Whoever posted the comment (About their father dieing) here please contact eAdvocate1-26-2011 Georgia:
MARIETTA - As the number of registered sex offenders continues to expand, so have the laws surrounding their classifications, generally making it more difficult for the offenders to fall off the registry.
While on the active registry, offenders are not permitted to live in certain areas, like near schools or day cares, but there are no clear rules for senior centers or nursing homes.
Ohio Rep. Andy Thompson, R-Marietta, said no one wants to think of their mother or grandmother sharing a room or a wing at a nursing home with a sex offender. He said he has heard some recent talk in the news and legislature about addressing the issue.
"I'm very much concerned about the residents of these homes because they are very vulnerable," Thompson said. "But you have to be careful about this."
Thompson said at a certain age or medical condition, some sex offenders may no longer be a danger to others. For example, he said, if a person is confined to a bed, they should probably not be considered a risk to others.
Washington County sheriff's Sgt. Patrice Tornes, who monitors the area's 134 registered sex offenders, said she would have mixed feelings about a proposal to limit access to nursing homes. Thirteen of the county's sex offenders are over age 60, with the oldest turning 91 this year.
Tornes said she believes most of the area's nursing homes will not admit a registered sex offender. There is one sex offender currently residing at the Washington County Home, although the center has a clear policy against such individuals staying there. The woman is 41 and was convicted of rape and gross sexual imposition of a teenage boy.
"She was living there before the policy change and kind of grandfathered in," Tornes said.
Tornes said she has had two other cases where individuals on the sex offender registry have needed assisted living care. She said those individuals were turned away when the local facilities learned of their sex offender status.
"Neither experience was pleasant," Tornes said. "One gentleman was given just a short time to live and needed to be put in a facility in the area. Because he required community notification be issued, the facilities all turned him away. I tried to get an emergency meeting with a judge, because I think everyone is entitled to care, but he died before I got before the judge."
In the other case, Tornes said, a local nursing home determined a man was a sex offender then packed his belongings, took him out front and called a taxi.
"I thought that seemed out of line, but they obviously don't want sex offenders there, especially if they require community notification," she said.
No administrators of local nursing or assisted living centers returned phone calls seeking comment. ..Source.. by BRAD BAUER Special to The News and Sentinel
1 comment:
I feel this is unfair! My father is dying from a brain tumor, they are giving him 3-6months to live. He is a sex offender. The medical reprieve will not go through because hospice has rejected him because of his charge. My family and I just want to be with my father. We dont want him to die alone in prison. There has to be a place he can go. People make mistakes, he is still my daddy! Its just not fair to us.
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