 | | Residents have put up signs along Morrisville Road to protest sex offenders moving into the area. Photo: Trent Penny/The Anniston Star | What one man calls a disgrace, another calls freedom. Officially, it's known as One Day at a Time — a residential faith-based drug rehabilitation program and transition center in Calhoun County that outraged neighbors six months ago when it decided to open its door to sex offenders. One Day at a Time is now being investigated by the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles. The center houses about 18 men in two mobile homes in a community just beyond the Anniston city limits, off Morrisville Road, near the Calhoun County landfill and the Anniston Army Depot's chemical weapons incinerator. The Calhoun County Sheriff's Office believes at least 15 registered sex offenders live at the center now. Although One Day at a Time is not certified by the state, it is the only program of its kind in the area, and has given judges and the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles a much-needed place to send drug addicts and sex offenders who have been released from prison. At the same time, its proximity to families with young children has led to growing fear and anger in the surrounding community, which peaked in late July when one of the program's sex offenders allegedly raped a 64-year-old woman who lives in a mobile home nearby. A week later, the woman, whose name is being withheld in accordance with The Star's policy regarding victims and suspects of sex crimes, still bore the cuts and bruises from the alleged attack. On her fingers and hands, raw spots had begun to scab where she said the attacker had tried to "suck at my skin." "It was horrible," she said. "My husband died and I have no money. If I could, I would leave." Four families in a neighboring mobile home park have broken their leases and moved away since the sex offenders moved in, said the property owner, Donnie Coker. "You know I worked my whole life to try to have something," Coker said. "And I try to keep my stuff up — and then they go and do this, and they run all my people off." Neighbors who never before locked their doors say they now keep the deadbolt flipped. Blinds that were left open have decidedly been turned down. "This is hell road," said James White, who lives down the street from the center with his wife and four teenage children. "We put up with the landfill, the incinerator, and now we have (sex offenders). This is a one-way street." But local law enforcement officials say the program is operating legally under Alabama's 2005 Community Notification Act, which states that registered sex offenders cannot live or work within 2,000 feet of any school or childcare facility. In Calhoun County, it is one of the few places where sex offenders can reside under the state-mandated living restrictions, and it's the only sex offender/drug rehab center of its kind, said Henry Guiette, an officer with the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles office in Anniston. Alabama law requires that sex offenders provide living and working plans that meet the Community Notification Act requirements before they are released from prison on parole. Sex offenders who reach the end of their sentences will be sent to a county jail until they provide such living plans. Lavon Horton, a 61-year-old registered sex offender who lives at the center, said that after being granted parole he remained in jail about two years before he found a place to live. "My freedom; that's what (the center) means to me," Horton said recently as he cleaned a chair outside one of the mobile homes. Benjamin Collins, a 47-year-old registered sex offender who lives at the center, also remained incarcerated for about two years before he heard about One Day at a Time. "For me, it was really because I had no place else to go," he said. Both Horton and Collins were serving sentences for other non-sex-related crimes when they were released on parole. Their experiences are not uncommon for sex offenders trying to re-enter society. Guiette said sex offenders have come to him with multiple living arrangements crossed off their lists as unsuitable, with One Day at a Time the only remaining possibility. Sex offenders have come to One Day at a Time from all over Alabama, including from Jefferson, Montgomery and Mobile counties. "Word of the program spread like wildfire in the prison system," said Tanya Thomas, another officer with the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles office in Anniston. The Pardons and Paroles Board operates one transition center for men in Thomasville. That center provides counseling and vocational training for men who recently have been released from prison. But sex offenders can't attend because the 300-bed facility is too close to a school. Many sex offenders just getting out of prison have no money and no support, Guiette said. Limited resources, combined with the strict laws about where they can live and work, often hinder their ability to reintegrate into society. "They have to go back (into society)," said Guiette, who has a number of parolees living at One Day at a Time. "They can't