State Rep. Bobby DuBose filed House Bill 837 which would grant early release to a prisoner who is suffering from “a significant terminal or non terminal condition, disease, or syndrome that has rendered the inmate so physically or cognitively impaired, debilitated, or incapacitated as to create a reasonable probability that the inmate does not constitute a danger to himself or herself or to others.” The bill would also set up an Aging Inmate Release Program so that inmates would be eligible if they are at least 70 years of age and have served at least 10 years in prison.
On the surface, this bill seems like good criminal justice reform, but as usual, the Bill excludes the usual exception for people convicted of murder or a sexual offense.
It’s time the legislature acknowledged that “sexual offenses” comprise an extremely broad range of offenses with differing culpability and differing levels of risk.
Please let Rep DuBose know that you oppose the carve out.
I was thinking about filing a Mandamus on the Florida Registy because if it is Civil then I should be able to asked to be removed at the 10 yr mark because I Have Due process right to be heard and I be protesting the civil part of my Sentence that wasn’t part of a deal in 1991
I would strongly caution against filing anything ProSe.
I gotta do something I was talking to Val Jonas and then she stop emailing me. I have college education and had graduated with Honors.
I can’t find a decent job or any type of work I have enough of this crap and I have been waiting on the law suit that I have been donating too. I not trying to escape the fact I messed up when I was 19, I finished my prison time now that I am almost 50 and still doing a life sentence on the streets now. I just want to get on with my life after 30 yrs
Beefstew – when non-legal-professionals file Pro Se actions, they usually get dismissed on a procedural error or because their arguments are not as well researched or articulated as someone who is versed in legal research and writing. When those cases lose, they create bad presedent. When a well articulated and properly drafted complaint is subsequently filed, the state then points to the crappy case that lost and says the issue has already been addressed by the court and it’s a loser.
When people get frustrated and file “something” because they feel they need to do something, they wind up screwing the rest of us. It’s an awful, selfish thing to do and I hope that you wont take that route.
If Val stopped emailing you, it’s likely because she’s busy. She is the lead counsel on the “Ex Post Facto Plus” case and that takes a boat load of time. She’s also not a legal aid attorney nor an employee of FAC. If you’ve not retained her as your attorney (which you have to presume will include paying her), she has no obligation to respond to your emails. It’s the equivalent of writing to a random doctor to ask medical questions. Unless the person is your cousin, you can’t expect them to take their time and expertise to give you information.
Correct me if I am wrong, but part of Florida’s problem is that our legislature has never authorized or funded a Sex Offender Management Board — something that Congress wants done. California and Illinois have done so. Hopefully other states have, too. The management boards in California and Illinois are using evidence-based decisions in their reports to the states’ governing bodies. Much time is spent by these boards gathering the research and then making recommendations. As a result, the people on these boards really “get it”.
I cannot find that Florida has ever authorized such a board, preferring to base all laws and decisions on knee-jerk reactions and myths. I have included this fact in my letter to the three legislators that I am sending a letter to, hoping that some day Florida might also have such a board..
Exactly! If a SOMB would have ever been established, they would have findings to provide the legislature. Otherwise, they can only go off the petulant rants of Ron Book claiming 100% reoffense rates and “it’s not a matter of if, but when”
An SOMB could possibly help a bit but I wouldn’t put a lot of faith in that. California legislators simply routinely ignore theirs. Which of course means that they routinely ignore known facts. That is business as usual for moronic, criminal legislators.
And frankly, having an SOMB gives a bit of an impression that the Registries are more than just a steaming pile of excrement. That in itself is just wrong. There is no stance that is acceptable except that Registries aren’t.
The California SOMB helped lead the way to “tiers” in that state. But tiers are just another mistake. They are just another example of polishing the pile of excrement in the hopes that it will someday look pretty, useful, and legal. Tiers are simply saying that if we can just get the right “worst of the worst” people listed on the Registries, they will be magical. But that’s all wrong.
