | (850) 717-5040 |
23. Robert Charles “Chuck” Brannan III | [email protected] | (850) 717-5010 |
24. James Buchanan | [email protected] | (850) 717-5074 |
25. Demi Busatta Cabrera | [email protected] | (850) 717-5114 |
26. Daryl Campbell | [email protected] | (850) 717-5099 |
27. Jennifer Canady | [email protected] | (850) 717-5050 |
28. Michael A. “Mike” Caruso | [email protected] | (850) 717-5087 |
29. Joe Casello | [email protected] | (850) 717-5090 |
30. Hillary Cassel | [email protected] | (850) 717-5101 |
31. Kevin D. Chambliss | [email protected] | (850) 717-5117 |
32. Linda Chaney | [email protected] | (850) 717-5061 |
33. Charles Wesley “Chuck” Clemons Sr. | [email protected] | (850) 717-5022 |
34. Lindsay Michelle Cross | [email protected] | (850) 717-5060 |
35. Dan Daley | [email protected] | (850) 717-5096 |
36. Kimberly Daniels | [email protected] | (850) 717-5014 |
37. Fentrice Driskell | [email protected] | (850) 717-5067 |
38. Wyman Duggan | [email protected] | (850) 717-5012 |
39. Lisa Dunkley | [email protected] | (850) 717-5097 |
40. Jervonte “Tae” Edmonds | [email protected] | (850) 717-5088 |
41. Anna V. Eskamani | [email protected] | (850) 717-5042 |
42. Tiffany Esposito | [email protected] | (850) 717-5077 |
43. Tom Fabricio | [email protected] | (850) 717-5110 |
44. Randy Fine | [email protected] | (850) 717-5033 |
45. Gallop Franklin II | [email protected] | (850) 717-5008 |
46. Ashley Viola Gantt | [email protected] | (850) 717-5109 |
47. Alina Garcia | [email protected] | (850) 717-5115 |
48. Sam Garrison | [email protected] | (850) 717-5011 |
49. Mike Giallombardo | [email protected] | (850) 717-5079 |
50. Karen Gonzalez Pittman | [email protected] | (850) 717-5065 |
51. Peggy Gossett-Seidman | [email protected] | (850) 717-5091 |
52. Michael “Mike” Gottlieb | [email protected] | (850) 717-5102 |
53. Michael Grant | [email protected] | (850) 717-5075 |
54. Tommy Gregory | [email protected] | (850) 717-5072 |
55. Philip Wayne “Griff” Griffitts Jr. | [email protected] | (850) 717-5006 |
56. Jennifer “Rita” Harris | [email protected] | (850) 717-5044 |
57. Dianne “Ms Dee” Hart | [email protected] | (850) 717-5063 |
58. Yvonne Hayes Hinson | [email protected] | (850) 717-5035 |
59. Jeff Holcomb | [email protected] | (850) 717-5053 |
60. Christine Hunschofsky | [email protected] | (850) 717-5095 |
61. Berny Jacques | [email protected] | (850) 717-5059 |
62. Dotie Joseph | [email protected] | (850) 717-5108 |
63. Sam H. Killebrew | [email protected] | (850) 717-5048 |
64. Traci Koster | [email protected] | (850) 717-5066 |
65. Chip LaMarca | [email protected] | (850) 717-5100 |
66. Thomas J. “Tom” Leek | [email protected] | (850) 717-5028 |
67. Johanna López | [email protected] | (850) 717-5043 |
68. Vicki L. Lopez | [email protected] | (850) 717-5113 |
69. Randall Scott “Randy” Maggard | [email protected] | (850) 717-5054 |
70. Patt Maney | [email protected] | (850) 717-5004 |
71. Ralph E. Massullo, MD | [email protected] | (850) 717-5023 |
72. Stan McClain | [email protected] | (850) 717-5027 |
73. Lawrence McClure | [email protected] | (850) 717-5068 |
74. Fiona McFarland | [email protected] | (850) 717-5073 |
75. Lauren Melo | [email protected] | (850) 717-5082 |
76. Kiyan Michael | [email protected] | (850) 717-5016 |
77. James Vernon “Jim” Mooney Jr | [email protected] | (850) 717-5120 |
78. Angela “Angie” Nixon | [email protected] | (850) 717-5013 |
79. Tobin Rogers “Toby” Overdorf | [email protected] | (850) 717-5085 |
80. Bobby Payne | [email protected] | (850) 717-5020 |
81. Daniel Perez | [email protected] | (850) 717-5116 |
82. Jenna Persons-Mulicka | [email protected] | (850) 717-5078 |
83. Rachel Lora Saunders Plakon | [email protected] | (850) 717-5036 |
84. Susan Plasencia | [email protected] | (850) 717-5037 |
85. Juan Carlos Porras | [email protected] | (850) 717-5119 |
86. Michele K. Rayner | [email protected] | (850) 717-5062 |
87. Paul Renner | [email protected] | (850) 717-5019 |
88. Alex Rizo | [email protected] | (850) 717-5112 |
89. Spencer Roach | [email protected] | (850) 717-5076 |
90. Felicia Simone Robinson | [email protected] | (850) 717-5104 |
91. William Cloud “Will” Robinson Jr. | [email protected] | (850) 717-5071 |
92. Bob Rommel | [email protected] | (850) 717-5081 |
93. Rick Roth | [email protected] | (850) 717-5094 |
94. Dr. Joel Rudman | [email protected] | (850) 717-5003 |
95. Michelle Salzman | [email protected] | (850) 717-5001 |
