AL- Fed lawsuit challenges AL sex offender registration law, claiming indigent sex offenders are being jailed for not having proof of residence

8-17-2008 Alabama:

Poor jailed if unable to prove residency

A federal lawsuit is challenging the state's Community Notification Act, contending it violates the rights of poor sex offenders who have served their sentences, but are jailed because they cannot provide a valid residence.

The suit, filed in Birmingham's federal court on behalf of three named plaintiffs and similarly situated individuals, said indigent offenders have a hard time finding somewhere to live as a result of the law, which requires sex offenders to give authorities a valid address. If they don't provide an address to authorities, it's a felony.

The law also places restrictions on where a sex offender can live. Under the law, a sex offender can't live within 2,000 feet of a school or child care facility.

Josh Bearden, an assistant Alabama attorney general, said there have been a number of constitutional challenges to the Community Notification Act, nationally and in Alabama.

He said the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as Alabama courts, have determined the state has a "compelling interest" in protecting the public from dangers posed by convicted adult sex offenders.

"Part of the provisions that were designed to protect the public were to ensure we know where the offenders are," Bearden said.

The suit was filed Aug. 8 on behalf of Sidney Gipson, William McGuirk and Timothy Guthery. The suit said the plaintiffs, because of their finances, cannot find anywhere to live, although many of them and their families have tried to find a residence that complies with the law's requirements.

The suit said poor offenders are penalized and jailed after they have served their original sentence if they can't provide a valid address.

"It's a fairness issue," said Kira Fonteneau, an attorney for the plaintiffs.

The suit names Jefferson County Sheriff Mike Hale and the sheriff's office as defendants. The suit seeks to have the process of jailing indigent sex offenders and the Community Notification Act as it relates to indigent offenders declared unconstitutional.

The suit contends the sheriff's office automatically jails poor sex offenders without a hearing to determine indigence.

Hale said any convicted sex offender who does not comply with the law should be jailed. Hale said his deputies go out and check addresses to make sure they are verifiable residences.

"It's a good law," Hale said. "It's worked quite well in Jefferson County."

Hale said he has no sympathy for convicted sex offenders. "I'm not going to help get a sex offender a place to live," he said.

The Community Notification Act for sex offenders became law in 1996. The intent was to let law enforcement and the public know where sex offenders live because they are considered at high risk to repeat their crimes.

The lawsuit said the sex offender law, however, has the unintended effect of causing indigent sex offenders to live on the streets, under bridges, in tents or in trailers without registering because they cannot find an approved residence.

"We're creating an underclass of sex offenders we will not be able to find," Fonteneau said, adding she believes the process is happening in other places.

The Rev. Kevin Higgs, pastor of the downtown Church of the Reconciler, said there are an estimated 3,000 homeless people in metro Birmingham, with as many as 1,000 downtown. The church feeds the homeless and has a community service program for homeless people who are caught in a cycle of being arrested on misdemeanor charges and sent to jail for long periods because they are unable to pay fines.

Higgs said each homeless person's situation is different, but speculated that a small percentage could be convicted sex offenders.

Fonteneau said the law creates a cycle because the inability to provide a residence causes many of them to fail to register, which brings additional convictions and indefinite jail time.

The suit said Gipson was arrested for failing to register as a sex offender on Feb. 27. He pleaded guilty and was given a 15-year suspended sentence on March 26. The suit said Gipson was booked again for failure to register a day later and has not been given a hearing on the new charge.

According to the suit, Gipson is disabled and entitled to Social Security disability benefits, but cannot collect the benefits because he is in jail.

Fonteneau said the process is creating a homeless shelter out of the county jails. ..News Source.. by VAL WALTON, News staff writer