A Miami law is forcing many of the city's sex offenders to sleep rough under a bridge, reports Emilio San Pedro for the BBC's Americana program.
70 convicted sex offenders have ended up living in a makeshift tent city under one of Miami's causeway bridges because of a local law which prohibits those who have sexually abused minors from living within 2,500 ft of anywhere where children congregate, such as schools, libraries and parks. After the local laws were enacted, Florida's correctional authorities found there was virtually nowhere else for these people to live and began dropping them off at the bridge. Some of them have even been issued with driving licences with the bridge listed as their home address.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU),and others like Dr Pedro Jose Greer, the Dean of Florida International University's Department of Humanities, Health and Society- who believe the offenders have already served their time in prison and deserve the right to attempt to get on with their lives - the camp's existence and the desperate conditions there serve as a troubling reflection of the values of modern-day Miami.

This article is an adaptation of a feature that was originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Americana programme. Americana is broadcast at 1915 BST every Sunday on BBC Radio 4 FM.


What in the world is this country coming to? How do we expect a reduction in recividism when we treat people this way? Where is our Christianity? Get involved in the solution at www.luckettprisonministry.com

The Rich Young Ruler

I was reminded today that prison reform is a bit like the story of the rich young ruler that Jesus taught. This rich young guy had it all, but he really wanted what Jesus had to offer. So he asked Jesus what he had to do to be saved and the answer was, "sell everything you have and follow me." Now I always thought of that story in terms of money. You know, give up all your riches and then you can follow Jesus. But my pastor reminded me that this story is really about following all of Jesus' teachings, not just those that are comfortable for us. Jesus didn't say, visit those in prison while they are inside, but don't have anything to do with them when they get out. Jesus said, "Love thy neighbor." He meant ALL thy neighbors. He intended for us to help each other grow and mature into the people God made us to be. So, we don't get to pick and choose which of his teachings we follow, now do we?

Prison reform and prison ministry is a lot like that isn't it? We don't have a problem with visiting inside the prisons, but when it comes to changing sentencing laws or our thinking on what a prison is suppose to accomplish, well that's more difficult for us to get our arms around. The concept of changing the way we think about prison and prisoners can be very challenging.

We have questions:
* What exactly happens if we change the way we do prison today?
* When does that change cross the line between improving society, including the microcosmic society inside the walls, and bleeding heart liberalism?
* What happens if life skills training and other educational offerings inside promote more early release?
* Isn't all this leading to disaster?

My answer is, it all depends on what we perceive imprisonment to accomplish. Are we simply looking for a place to lock social deviants away for some period of time so that we don't have to think about them? Do we believe that being locked up is in itself a deterrent against future crime?

We already know that incarceration is expensive, costing roughly $20,000 per inmate, per year in the U.S. And we already know that those released from prison to supportive environments, such as a church family or Circles of Support & Accountability (COSA) program, are 50 - 70 percent less likely to re offend. So it stands to reason that if prison reform could reduce recidivism by providing more pre and post release resources, the nation's overall cost of incarceration would be reduced, saving all of us tax dollars.

Wouldn't you agree?

Private Prisons

Today's Louisville paper, The Courier-Journal, ran an article discussing whether or not it would save money if Kentucky were to increase its use of reliance on privately run prisons. Many of you may not know that the State does not run/manage all the prisons. According to this article, there are 3 privately run prisons in Kentucky housing about 6 percent of the 21,386 member prison population across the Commonwealth. The case for privatization, according to the article, is that privately run prisons cost Kentucky $2,500 less per inmate than the average cost in the 13 facilities operated by the state.

On the face of it, any reduced costs sound like a good thing. I have to throw my hat in with Sen. Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, and Rep. John Tilley, D-Hopkinsville, who said they didn't know enough about the matter to form an opinion. What I do know is that article failed to address the larger issue, which is, what is the purpose of our prisons? And secondarily, what are we willing to pay for in order to fulfill that purpose?

I want to know what you think. Are our prisons intended to be merely detainment facilities? Places where those individuals we all want to forget about are housed until they have served their sentence, after which we plan to toss them out onto society to sink or swim? Or do we truly believe them to be "Correctional" facilities where inmates receive training for life, not just for job skills and are released into an environment of mentoring and accountability that allows them to succeed and become productive citizens outside the razor wire fence?