Personally, I expect I’d be listed on the lowest tier. I can petition today to be removed from the Registries. That doesn’t change my opinion about the Registries or tiers. Registries are dumb, and I need to remember that even if I’m not listed on one.
And again personally, I’m not waiting for the legislatures, courts, or anyone else to do the right thing. I’ve waited long enough. My patience ended. So I’ll continue today, tomorrow, etc. to ensure that the Registries are worthless and that they only exist at the highest possible level of harm, cost, effort, dysfunction, and suffering.
Yes, Will Allen, the Florida legislature could refuse to act on any findings from a SOMB, but they would no longer be able to hide behind their myths. Both Florida Statutes 775.21 and 943.0435 state, respectively:
“Sexual offenders are extremely likely to use physical violence and to repeat their offenses, and most sexual offenders commit many offenses, have many more victims than are ever reported, and are prosecuted for only a fraction of their crimes. This makes the cost of sexual offender victimization to society at large, while incalculable, clearly exorbitant.”
“The Legislature finds that sexual offenders, especially those who have committed offenses against minors, often pose a high risk of engaging in sexual offenses even after being released from incarceration or commitment…The designation of a person as a sexual offender is not a sentence or a punishment but is simply the status of the offender which is the result of a conviction for having committed certain crimes.”
The highest rate of recidivism that I have been able to find for any group is for child molesters of boys: 35.4% after 15 years (Sex Offender Management Assessment and Planning Initiative SMART), but that means that 64.6% never re-offend, which is the majority. In addition, I have found that not all groups define recidivism the same way. Some have defined it as repeating the criminal act whether being arrested or not. With their thinking, if someone were to molest a boy three different times without being caught, then the adult has re-offended, but that is not the definition of recidivism. It is quite possible that some of those included in this 35.4% were never caught early on but never re-offended after serving time in prison.
The Florida Legislature thinks if they speak it, then it must be true.
You are right.
But if the legislators actually gave a flip, they’d know the facts before they supported the lies and then they wouldn’t. They don’t care. They want Registries. That is the end of the story. It doesn’t matter at all that Registries do nothing useful. It doesn’t matter at all that Registries cause more crime, including $EX crimes. It doesn’t matter at all that Registries get innocent people, including children, murdered. They want their shiny toy. And they want to play with it.
An SOMB would help in a LOT of ways. But I was just saying that I wouldn’t get overly excited about it helping the politicians suddenly get smart or moral. They will remain lying harassers. It will just be a little harder on them. Some will accept the “cover” that the SOMB will give (with their facts) and do the right thing. But just some.
You are also right about recidivism. But that is just one more thing that people with sense have to just keep repeating the facts and letting the criminal legislators and Registry Nazis (RNs) lie about it.
The only recidivism that makes any sense is if a person commits an actual $EX crime after he/she has already been punished for one. That is the only thing that makes sense. It doesn’t matter if the person is arrested or convicted or not (although I have no idea how to count crimes that are unknown).
RNs do love to try to spread the lie that Registered People (RP) are committing $EX crimes but they are just not being reported (because we know that $EX crimes are underreported anyway). But that doesn’t play very well with their glorious Registries. First off, if the perpetrators are RPs, how are the Registries allowing them to commit crimes at all? Are the Registries not “working”? Secondly, if they are committing a crime, are the RNs telling us that people know that the perpetrator is an RP but they are choosing to not report it? The vast majority of $EX offenses, especially against children, are committed by people who are known to the victim. So those people know an RP assaulted them and they are just choosing not to report it? Sure.
Anyway, as I said, I’m not waiting on any SOMB, moral legislator, decent Americans, or whatever. They had their chances to be moral. Failed at almost every step. Today and every day, I’m going to ensure the Registries are as worthless and damaging as possible.
i part was left out
Ron Book “it’s not a matter of if, but when” drunks get caught dring, injure and killing people, i lead by example!
Yep. But his name is Drunken Ron Book/Crook. We ought to use his official title.
He’s lucky he hasn’t driven drunk and murdered anyone yet.
