Miracle Village: A Community of Sex Offenders

Sep 11, 2014 15 comments

Deep in sugar cane county of south Florida, in the US, on the edge of the everglades, about two miles from the nearest town, is a community of around 200 people who live in the small, neat bungalows with manicured front lawns. This is Miracle Village where almost half of the population are convicted sex offenders, many of them recently released from prison and still on probation. Some of the sex offenders abused minors, sometimes their own children, while others viewed pornography, or had sex with underage girlfriends. Some were just dating as teenagers only to have their love became a crime when one of the lovers turned 18. A few were convicted just for exposing themselves. Nevertheless, they are all sex offenders - a stigma they have to carry as long as they live.

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Photo credit: Noah Rabinowitz

Being a sex offender is hard in the state of Florida. Unlike other criminals, when a person convicted of sex crimes get out of jail, their troubles are far from over. Under the local Florida laws, such persons are forbidden to live within a thousand feet of a school, a park, or even a bus stop because children might congregate there. Even if offenders find homes that meets all residency requirements, landlords often refuse to rent to them. Being in the sex offender registry renders them effectively unemployable. As a result, hundreds of sex offenders in Florida are believed to be homeless, living under bridges or in the wilderness.

Miracle Village was set up to allow these criminals to live as humanely as possible without violating the state’s strict sex offender residency laws. Originally built in the 1960s to house sugar cane workers, it was converted in 2009 by the late pastor Dick Witherow as a refuge for non-violent sex offenders. Dick Witherow himself was almost charged with statutory rape as a teenager when he got his 14-year-old girlfriend pregnant. Thankfully the judge did not press charge and allowed the two to get married.

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Photo credit: Noah Rabinowitz

Today, Miracle Village provides “safe haven” to non-violent sex offenders. Up to two dozen applications arrive from potential residents to Miracle Village each week, which are sorted to exclude people with a history of violence or drugs, or those certified as pedophiles, to protect the people who are already living there. People with children are also not allowed.

“We label people sex offenders or sexual predators for a wide variety of behaviors,” explained Carey Haughwout, a Palm Beach County public defender. “So, as a result, we have a lot of folks carrying those labels without it really distinguishing who’s dangerous and who isn’t.”

Miracle Village is a self-sustained community. There are anger management and bible study classes, and many go to church. As a condition of their probation, most of the sex offenders attend psychological treatment programmes. Some of the offenders even have jobs in local towns.

Although Miracle Village has been lauded by many, it has also been the target of criticism, especially from locals many of whom are unnerved at having so many sex offenders close by. One neighbor, a mother of three, packed up and moved her family 40 minutes away. Others are not bothered. Edgar Walford, a retiree who moved into the village before the sex offenders arrived, finds the community very peaceful. "They're good people. I've made plenty of friends,” he told BBC.

As a matter of fact, there hasn’t been a single sex crime reported in Miracle Village since it was founded.

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Photo credit: Noah Rabinowitz

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Photo credit: Noah Rabinowitz

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Photo credit: Noah Rabinowitz

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Photo credit: Noah Rabinowitz

Sources: BBC / Hillman Foundation / Inquisitr / ABC News / Starcasm

Comments

  1. Why is there a child's bike in one of the photographs?

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    Replies
    1. Not only the kid's bike but, the car painted like Sponge Bob

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    2. I was coming here to ask the same two questions.

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    3. I was coming here to ask the exact two questions also!

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  2. "As a matter of fact, there hasn’t been a single sex crime reported in Miracle Village since it was founded."

    There are probably no potential victims there.

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  3. I am guessing that there is a bike in one of the photographs because many sex offenders who may have offended against adults also have families/children of their own. They are forced to move their children into these sex offender only communities when residency restriction laws are passed. Kinda defeats the purpose doesn't it?

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    1. If you read the article, it implicitly states that people with children are not allowed.

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  4. This is as depressing an indictment of the US (and other countries') approach to sex offenders as anything I have ever seen. I mean what the actual **** are they thinking? Why anyone in their right mind would classify such harmless things as falling in love with the wrong person or urinating in public as somehow the same as rape and abuse is utterly beyond me. It's a sickening devaluation of people who have been the victims of real sex crimes, for one thing. Are they really saying that the sexual abuse that ruined their lives is somehow equatable to some sorry teenagers who got a bit carried away and did what comes natural? Sorry for the ranting tone but some things just make the blood boil . . .

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    1. I agree with you. Urinating in public is NOT a sexual act! Sorry about the kid that saw it, but it won't be the last penis she ever sees!
      I was a teenager many moons ago. Sure, there would be guys that would be labeled from back then! TG nobody every caught us! WTH, that's not a CRIME at 16, 17, 18 yrs old. Girls can physically have children at average age 13 so my goodness, only forced sex is considered rape. So many consensual relationships go on daily. These are not sex offenders. No, they are teenagers with hormones that really do not know better - talking about normal relationships here.
      We really do need to differentiate between the two. No kid should carry this stigma for the rest of his life because he got caught and his friends didn't. Really pathetic unclear laws. Not surprised. SMH.

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  5. Anyone wanna guess what the names of the streets are in this hellhole?

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  6. why is there a sponge bob car and a kids bike in those photos?

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  7. Where is the closest town? I also live in south Florida near sugar cane & I've never heard of this?

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  8. It's located outside of Pahokee, Florida (Palm Beach County) http://www.weather-forecast.com/locations/Pahokee

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