MI- Target 8 story leads to state hearing

9-30-2009 Michigan:


Hotels housing released sex offenders

LANSING, Mich. (WOOD) - A Target 8 investigation into the concentration of sex offenders, including some convicted of assaulting children, at a Wyoming motel billed as family-friendly prompted a legislative hearing in Lansing Tuesday.

In July, Target 8 found 60 registered sex offenders staying at the Grand Rapids Inn along 28th Street; 22 of them were listed as having assaulting children. Most of the offenders were parolees, part of the state's prisoner re-entry initiative.

"I wanted to find out from the [Michigan Department of Corrections] how they arrived at the conclusion to use this facility, what they intend to do long-term, whether other options were explored and whether or not this is being done in other parts of the state," State Sen. Wayne Kuipers (R-Holland) told 24 Hour News 8.

It is being done elsewhere in Michigan, according to Russ Marlan of MDOC. The department is compiling a full list for Kuipers and the judiciary committee he chairs, Marlan said.

And how did MDOC arrive at the Grand Rapids Inn as a spot to house prisoners for the state's re-entry initiative? That's left up to local steering committees.

"I can't say if that was the first choice, the middle choice or the last choice -- but it seems to be working for that community," Marlan told 24 Hour News 8. Working, he said, because in the history of the Michigan Prisoner ReEntry Intiative's contract with the Grand Rapids Inn, there have been no reports of incidents involving the registered sex offenders.

Sex offenders can end up in clusters because they are banned from living within 1,000 feet of schools parks and playgrounds. Kuipers, who voted for the law that makes that distance mandatory, said he understands the limited options for the state. He said he still has concerns."If you have a high concentration in the same building as a hotel/motel that's being marketed as a family friendly exstablishment, I think there's some potential problems that could occur long term," Kuipers said.

24 Hour News 8 asked the corrections spokesman if the department sees concentration as a concern.

"I don't think so. I think that, as we told him, police are aware of who's living there. Parole agents are aware of who's living there. We have special services there. So it provides us the opportunity to supervise them more effectively than if they were spread throuhgout the community," said Marlan, who for six years supervised sex offenders himself as a parole officer in Detroit.

"They are very compliant," he said. "Their recidivism rates are very low, but some of the times the crimes they've committed are horrible. And they have the stigma of being a sex offender, so naturally there's some reaction to the community from that."

Sex offenders are more likely to commit sexual offenses in the future than the regular ex-offender population, but a 1990s U.S. Department of Justice study found that among sex offenders, 5.3 percent are re-arrested within three years for a sex crime. Overall, 67.5 percent of those released from prison are re-arrested within three years.

While the above is a true statement, why should Target8 ignore the second part of that statement, which in summary shows, that non sex offenders released from prison commit far more sex crimes than do sex offenders released from prison. See chart:

U.S. Dep't of Justice Recidivism Statistics: Sex offenders compared to non-sex offenders Who will commit more new sex offenses within 3-years of being paroled, sex offenders -OR- non-sex offenders? Non sex offenders commit more new sex offenses when paroled!

Recidivism Rates: All released sex offenders -vs- non-sex offenders Source: "Recidivism of Sex Offenders Released from Prison in 1994." (NCJ 198281). Released (Paroled) Offender Type Paroled ReArrested for New Sex Offense %/# of New Sex Offenses by Parolees Convicted of New Sex Offense 9,691 Sex Offenders 5.3% (517) 13% (1 every 2 days) 3.5% (339) 262,420 Non-Sex Offenders 1.3% (3,328) 87% (3 per day) .83% 2,179)** 272,111 All Offenders 1.4% (3,845) 100%   Construction of chart- DOJ Pg-24 states: Sex offenders compared to non-sex offenders: "The 15 States in this study released a total of 272,111 prisoners in 1994. The 9,691 released sex offenders made up less than 4% of that total. Of the remaining 262,420 non-sex offenders, 3,328 (1.3%) were rearrested for a new sex crime within 3 years." and "Based on official arrest records, 517 of the 9,691 released sex offenders (5.3%) were rearrested for a new sex crime within the first 3 years following their release (table 21)." and DOJ Pg-2 states: "Of the 9,691 released sex offenders, 3.5% (339 of the 9,691) were reconvicted for a sex crime within the 3-year followup period." **Calculated using same proportions between 517 and 339 for sex offenders. Voice of Reason: eAdvocate ©, Copyright 2006 - All Rights Reserved

The parolees living at the Grand Rapids Inn have, like all parolees, served their minimum sentence.

But since Kuipers said he was told the corrections department is least likely to parole sex offenders, he wants to know that the offenders were nearing their maximum term.

"If that's not the case then that rasies some additional questions that we had for Corrections," the Holland lawmaker said. ..Source.. by WOOD TV.com