High-risk sex offenders often housed in motels
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OLYMPIA — Once high-risk sex offenders serve their sentences, the state is placing some of them in hotels because most communities refuse to accept them, a state Department of Corrections spokeswoman said yesterday.
"There are no good options for placing some of these individuals," said Victoria Roberts, a Community Protection Unit administrator for the department.
It's been happening for years, but that's not enough to satisfy the ranking Republican on the House Criminal Justice and Corrections Committee.
Rep. Ida Ballasiotes, R-Mercer Island, calls the practice unacceptable and says the state is knowingly placing people in danger.
"It's absolutely inexcusable that they would put high-risk sex offenders in motel rooms next to unsuspecting families and their children," said Ballasiotes, who has been active in issues involving sex offenders since a work-release inmate killed her daughter in 1988.
Ballasiotes said she learned about the housing of sex offenders from a Seattle television reporter and immediately called the Department of Corrections.
She argues the state should be responsible for notifying people living in hotels that a sex offender has been placed there so they have the option of staying.
"Since when do we care more about Level 3 sex offenders than we do about potential victims?" she asked.
State corrections officials counter that options are slim for many offenders trying to re-enter society.
Last week, two people were released in Vancouver with just a sleeping bag and a tarp because area hotels would not take them.
"They've been living in hotels forever," Roberts said. "The difference now is that you've got (the Corrections Department) focusing on how to manage their placement."
The department has 12 high-level sex offenders staying at hotels or motels in Yakima, Lynnwood, Bremerton, Kennewick, Tukwila, Sedro-Woolley, Seattle, Bellingham and Lacey, Thurston County, Roberts said. An additional 18 are in other housing facilities throughout the state.
Dumping sex offenders into a community with no resources presents the most risk to the public, Roberts said, because an offender is then desperate to find food and shelter.
"You're creating the next victim pool for the offenders by not managing their placement," she said.
Since it began managing placement in 2000, the Corrections Department has placed 90 Level 3 sex offenders — those who are deemed most likely to reoffend — in hotels and motels.
One man was convicted of assault and 13 others failed to register with local authorities as required by law, Roberts said. None has repeated a sex offense while living in a hotel.
Since February 2000, the state has spent more than $192,000 on transition housing for all 279 criminal offenders placed through the Intensive Risk Management Transition Program, a placement program for criminal offenders.
The state encourages management to tell other guests if a sex offender is staying at the hotel, Roberts said. The level of supervision is left to local law enforcement.
In Everett, hotels are screened before placing sex offenders, said Scott Lee, a community-corrections officer. Local authorities determine who is living in the hotels and how to best place offenders.
Lee said he makes routine checkups to ensure an offender is meeting curfews and other release requirements. He said most repeat offenses come from people who are homeless and have no state supervision.
"We're constantly working to find permanent placement," Lee said. "It's better to have them in a place where we know they're at."