In Miami sex offenders live under the bridge

There is no where to live in Miami if you're a sex offender other than a tent city in the area under the Julia Tuttle Causeway. The tent city is home to about 70 convicted sex offenders.

In Miami it is against the law to live within 2,500 foot of anywhere that children gather. While the law does make sense for the safety of children it has caused a problem for those who have been convicted and served their time. Some of the sex offenders living in the tent city have had their drivers licences issued with the bridge listed as their address. Those that live in the area often have mental and physical illnesses. They have to deal with living in close quarters with others with similar problems. They also have to deal with the traffic when it comes to attempting to sleep. Dr Pedro Jose Greer, the Dean of Florida International University's Department of Humanities, Health and Society is working to help these people get back into the mainstream of live. BBC reports:

"What we're doing is we're saying 'let's take the people that we most despise, that did some of the most egregious things in society and let them all get together and not supervise them and let them wander around the community'," he tells me with a clear sense of frustration in his voice.

"This is the stupidest damn law I have ever seen and it's purely mandated by revenge without any consideration for the well-being of these people - who deserve better despite the severity of their crimes," he says.

Many of the men that live at the tent city were dropped off there by the state authorites. Within the tents they have to find a way to survive with no water, money, food or toilets. Because of the crimes that these men committed it is unlikely they would get sympathy from the community. The situation is too much of a powder keg for the politicans to touch. The question is where do you put those that society would rather not have around when they have served their time and still allow them to have basic human rights.