I hope that sometime before this bill becomes law, a person or persons representing ACLU, NARSOL, FAC, WAR, or others, can go to the committees in person and argue this. This is nothing more than elder abuse! Some unscrupulous hospitals do this too. They call it patient dumping or homeless dumping.
Even though I want to see ALL Florida inmates receive “compassionate release”, there is nothing compassionate about FDOC or our legislature. My husband told me about two months ago, that an inmate was released to his family before his sentence was up because FDOC could not afford his very high medical expenses. This early release is already being done without such a bill having been passed in Florida. An aging, ill inmate can cost the prison system around one million dollars. FDOC and the legislature just want to dump the expense of these elderly inmates back onto society. Mr. Dubose is only trying to find ways to cut the burgeoning costs of Florida’s dungeon-like prison system but receive credit as being compassionate. If he were truly compassionate, he would be requesting that ALL inmates receive this proposed compassionate release.
What would the bill do that FDOC isn’t already doing? I don’t get it.
Jacob, that is what I do not understand.
By the way, Jacob, a person from Duval is trying to organize our 6-county area. He has some GREAT ideas and is extremely knowledgeable. He is a doer. He needs to know what county sex offender ordinances are out there. I have found that Municode is good but not perfect, and I do not always know what towns are in each county. I can take care of Clay County. To the best of my knowledge, St. Johns has no town/county ordinances.
We also need to know about Nassau, Putnam, and Baker. Our FAC website is probably not the best place to be doing all of this. I give FAC permission to give my personal email address to anyone who can help me with the info on sex offender ordinances in St. Johns, Putnam, Nassau, and Baker.
My county has two ordinances. Let me see if I can’t get them scanned in.
this is such a crock. Florida is just trying to rid themselves of the liability of caring for the sick and aged under the guise of “compassion”. If there was that kind of compassion, there would be no carve outs. Granted I would rather die free but how many men and women are going to commit another crime so they can be returned and cared for OR in their anger at being dumped think, what the hell, I’m dying anyway and go do something stupid.
Compassion….why don’t they set up a way to care for these men and women at end of life. That would be compassion.
I’m usualy a very positive person. But I’m really having hard time seeing the compassion in this bill. They wait till a person is literally dying and then unload them becuase of the expense and call it compassion? And then have the nerve to carve out sex offenders? There aren’t enough bad words for me to express my disappointment in most law makers. I so sick of this kind of legislation.
I visit this website fairly regularly but don’t often post. However, this particular one really got under my skin. I have known a number of men in prison who were doing their time chained to their bed–even though they were unable to move anyway. If a person is not a threat, then it doesn’t matter what brought them to prison, they are not a threat.
I am going to say something here and it will likely be taken wrong by someone. My 89 year old mother has advanced Alzheimer’s. She barely recognizes me or my siblings let alone anyone else. I would love to drag the sponsor of such a stupid bill to her home. Let the sponsor see her feeble attempts at communication, smell the smell of someone who cannot control their bodily functions. Then, drag that same sponsor to a prison–any prison–who has someone in a similar state and ask him what the difference is.
If my mother was incarcerated, I would be tempted to send the sponsor a picture of her. Using the same sympathetic tactic that the ASPCA does when they show illegal puppy farms. The difference here is that we are HUMAN. Yet, what does it say when the size of a pig pen is constitutionally mandated as larger than the cells that we incarcerate our neighbors.
To Representative Du Bose…SHAME ON YOU. I hope you are shamed into withdrawing such an ill-thought bill. I, for one, will be sending you an e-mail.
Has anyone thought of what are going to become of these old, terminally ill, unable to care for their self, people when they are let out of prison?? The majority probably has no family left to care for them and if they do , may not have the means to care for them. Are we going to have terminally ill people living in the woods or under bridges?? This bill is nothing more then a cost cutting tool for the prison system. It has very little to do with compassion for a human being. I may be wrong but any prisoner that has been in prison a long time and develops an illness that is going to take his life, maybe he or she would rather have “3 hot’s and a cot” in prison as to face death on the street. And shame on Rep. DuBose for filing such an inhumane Bill. Carving out Sexual Offenders and even murderers in an aging out program is just as inhumane . How does DuBose expect a 70 year old that would be on a Sex Offender Registry , make a living for his self? Even a 70 year old murderer might have a hard time finding a job. This really sounds like a MORE PUNISH BILL, not something that will do any good for anyone except the prison system.
