Homeless shelters, homeless sex offenders sue the state

A coalition of Grand Rapids homeless shelters and homeless people who have been convicted of sexual offenses has filed a lawsuit against the state of Michigan. The reason? The state’s sex offender registry prohibits sex offenders from staying within a certain distance of a school. In Grand Rapids, all the area homeless shelters are located in these so-called safe school zones.

That, the plaintiffs argue, has resulted in sex offenders being forced to spend the night on the street or face prosecution.

The lawsuit, filed in Ingham County Circuit Court, names Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Attorney General Mike Cox, state police Director Peter Munoz and Kent County Prosecutor William Forsyth. Officials say they have sought clarification on the law as it relates to sex offenders and emergency shelters, but have not received any guidance, reports the Grand Rapids Press.

The issue came to a head last year when convicted sex offender Thomas Pauli was found frozen to death in a Grand Rapids salvage yard. He had been turned away from a shelter the night before because of his sex offender status.

The lawsuit includes two Grand Rapids shelters — Degage Ministries and Mel Trotter Ministries — as well as four anonymous sex offenders who are homeless. The four are described by the Press as follows:

• “Jane Poe,” 23, learning disabled and emotionally and mentally impaired. Food stamps are her only income. She was convicted of attempted fourth-degree CSC. She stays at Degage, with friends or on the street. She has been beaten and raped and is “scared to be out on the street at night.”
• “John Doe,” 50, periodically homeless, lives on unemployment benefits. He was convicted of third- and fourth-degree CSC nearly 20 years ago. He fears he could “freeze to death” on the street.
• “Robert Rose,” 52, a veteran, lives on disability, $270 a month. He was told he can’t stay at a home for veterans because of a 2001 conviction for fourth-degree CSC. He also fears freezing on the street.
• “Mark Moe,” 46, lives on $200 a month in food stamps. Unable to keep a job because of mental-health problems. He was convicted of fourth-degree CSC. He sometimes sleeps on the street, and “has been so cold … that he feared death.”

How this will all play out, time will tell. But it fits into a larger movement to reform the state’s sex offender registry. The state House is already looking at such reforms, in a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, headed up by the office of Rep. Rebekkah Warren (D-Ann Arbor).