96. Jason Shoaf | [email protected] | (850) 717-5007 |
97. David Silvers | [email protected] | (850) 717-5089 |
98. Tyler I. Sirois | [email protected] | (850) 717-5031 |
99. Kelly Skidmore | [email protected] | (850) 717-5092 |
100. David Smith | [email protected] | (850) 717-5038 |
101. John Snyder | [email protected] | (850) 717-5086 |
102. Paula A. Stark | [email protected] | (850) 717-5047 |
103. Kevin M. Steele | [email protected] | (850) 717-5055 |
104. Cyndi Stevenson | [email protected] | (850) 717-5018 |
105. Allison Tant | [email protected] | (850) 717-5009 |
106. John Paul Temple | [email protected] | (850) 717-5052 |
107. Josie Tomkow | [email protected] | (850) 717-5051 |
108. Dana Trabulsy | [email protected] | (850) 717-5084 |
109. Chase Tramont | [email protected] | (850) 717-5030 |
110. Keith L. Truenow | [email protected] | (850) 717-5026 |
111. Kaylee Tuck | [email protected] | (850) 717-5083 |
112. Susan L. Valdés | [email protected] | (850) 717-5064 |
113. Katherine Waldron | [email protected] | (850) 717-5093 |
114. Patricia H. Williams | [email protected] | (850) 717-5098 |
115. Marie Paule Woodson | [email protected] | (850) 717-5105 |
116. Taylor Michael Yarkosky | [email protected] | (850) 717-5025 |
117. Bradford Troy “Brad” Yeager | [email protected] | (850) 717-5056 |
118. Ryan Chamberlin | [email protected] | (850) 717-5024 |
Emails and Phone Numbers for Florida Senators:
(To save contact list in your Download folder in Excel format, click Florida Senators here)
Senator | Phone | |
1. Ben Albritton | [email protected] | (850) 487-5027 |
2. Bryan Avila | [email protected] | (850) 487-5039 |
3. Dennis Baxley | [email protected] | (850) 487-5013 |
4. Lori Berman | [email protected] | (850) 487-5026 |
5. Lauren Book | [email protected] | (850) 487-5035 |
6. Jim Boyd | [email protected] | (850) 487-5020 |
7. Jennifer Bradley | [email protected] | (850) 487-5006 |
8. Jason Brodeur | [email protected] | (850) 487-5010 |
9. Doug Broxson | [email protected] | (850) 487-5001 |
10. Danny Burgess | [email protected] | (850) 487-5023 |
11. Colleen Burton | [email protected] | (850) 487-5012 |
12. Alexis Calatayud | [email protected] | (850) 487-5038 |
13. Jay Collins | [email protected] | (850) 487-5014 |
14. Tracie Davis | [email protected] | (850) 487-5005 |
15. Nick DiCeglie | [email protected] | (850) 487-5018 |
16. Ileana Garcia | [email protected] | (850) 487-5036 |
17. Erin Grall | [email protected] | (850) 487-5029 |
18. Joe Gruters | [email protected] | (850) 487-5022 |
19. Gayle Harrell | [email protected] | (850) 487-5031 |
20. Ed Hooper | [email protected] | (850) 487-5021 |
21. Travis Hutson | [email protected] | (850) 487-5007 |
22. Blaise Ingoglia | [email protected] | (850) 487-5011 |
23. Shevrin Jones | [email protected] | (850) 487-5034 |
24. Jonathan Martin | [email protected] | (850) 487-5033 |
25. Debbie Mayfield | [email protected] | (850) 487-5019 |
26. Rosalind Osgood | [email protected] | (850) 487-5032 |
27. Kathleen Passidomo | [email protected] | (850) 487-5028 |
28. Keith Perry | [email protected] | (850) 487-5009 |
29. Jason Pizzo | [email protected] | (850) 487-5037 |
30. Tina Scott Polsky | [email protected] | (850) 487-5030 |
31. Bobby Powell | [email protected] | (850) 487-5024 |
32. Ana Maria Rodriguez | [email protected] | (850) 487-5040 |
33. Darryl Rouson | [email protected] | (850) 487-5016 |
34. Corey Simon | [email protected] | (850) 487-5003 |
35. Linda Stewart | [email protected] | (850) 487-5017 |
36. Geraldine Thompson | [email protected] | (850) 487-5015 |
37. Victor Torres | [email protected] | (850) 487-5025 |
38. Jay Trumbull | [email protected] | (850) 487-5002 |
39. Tom Wright | [email protected] | (850) 487-5008 |
40. Clay Yarborough | [email protected] | (850) 487-5004 |
Representatives
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SENATORS
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Your welcome again,
I received this 2nd actual response to my emails on this matter. Although the response doesn’t actually offer much. I believe it may at least indicate another Reps office who’s listening and who might possiblt be a ally?. The message is copy pasted as follows:
Hello;
Thank you for reaching out! I wanted to email and let you know we received and acknowledge your concerns. I will share them with the Representative. Please know that our office values your thoughts and concerns and our doors are always open.