My blood is boiling.
Through FAC resources, I have learned that mailing letters to your legislators is more effective than emails, and that one letter to a legislator says that there are 100 additional people who agree with your letter.
After life with emails, letter writing can be a challenge — then there is the envelope and stamp.
I am starting on my letters to Dupose and my own local representatives but will not have them completed and mailed until Monday.
If letter writing is just not going to work for you, I hope that many of us at least email Dupose and your representatives. I have also read that letters and emails to representatives from outside your area are pretty much ignored, so it has to be to your local representatives. Dupose is the author of the bill, so he should be interested in what we have to say.
Registrants cannot vote (more of the stupidity in Florida), but we have some sort of influence over everyone we know. Even at the Clay County Commissioners’ meeting last month, one of the commissioners clearly was influenced by his neighbor who is a registrant. This was the same commissioner who kept questioning if there was any research showing that residency restrictions worked.
Could the legal minds weigh in on with all the singling out of rsos wouldn’t that put them in a class such as sex religion etc to sue as class action?
No. Registrants are not a protected class.
Children are victims of all kinds of crimes, not just sexual ones. This makes zero sense to me. Looking online or any of the other myriad non contact crimes that can land someone on the registry is far preferable in my opinion than someone who has actually tried to kill a child in a home invasion, robbery, domestic dispute, drunk driving incident, etc. This is what is so wrong with the registry. All crimes, violent and non violent, are lumped into one when it comes to this type of legislation. They should be able to carve out violent sexual predators as well.
It’s just a little discrimination, that’s all. When did discrimination ever hurt anyone?
Sent him the following email.
Dear sir,
Although your prison reform bill is a beginning it does not go far enough because it does not include sex offenses. The statistics actually show that most never reoffend and that the rate of those who do is no higher than any other crime.
I suggest that you perform due diligence and contact the Florida Action Committee and obtain the mass of research that will better inform your legislation and then amend the bill accordingly.
Thank you for your time and have a Merry Christmas.
Very sincerely,
I wanted to update with the actual language of the bill:
The carve outs include an offense which “which results in the actual killing of a human being… or any felony offense that serves as a predicate to registration as a sexual offender.”
In other words, attempted murder is OK – but look at an illegal image on the internet and you can die in jail for all they care.
I’m curious to know something – Do those with sex offenses or their families feel too scared to write to these state reps for fear the state rep will “look into” who you are and cause you more grief? I ask because this seems to be a great opportunity to let voices be heard but how many will actually take the step?
One of the lessons I learned from SarahF and Mary Ann in Clay County:
If you go to the trouble of discussing with your representative(s), how proposed registry-related laws will affect your family member, and do so sincerely and respectfully, they do listen and often soften their stance.
Exactly, it’s ok for a heroin dealer to hook you child on drugs and possibly pimp them out until they possibly die. It’s ok for someone to beat the crap out of your child till near death, or rob them with violence, bully them, poison them, but God forbid you’re a sex offender (eye roll).
My suspicion on why they are allowing some prison reforms is so that they can free up prison space for more sex offenders. Since building more prisons is politically undesirable, this would be their next best option. I wouldn’t be fooled for a moment that we should expect any support for compassion from most of those in power. They, along with their constituents, have bought the lies and myths for so long, they probably no longer have ears to hear. They’re collectively like the emperor who has been duped into believing he’s wearing an invisible robe, when in reality he’s just plain naked. When confronted with the truth, they’d rather just keep up the pretense. I guess they think it’s better to double-down on the lie than admit to being made a fool.
I read an article about something like this a while back. This isn’t “compassion”. This is the state not wanting to foot the bill for medical treatment for the elderly or sick.
They also severely neglect prisoners with medical conditions to the point where they get extremely ill (think diabetics).