RI- Senate bill would ban sex offenders from venues used by children

5-27-2009 Rhode Island:

CRANSTON — So far there’s been no silver-bullet resolution of the controversy over housing convicted sex offenders at a local homeless shelter, but the public outcry has prompted one response — a possible change in state law.

Sen. Hanna M. Gallo, D-Cranston, has sponsored a bill that would make it a felony for anyone convicted of first- or second-degree child molestation to set foot in a playground, daycare center or school.

If adopted, the bill would amend a law the General Assembly adopted only last year, eliminating language that bars convicted sex offenders from living within 300 feet of a school because the restriction was recently found to be unconstitutional.

The 2008 law was challenged by former Central Falls City Council member Luis Gil, who pleaded guilty in February to two counts of third-degree sexual assault. Gil argued, among other things, that the restriction amounted to an unconstitutional taking of his property because he would have been forced to move. Superior Court Judge Joseph F. Rodgers Jr. agreed, writing in his decision that the residency restriction amounts to a taking “without just and adequate compensation.”


Gallo said her bill is not a solution to the issue of sex offenders staying at Harrington Hall — a homeless shelter that is about a quarter-mile from a playground and about a half-mile from the nearest school. But she said it at least sets limits that do not exist in the current law and should act as a deterrent.

“It will make it so that they really don’t want to because they will end up back in prison,” she said.

The bill calls for up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000, if a convicted first- or second-degree child molester is found guilty of setting foot on one of the protected properties.

Word that sex offenders are staying at Harrington Hall, on Howard Avenue, spread last month as the police began notifying nearby residents and schools. But just how long sex offenders have been staying there remains something of a mystery.

Dennis B. Langley, president and CEO of the Urban League of Rhode Island, which runs the state-owned shelter, said in a recent interview that sex offenders have been there for years. But others, including City Council member Michelle Bergin-Andrews, have said it is their understanding that the number has gone up, from perhaps 2 or 3 to about 10. The police, meanwhile, decided recently that notifications were needed when offenders are staying at a homeless shelter, said Maj. Ronald T. Blackmar, but he was not sure what prompted the change.

Langley refused to answer follow-up questions about the shelter or another on Prairie Avenue, in Providence, which is also run by the Urban League and also known to house sex offenders.

A.T. Wall, director of the state Department of Corrections, said the Urban League is hired to provide “discharge services” for “high-risk” inmates who are being released, which means the agency deals with sex offenders.

“In most cases, they succeed in placing the sex offender with family, with a friend, or in some other arrangement,” he said. But when those options do not exist, the Urban League “may inform the offender that the option of a homeless shelter exists.”

While Langley refused to answer questions about Harrington Hall, he did stress that Urban League shelters are not the only ones that house sex offenders. Noreen Shawcross, head of the state office of Housing and Community Development, said homeless shelters, in fact, do not bar sex offenders, though appropriate precautions are taken at shelters that serve families with children.

“We don’t as a system exclude people, because we’re there to be the safety net,” she said. “So you will not find any wording anywhere that says we do not take sex offenders.”

Still, the presence of sex offenders at Harrington Hall has sparked an outcry, one that Jim Ryczek, director of the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless, said needs to be addressed through better community reentry programs for convicted offenders that provide treatment that minimizes the likelihood of repeat offenses.

The coalition has called on Governor Carcieri to address the matter through his Re-Entry Council.

“This issue is being painted as a homeless issue, but it’s not a homeless issue,” Ryczek said. “It’s a criminal justice reentry issue.”

Gallo’s bill is pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee. She has also sponsored a bill that requires the state to reimburse cities and towns for the cost of carrying out the state-required notifications when a sex offender lives in the area. That one is also pending before the Judiciary Committee. ..News Source.. by Randal Edgar, Journal Staff Writer