TN- Mentally ill struggle to meet sex registry regulations

This is absolute proof of the unconstitutionality of registry laws! To convict someone of a law, that you know they do not have the mental capacity to understand, is itself a crime. This man's civil rights have been violated to the tune of the 500 days he has spent in jail in the past. I hope the judges and lawmakers that knowingly convicted him are placed in a special hell in the next world, they had the ability to help, and failed!

7-30-2009 Tennessee:

Carlton Hunter consistently fails to register as a sex offender, and he has served nearly 500 days in jail over the past five years as punishment for that.

Hunter, 45, was convicted in 1990 of two counts of attempted rape. He has racked up dozens of arrests since, almost all nonviolent misdemeanors: obstructing a passageway, public intoxication, possession of drug paraphernalia. And after he gets released on the minor charges, a new warrant inevitably is issued for his arrest when he fails to report it to the sex offender registry.

Hunter is homeless. He also is mildly mentally retarded and has paranoid schizophrenia. His attorneys say he has no family, nobody to watch over him, and he simply can't comprehend or comply with the rules of the sex offender registry.

The state agreed, granting Hunter an exception. He no longer will have to follow the rules of the registry. And though Hunter is an extreme case, some advocates are concerned that the law may need to be changed to deal with repeat offenders who lack the mental capacity to follow it.

"In terms of understanding mental illness, it's inconceivable that anyone could meet the requirements if they're mentally incapacitated," said Ben Middleton, senior vice president of core services at Centerstone.

Though there's no way to track how many people on the sex offender registry have mental illness, an analysis of the database showed that 9 percent of the 1,300 offenders in Nashville list themselves as homeless. Roughly 50 percent of those homeless offenders have been arrested for violating the laws of the registry in Nashville, according to their court records.

About 30 percent of homeless people have a severe mental illness, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Metro Public Defender Dawn Deaner first met Hunter at a jail docket for sex offender registry violators. He had already been picked up multiple times for the offense.

Soon, Deaner said, lawyers from her office would go to the dockets with Hunter's paperwork in hand, prepared to show the judge he couldn't be tried and hoping to get him out of jail as soon as possible.

"The registry and its specific language does not really include a category of what to do with individuals who are developmentally delayed or mentally ill, to the point they can comply with requirements," Deaner said.

It's been nearly two decades since he committed a violent offense, Deaner said, and it's rare to find someone as sick as Hunter. She fears cases like his may become more common as the state cuts mental health services.

"The competency of an individual can fluctuate, and competency can deteriorate," Deaner said. "If more people lose their services and become incompetent, you're creating more clients like Carlton who just don't have the wherewithal to remember."

Registration rules vary

Tennessee law requires anyone convicted of a violent sexual offense to register three times a year for life. Nonviolent offenders must register annually for 10 years. But all offenders must notify the registry within three days of an arrest or address change.

And though the law allows for people physically incapacitated through illness to stop registering, there's nothing that mentions mental illness or defect.

Deaner's office initially fought the rules with a lawsuit against the Tennessee Attorney General's office. Sharon Curtis-Flair, spokeswoman for the attorney general's office, said they made an agreement with Hunter after consulting with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

She refused to say whether they've been asked to consider if there's a larger issue worth examining with offenders like Hunter.

Hunter is the first person the TBI has been asked to exempt for mental issues, spokeswoman Kristin Helm said.

"We're open to any legislation, but right now we have to follow the law as far as what the registry requirements are," Helm said. "If there's a case and that circumstance can be proven, we'll look at it on a case-by-case basis."

More homeless housing

As for Hunter, his entry on the registry will be listed as inactive. No longer will he be arrested for violations. He occasionally stays at the Nashville Rescue Mission, but mostly he is a wanderer. His lawyers usually don't know where to find him until he turns up in jail.

To Sita Diehl, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness's Tennessee chapter, Hunter's dilemma is another reason Nashville needs more housing for the homeless.

"The question becomes, how can we keep ourselves and our children safe," Diehl said. "One way is to get these people into housing where we can keep better track of them, and get them stable." ..Source.. by Kate Howard