stay in prison." In the wake of the alleged rape, however, State Rep. Randy Wood said he planned to discuss One Day at a Time with other representatives from Calhoun County. Wood said they might consider passing legislation similar to the bill the Legislature passed in June, which made it illegal for multiple sex offenders to live under one roof in Birmingham. But for now, local law enforcement officials say they cannot legally shut down One Day at a Time. "This is all we have," Guiette said. "It serves a purpose, as unsavory as that may be," Challenges & barriers The Calhoun County Sheriff's Office first became aware of Vicki Benefield's drug rehabilitation program about two to three years ago, said Chief Deputy Matthew Wade. In an Aug. 1 interview, Benefield said she expanded the program to include sex offenders because, as the former wife of a sex offender, she understood the challenges and barriers they face. "I wanted to help those who were less fortunate than he was," Benefield said. "Some of these people have no family and no support." The program is licensed as a business through the county and city, and claims to adhere to a "12 steps with Jesus" approach, similar to Alcoholics Anonymous. The program's office is in a mobile home up the road from a double-wide mobile home that both serves as the center's meeting room and houses the program's sex offenders. Those who are not registered sex offenders live in a single-wide mobile home next door to where the sex offenders stay. The men share bedrooms, with two to six beds per room. They also share a kitchen. There is one bathroom in each mobile home. "On face value, it looks like a suitable place to live," said Guiette. The program lasts a year unless a court specifies another length of time, Benefield said. The offenders pay One Day at a Time $350 a month for room and board. Benefield's former husband, Faron Benefield, employs some of the men through his moving service. Others have been hired out to businesses in the community, Guiette said. "A lot of time, they are not able to find jobs on their own," he said. "Any job, even if it is minimum wage, is better than no job." Registered sex offender Don Fletcher, 52, who attends One Day at a Time, said he was relieved to find the program but knows that the rape accusation against one of his fellow residents will make the situation harder. "All I want is a chance to prove to society that I am a good man," Fletcher said. Police found and arrested the suspect in connection with the alleged rape in late July. The suspect had been convicted of raping an adult female in Jefferson County in 1992. He is now in the Calhoun County Jail with his bond set at $150,000. His court date has been scheduled for Sept. 7. Prior to the alleged rape, the suspect had been one of the more difficult people in the program, Benefield said. Officer Guiette said he has increased his surveillance of the center since the alleged attack. He already visits the mobile homes at least once a week, compared with the monthly visits he pays his other parolees. "We are trying to supervise the sex offenders as best we can," he said. "But I don't have an answer for people in the community."
Sex offender regulations vary nationwide• About 1.5 million people are in state and federal prisons throughout the country. Convicted sex offenders make up 10 to 30 percent of that total. • Nearly half of released sex offenders were rearrested for at least one new crime, well over one-third were returned to prison within three years • A vast majority of sex offender prison returns were not because of sex crimes • Only 3.5 percent of sex offenders were reconvicted of another sex crime within 3 years of being released from prison • Cognitive-behavioral sex offender treatment programs can reduce recidivism by 15 to 30 percent Snapshot look at Vermont • Operates a treatment program for sexual abusers • In prison, treatment services are tailored to high, moderate, and low risk offenders • In the community, 11 sites throughout the state provide varied levels of treatment for sex offenders released from prison • The prison and community programs fall under a single, coordinated program to ensure consistency and quality • If sex offender has no post-release support the correctional and treatment staff gather a team of trained volunteers together on the offender's behalf • All treatment providers meet monthly to coordinate management cases Snapshot look at Texas • Specialized sex offender treatment program within the prison system • Divided into high risk and low risk sex offenders in prison • Final phase of program in prison focuses on community reintegration • Parole supervision intensity is set after establishing the risk level of the sex offender • Specialized caseloads have a reduced offender to officer ratio • Parole officers are specially trained on how to supervise sex offenders • Close collaboration between the parole officers, treatment providers, and polygraph examiners.
— Information gathered from a February 2007 report called Managing the Challenges of Sex Offender Reentry, by the Center for Sex Offender Management, a project of the U.S. Department of Justice | 
