PA- Anti-halfway house rally in Sharon ‘irrational,’ pastor says

6-12-2008 Pennsylvania:

A Sharon pastor who has counseled residents of the Community Corrections Center for 17 years thinks the recent uproar over the halfway house is uncalled for.

Two residents on May 31 allegedly sexually assaulted two teenage girls at Bicentennial Park and one of those girls’ mothers has organized a rally Saturday against the halfway house.

“I think it’s wrong to indict the entire center because of something that happened like that,” the Rev. Philip B. Roland of Sheepfold Ministries said.

The center is run by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections and is a last stop before inmates — including sex offenders — are paroled from prison and into the community. The goal is to reintegrate them into the community and help them become productive members of society.

“To me that just makes sense,” Roland said.

And it’s something Roland believes most everyone can become if given the chance.

“They don’t need this liability of being treated like a leper,” Roland said of the soon-to-be parolees. “I just think that every human being has worth and dignity and they need to be treated that way.”

Roland’s church is run out of his North Irvine Avenue home and he said he’s counseled thousands of people over the past 30 years.

People often talk about a “revolving door” prison system, Roland said. If society vilifies those who have served their time instead of helping them, he said that revolving door will move even faster.

“At any point in time in our community all kinds of people that have been through the system are among us,” Roland said. “They look like the rest of us. They should, because anyone can make a mistake and end up in a prison situation.”

The center offers programs and services in things like life skills, family responsibility, personal finance and job placement, according the department of corrections Web site. They also offer mental health, domestic abuse, sex offender and anger management treatment for the residents.
Roland noted that if a sexual offender doesn’t fit into the program at the center then they go back to prison to finish their sentence.

“These people at community corrections are making a tremendous contribution to our society and our culture. I have nothing but praise for what they do.” Roland said. “Once people get acclimated they become good citizens. I don’t see what’s wrong with helping them to do that.”

Roland said a lot of the men at the halfway house “have been grossly injured as children and are kind of limping through adulthood.”

The center helps them to deal with that, Roland said.

Penny Hout, the mother of one of the girls who was allegedly assaulted, wants to draw attention to the center and its location near two elementary schools, four churches and several playgrounds. She’s holding a rally from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday on West State Street near the center.

Roland called the rally “irrational” and “overreaction on the part of the community.”

Roland said it’s the first such instance he can recall involving someone in the center since he began working with them.

Bryce Dale Southwick, 24, is charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and indecent assault, and John Aaron Morris, 27, is charged with indecent assault and open lewdness in the May 31 incident. Police say Southwick sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl and Morris exposed himself to another teen.

Both are now being held in the county jail.

Roland said that center staff keep a tight leash on sex offenders and noted that the men charged were not sex offenders. One was incarcerated on drug charges and the other was convicted of theft, center Director Seaborn White said.

The men at the center are allowed out during the day for work, job searching and community service, White said.

Roland said the men regularly help out at his church and do landscaping, interior decorating and renovated a garage at the site.

“They come over on Saturday mornings and contribute labor,” Roland said. “I keep a continuous pot of coffee going and like to think it’s like coming over to a family member’s house … I show them respect, acceptance and love.”

Sharon Police Chief Mike Menster said that center staff do a great job and cooperate with police. However, he said he doesn’t think the location of the center is a good idea and pushed legislators to draft a law that would bar the state from locating sex offenders in close proximity to schools.

The two men in this case had signed out of the center and apparently lied about going looking for jobs and instead were loitering around town with the two girls, Roland said. ..News Source.. by Courtney Anderson