A federal district court in Illinois handed a win to a group of persons required to register as sex offenders, who challenged the constitutionality of a policy of refusing to release persons who did not secure housing.
Registrants brought suit challenging a policy that kept an individual confined infinitely until (and unless) they were able to secure housing. The problem, as it relates to persons required to register as sex offenders, is registration laws and regulations prohibit sex offenders from living a certain number of feet from schools, parks, day care centers, etc.
If you thought it was difficult finding housing when you are released, try doing it from prison. There are no halfway houses or transitional housing facilities in Illinois that will accept an individual convicted of a sex offense .Additionally, the IDOC does not permit any sex offender to use a homeless shelter as his or her host site. Sex offenders are also ineligible for work release programs.
The result became people spending months, or even years, locked up well beyond the time they were eligible to be released.
The court ruled Illinois’ ‘host site requirement’ constituted cruel and unusual punishment. It also violated equal protection because the Plaintiffs in this case are entitled to the same conditional liberties that all convicted felons released from prison are entitled to.
You can read the opinion here:
Additional restrictions in Illinois are present because “Day Care Center” includes locations of day care centers run out of people’s homes. Every address that was ever used as a home day care center since the beginning of the registry creates a forbidden zone for which RSO must live over 500 feet away. A parolee could find an address that would otherwise be okay but it is 496 feet away from a home that used to be a home day care center over 10 years ago. The 500 feet restriction does not allow for exceptions! If a park backs up to a 6-lane interstate expressway with 30 foot solid sound barrier fencing on both sides, the interstate expressway and the apartment over the tavern on the other side of the expressway are designated as ‘kid friendly’ zones.
“entitled to the same rights as all other inmates” EXCEPT the right of restored humanity after their sentencing is completed…the double tongue Hypocrisy of the judiciary…
Read the judge’s conclusion at the end of the page in the PDF. Wow. Good news in that it’s finally being acknowledged and impossible to keep perpetuating myths any longer.
It is nice to see a Court that recognizes when a state is treating people unfairly simply because they are poor. The sad thing is that it is obvious that the Illinois courts failed to cure this discrimination years ago. I was on parole in Michigan for 3 years, and was lucky that the parole department DID, at least, provide housing to me for that time period. But if i had been incarcerated in Illinois, I would still be sitting in prison because I have no money to pay rent. You sure can’t look for a job while incarcerated either, so it’s a truly impossible situation for those individuals. Let’s hope that the final solution is quick and satisfactory. It’s sad to see such situations in this country in the 21st century.