Homeless sex offender requests that judge put him back in jail

Sex offender Raphael Marquez, 38, was released from prison last month after serving seven years of an eight-year sentence for sexual battery.  He was supposed to serve two years of house arrest.  However, that proved to be impossible because Marquez could not find a house in which to live.

"Every place he looked he couldn't afford or had a restriction," his attorney told the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel.  According to the newspaper, 24 of Broward's 31 cities have laws banning sex offenders from living near schools, parks and other places where children gather.

At the end of June, Marquez went before a judge who sentenced him to serve six months in the Broward County Jail in lieu of the two years of house arrest.  When he gets out, he will still be under supervision for 20 years and will carry the sex offender label for life.  Which means he will still have problems finding a place to live.

Lori Butts, a local psychologist who works with sex offenders, said residency restrictions don't necessarily reduce the likelihood that an offender will commit more sex crimes, but that such people are harder to monitor when they are homeless or fugitives.

"I am getting more and more clients who want to go back to jail or prison," Butts told the newspaper. "And it's costing the state and county more money to house them. My concern is that they're going back to prison and they are not getting the treatment they need."

Woman sneaks into prison to...with boyfriend...who jumps out window when they are caught

Go figure.  A Gainesville woman was arrested early Wednesday for sneaking into prison.

Why would someone want to sneak into a prison?

In the case of 19-year old Victoria Thorpe, well...she must have really, really wanted to do the nasty with her boyfriend, 18-year old Aquilla Wilson, who was incarcerated at the Santa Fe Work Release Center on drug charges.

We hope it was worth it.  When they were caught, Wilson jumped out a window and took off.

“It appeared that she climbed through the window for a little tryst, and when they got caught, he left and left her there,” Police Lt. Wayne Ash told the Gainesville Sun.

Wilson, considered a fugitive from the moment he set foot in the outside world, remains at large.  Thorpe, meanwhile, is behind bars at the Alachua County Jail, charged with aiding a prisoner’s escape and introduction of contraband into a prison.

Yet another reason to watch your weight

The Santa Rosa County Jail is minus two inmates because a "design flaw" in the building allowed them to squeeze through a 12-inch-by-12-inch opening onto the roof, resulting in their escape to freedom Saturday night.  According to NWFDailyNews.com, Ricky Dale Spears, 43, and David Chapell Dixon, 20, are still on the loose and should be considered "dangerous."  Spears was incarcerated for kidnapping a minor and aggravated battery, and Dixon was in jail for armed robbery and assault.  The county jail has been open for 10 years, but the "design flaw" had gone unnoticed until this escape.  A Santa Rosa County Sheriff's spokesman said he didn't know why other inmates did not follow Spears and Dixon out through the opening, but that "(t)he size of the person had some play into it."  He said officials were inspecting the jail to make sure no more "design flaws" have been overlooked.

John Couey letter for sale on Web site

An apparent letter written by John Couey, the convicted killer and rapist of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, appeared for sale today on a Web site that sells serial killer memorabilia.

MurderAuction.com listed the letter, which has a return address of the Florida State Prison in Raiford, Fla., for $7.99. Late Thursday, the letter had drawn no bids.

The seller apparently scribbled out the name of the recipient. The hand-written missive appears to be signed "Your friend John Couey."

The Web site tracks mentions of it in the media and offers effects belonging to infamous men, including the Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski and serial killer John Wayne Gacy.

-- Stephanie Garry, Times Staff Writer

Florida prisons run like the mob?

Softball, drunken orgies and a system run like the mob: Just another day in the Florida Department of Corrections. At least that's what former prison secretary James McDonough tells CNN he inherited when he took over one of the nation's largest prison systems two years ago. McDonough says he walked into his office for his first day on the job and there was crime scene tape preventing anyone from entering. "That was an indication we had a problem in the department,'' McDonough told CNN. McDonough stepped down last Thursday.