OK- Okla. To Build Sex Offender Nursing Home

11-14-2008 Oklahoma:

Experts: 60 Sex Offenders Currently Housed In Regular Nursing Homes

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma is a step closer to building the nation's first long-term care facility exclusively for sex offenders.

A nonprofit group, A Perfect Cause, said there are currently 30 sex offenders living in Oklahoma nursing homes. The group hopes that moving offenders out of those facilities will make them safer for other residents.

"The Department of Corrections talked about there being thousands of people moving from the criminal justice system who are 65 or older in the coming years," said Wes Bledsoe, of A Perfect Cause.

Bledsoe's group said it has calculated more than 60 murders, rapes and assaults committed by criminal offenders while living in nursing homes throughout the country.

-Notice the juggling of terms: "Criminal Offenders" not "Sex offenders." This was done in all "Perfect Cause" reports to legislators as well, who were bamboozled. Those reports also failed to inform lawmakers that, the majority of "criminal offenders" are in nursing homes TEMPORARILY while recovering from some illness or surgery.

Gov. Brad Henry signed a bill into law last July that required the state to build a separate nursing home for sex offenders. The Oklahoma Health Department is preparing to seek bids to run the facility, but also wants to know how those bidders would plan to operate it.

"The proposal will include provisions for heightened, 24-hour security to protect the residents and the public," said Henry Hartsell, of Protective Health Services.

State health officials hope to begin accepting bids next month and will pick a winner by February.

Once the nursing home is built, it will be used as an example to other health departments around the country. ..News Source.. by KOCO.com