Sex Offender Housing Near Disneyland, Preschool Sparks Outrage

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed a task force to recommend how the state houses and monitors paroled high-risk sex offenders following two incidents where offenders housed in close proximity to areas frequented by children sparked public outcry.

The task force was created to determine the best place to house sex offenders upon their release, how to supervise them and the best way to notify local governments of their release. Schwarzenegger asked the task force to report back to him near the end of August.

The placement of paroled sex offenders grabbed headlines throughout the state in April after the state parole agency placed sex offenders in motels within one mile of Disneyland. During that same week, nine high-risk sex offenders were temporarily housed in a trailer on San Quentin State Prison grounds about a half-mile from a preschool. The paroled offenders where allowed to come and go as they pleased, as long as they were back at the trailer by an evening curfew.

Authorities placed the parolees there because could not find housing in counties where the offenders where from, according to officials. California law requires that parolees return to the county they resided in before their incarceration.

Several women from the surrounding Marin County community formed a group, Mothers Against Molesters, to protest the placement.

“When you just put an ankle bracelet on them and let them out near four major malls and moms and children, it’s inexcusable,” said Dorian Polite, the group’s spokeswoman, during a protest outside of the prison’s gates.

Within a few days of the protest all of the parolees were relocated, but during a local city council meeting residents expressed concern about more parolees being housed on prison grounds in the future.

During the controversy that followed the Disneyland and San Quentin placements, the state’s parole director was removed from office. Parole and Community Services Director Jim L’Etoile kept quite after he was removed, but claimed that he was not terminated because of the sex offender placement near Disneyland.