By Chris Echegaray
The Knoxville News-Sentinel
NASHVILLE — A new law limiting the number of sex offenders who live in Tennessee halfway houses likely will appease worried neighbors but make it tougher for felons to rebuild their lives.
A bill signed by Gov. Phil Bredesen last week forbids more than two registered sex offenders from living in the same residence. Rep. Mike Turner, D-Old Hickory, sponsored the bill after receiving numerous complaints about two halfway houses with eight registered sex offenders apiece in his district. Neighbors worried about their children’s safety at bus stops and elsewhere, he said.
“We’re seeing halfway houses sprout up in my district, the county, the state,” Turner said. “There were real concerns of having houses with sex offenders in the community. I know sex offenders have to be housed somewhere. It should be away from neighborhoods, maybe in industrialized zones.”
The law applies to felons no matter how old their victims. It does not apply to residential treatment facilities approved by the state, which differ from halfway houses.
Halfway houses, which don’t provide treatment but require residents to follow various rules and curfews, have been considered a better alternative than imprisoning nonviolent offenders. The recent Department of Corrections budget crisis put an emphasis on halfway houses because offenders pay a weekly fee for room and board.
But out of the 62 halfway houses listed on the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole’s website, only six take sex offenders. Four of those are in Middle Tennessee and the other two are in Memphis.
Probation and Parole has no oversight of the halfway houses, but they refer sex offenders under their supervision to them, said spokeswoman Melissa McDonald. They are working on notifying the halfway houses of the new law, she said.
Bill Brown, director of admissions at Christian Homes Ministries in South Nashville, was unaware of the new law.
Brown said that most people in halfway houses come from prison or substance abuse treatment centers and many are court ordered. In Tennessee, most halfway houses are privately owned and not run by state government or treatment centers.
Even before the law, he stopped taking them because of neighborhood pressure.
“It’s very frustrating because of the way sex offenders are marked,” Brown said. “They can’t get jobs. We have to remember that we are paying for them to be in prison. The laws are inconsistent, especially for the ones trying to be good citizens.”
Copyright 2010 Knoxville News-Sentinel Co.