Criten Ann Cameron (she/her)
Legislative Intern to Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell
Florida House of Representatives, District 67
Capitol Phone: (850) 717-5067
District Phone: (813) 936-0854.
The sad option for those needing long term care and not being able to get it is to commit a crime in order to be put under state care via incarceration. So those in Need on the registry may increase recidivism rates.
Hello
I contacted all the legislators and senators as suggested with info provided in this post.
I received one real response all others were automated replies.
Here is the response I received from Rep Rayners office, which I have copy pasted below, it suggests what we should do next:
Thank you for clarifying. There is nothing our office can do right now to change the rules and regulations that certain long-term health care facilities have. There are however, some facilities that do take in folks that are on the sex offender registry and we have the resources for that if needed right now.
This is an issue that will need a change in legislation and Rep. Rayner currently has no more bill slots available for this upcoming session. If we are not your direct representative, I recommend reaching out to yours or others, to see if any are willing to help sponsor a bill for you to help make this change.
Thank you!
Thank you for this information, Lindy.
You are welcome!
Here is another response from Ms Rayners office in response to my question if they had a list of facilities that except registrants. Copy pasted as follows:
Hi Mrs. Linda,
I had not received those resources yet, but the Agency for Health Care Administration would be your best resource for this matter. That is who I emailed and was awaiting a reply from.
Thank you!
Best,
Sam Kelleher
District Aide to Representative Michele Rayner | District 62
Phone: 727-471-4706
Thanks again. I will pass this information along.
Here’s an example of why this needs to be done.
The man was declared not guilty due to his mental state. However he was sent to a assisted living facility but the only place that was willing to take him but not licensed https://www.clickorlando.com/news/investigators/2023/11/02/convicted-sex-offender-ordered-to-unlicensed-orlando-assisted-living-facility/
So now they will have a new court date on what to do with him.
Don’t contact Lauren Book. The [Senator] does nothing for registered citizens. She makes them home less with her actions!
[moderated]
I have not reoffended since my prison release in 2017. I’ve paid my dues to society. I’m 64 years old and my SSI doesn’t even cover my rent. I desperately need help because I can’t take care of myself.
Terry, I hope you are able to contact some of our legislators about your story. They need to hear it. I have already contacted all 160 legislators, telling them that no nursing home where we live will accept my family member. I went into great detail about his condition.
Don’t worry about the “Talking Points.” Your story is far more important for them to hear. Let’s see how many of our senators and representatives have a conscious.
Florida should be called the “We want all sex offenders to die in the streets and rot in the gutter’ State.
How cruel can you get?!
I composed an email with my thoughts and sent it to all representatives and senators. I received dozens of automated responses, many saying due to the high volume of emails, blah blah, if you are a constituent please call. I have a feeling very few will ever read these.
Thank you for doing this. Yes, it could appear that none will be read, but last spring we were told that legislators did indeed notice the high volume of emails that were sent to them. They might not read everything but they are influenced by the large number of people who reach out to them on a particular topic. That is why they let the bills with the red lettering on the driver’s licenses die last year — because of all the emails they received opposing it.
I, too, felt it was hopeless last spring, but I am a believer now. Tallahassee is starting to see that we have a growing lobbying effort now that cannot be ignored.
I did receive ONE personal reply thanking me for contacting them about this matter.
Thank you, Robert, for reaching out to our legislators.