Bledsoe's idea is absolutely bad! Consider, how many aging sex offenders will need such a facility on a regular basis? Which means the staff -paid by the state- would be sitting around twiddling their thumbs most of the time, all at taxpayers expense; dumb.. Simply look at the registry to figure out how many there could be, then how many of them would need a nursing home 24/7/365?4-6-15 Oklahoma:
UPDATE: If the idea is justified at all, how many of these nursing type facilities would a state need to have? One in every city or county of a state; talk about expensive/waste of taxpayer money. Then one must consider, if the RSO is in such a facility -sickened- what happens when s/he gets better and wishes to leave the facility? Would the facility be a prison or a treatment center where the RSO can leave at will, like maybe on weekends. Lawmakers need to study this issue before creating another form of a civil commitment center.
Tonight, lawmakers are kicking around the idea of a nursing home--- designed only for registered sex offenders.
The idea is to keep them away from everyone else.
Under current law in Oklahoma, registered sex offenders could live amongst the elderly in assisted living facilities.
The caregivers are supposed to make residents aware a sex offender lives in the building.
Right now they determine on a case by case basis whether sex offenders are or are not a threat in a nursing home environment.
Wes Bledsoe, founder of a 'Perfect Cause' and an advocate for nursing home reform, says this is a major problem that's putting senior citizens at risk.
"They have the two things they need to commit an offense against others: accessibility and opportunity. It is absolutely a danger, a clear and present danger. When you put the predators in with the prey, somebody's going to get bit,” said Bledsoe.
Bledsoe is a supporter of Senate Bill 578. Under this legislation the state would build a facility just for aging sex offenders who are deemed moderate or high risk, and incarcerated sex offenders who are terminally or so critically ill that they can't perform daily functions.
"What that does as a result it help protect vulnerable adults who live in nursing homes from these kinds of violent sexual offenders,” said Bledsoe.
But attorney David Slane tells FOX 25 this is a horrible idea. He says you can't lump all sex offenders with a variety of circumstances, into one category.
"We always have to be worried about it there going to be inmate on inmate attacks. You can't lump them all into one,” said Slane.
Slane says while there are rare instances of sexual assault and more does need to be done to insure safety in nursing homes, a stand-alone nursing home would be a big drain on taxpayer dollars and resources... He says this isn't the route to go.
"You could have staff that trained to deal with these types of individuals to spot any kind of action that might be called questionable. Maybe we could put incremental changes to strengthen what we're already doing to make it more safe,” said Slane.
The bill has not been voted on yet, if it is passed as written, it would become effective as of November 1st of this year. ..Source.. by Kylen Mills
