CO- Shelter's shift could oust 33 parolees

8-1-2009 Colorado:

Corrections staff face a tough search to find new housing for seven sex offenders.

Parole officers are searching for homes for up to 33 parolees — including seven sex offenders — after learning that the Salvation Army shelter where they are staying is becoming a transitional living facility.

The charity is scheduled to convert Crossroads, at 1901 29th St., into a transitional living facility for homeless men by Aug. 17, said Capt. Ron McKinney, spokesman for the Metro Denver Salvation Army, though the date could be postponed.

Some parolees will be allowed to stay if they agree to the new programming rules of the transitional facility, which will encourage homeless men to move toward self-sufficiency, McKinney said. But all parolees who are sex offenders must leave, he said.

A Denver city ordinance prohibits sex offenders from living in a transitional living facility, he said.

The shelter is the only one that accepts sex offenders, said Katherine Sanguinetti, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Corrections.

"If we had homes for them, we would have had them in them already," Sanguinetti said.

DOC officers are calling parolees' relatives and looking for rentals in the area, she said.

"This is an absolute nightmare for sex offenders," said Kathie Izor, a board member of Colorado Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants. "Nobody wants a sex offender in their neighborhood."

The Salvation Army will turn the warehouse-sized shelter into a transitional living facility designed to wean Denver's homeless from dependent living, McKinney said.

"We seek to assist the individual caught in the circumstance of homelessness to become equipped to move on to stable, independent living," he said in the news release.

Because of funding limitations, the charity cannot meet all needs, he said. The new facility will have more programs to help men find jobs and permanent homes.

Several parolees who were lined up on the west side of the shelter Friday afternoon said they have no alternatives and may end up living on the street.

"My options from here are slim and none," said Kevin Dawkins, 47, a convicted robber released from Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility near Crowley on May 24. "I'm disabled, bipolar, schizophrenic."

Daryl Gibson, 46, convicted in 2007 of assault, was paroled in November. He said he has been looking for work every day, but he has limited education and there aren't many day-labor openings.

"I lost everything when I went to prison: my house, my car," Dawkins said. "I won't even have a place to lay my head. It's very depressing." ..Source.. by Kirk Mitchell, The Denver Post