For 21 years, a convicted sex offender from Lufkin called an8-by-10-foot prison cell home. Today, the man, who maintains he waswrongly convicted, is looking for place to call home in the freeworld, but with the stigma of being a registered sex offender, thathas been difficult.
Since his parole from a life sentence in April 2010, the man hasbeen living with his sister and trying to regain some semblance ofa normal life " working a steady job, finding a woman to settledown with and finding a permanent place to call home. While theother two have fallen into place, the last has eluded the47-year-old.
"All I want is a place to rent, a place to put my trailer. Theway they're pushing it, I'm going to have to go out there and buysome land. I can't do that right now," the man said in an interviewat The Lufkin Daily News last week. "It don't matter if you'reguilty or not guilty, society knocks a sex offender down. I'm notsaying they're all innocent, but society takes sex offenders anddestroys them."
"It's agitating and depressing," his wife-to-be added with asigh.
After spending the last four months looking for a space to rent,the man said he believes it's easier to be a paroled murderer.
"There's these ones that kill somebody and get five years. Theydo their two-and-a-half in prison and then they come out and can goanywhere they want," he said. "I understand you have to live by thestate's rules, but there ain't but certain places you can stay andcertain places you can rent when you're an 'SO.'"
In Angelina County, registered sex offenders under supervisioncannot reside within 1,000 feet of a school, day care orplayground, according to Angelina County Adult Probation sexoffender case load supervisor Lisa Page. Once they're offsupervision, there are no stipulations governing where they canlive, but most leasing agents ask about previous convictions.
"I tell my probationers and parolees, honesty is the bestpolicy, which will be frustrating for them most of the time," Pagesaid. "They don't want to lie and they don't want to move in withsomeone who already has a lease and not inform the landlord. Ittakes some looking and patience, but they'll find something. Almostall my probationers encounter some bumps along the way."
It's the bumps along the way that some sex offenders just can'tseem to overcome. Depression and self-esteem issues typically playa big role when parolees and probationers re-offend, Page said.
States like Georgia have passed laws making it nearly impossiblefor sex offenders to find places to live. Most of them in thatstate have resorted to being homeless, living under bridges andeating out of garbage cans, according to a 2009 Wall Street Journalarticle. Page said a homeless sex offender is a worst-casescenario.
"Not only is it hard to keep track of a homeless sex offender,that's the type of situation that can trigger these behaviors.These bills are being passed that have good intentions, but they'rejust setting these people up for failure," Page said. "AngelinaCounty, not as much, but there are some parts of Texas where youhave sex offenders living under bridges. Prisons aren't going tolock these guys up forever."
Jessica Cooley's email address is jcooley@lufkindailynews.com .
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