In an attempt to keep Miami’s sex offenders in one spot where the city can keep an eye on them, instead of roaming parks where children might play, the city commissioner has turned a vacant lot into a park for the offenders. They were hanging out near there anyway, why not make it a bit more homey?

Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff made the move to turn the lot into a park because about two dozen men were already there, congregating at night on the adjacent sidewalk and listing the lot as a permanent residence. They didn’t have a lot of other options, reports Miami’s CBS4, as they can’t live within 2,500 feet of a school or near parks where kids play.

Some of the men living there say they were tipped off about the spot by their probation officers. They now have a park to sleep in, but no new offenders are allowed to “move in.”

All of the men who list that corner as their home on a Florida Department of Law Enforcement registry wear ankle monitoring devices, so probation officers are alerted it they stray.

The commissioner isn’t happy about having the men there, and sent a strongly worded letter to the governor and the State Department of Corrections demanding they stop sending sex offenders to that neighborhood.

You know what they say — if you can’t beat’em, corral them all together in a park so you can watch them closely.

Park Created To Keep Sex Offenders Away [CBS4 Miami]

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