- [Interviewer] David.
We're here in Columbus, Ohio.
I met you at the library
but you live in a tent city, tent community I just visited.
Tell me about it.
- I been in that area
for approximately a year and a half now.
We were moved from an area
a couple hundred feet up the trail.
Railroad people were doing some work
and cleared that area out and made us move.
So I been in this area for about a year and a half now.
I been homeless for about,
well that would be almost three years in two months now.
So that is due,
I was released from prison
on a attempted failure to register charge,
which I was guilty of.
Due to my mother's illness,
she was in her late 70s,
in a wheelchair, diabetes and stuff,
I was taking care of her a lot
so I was not able to take on a full-time job.
I would take care of her during the third shift hours
and then get down to my tent during the daytime.
I'm a registered sex offender in Franklin County here.
And part of the requirement is that if you're homeless,
you have to check in with the Sheriff's department,
Monday through Friday,
and twice a week we have to do a records check
to make sure there's not any warrants for us.
Makes it very inconvenient to find work.
- [Interviewer] So you have to check in every day.
- I have to check in Monday through Friday.
- [Interviewer] Monday through Friday.
- Yes. - Weekdays?
- Yes.
And you know, that's a very inconvenient thing,
trying to find work, trying to keep work.
I've been able to get some work through the spot labor.
I was working for one of the call auction companies
here in Columbus
and I was there for a couple weeks.
I had worked for them
for about three and a half years previously
and when I went back to work for them,
the new human resources person
had told me that I had falsified my application,
they were terminating my employment.
And I couldn't understand that because when I'd gone through
every program I had gone through from sex offender program,
to programs with (wind drowns out speech)
they all suggest we do the same thing,
being sex offenders,
that when it comes to the question of,
have you ever been convicted of a felony,
to (wind drowns out speech)
yes, but we'll explain in your interview.
Well, the human resources person said that
there was falsification of application
'cause the fine print on the bottom of the application
said every line must be filled out in its entirety.
So I lost that job.
Right now, I'm working on getting my CDL license.
I have my learner's permit.
Have a friend that is,
once I can get my full CDL license,
has a position open for me,
which will change things dramatically for me.
I don't know how that's gonna be.
It's not easy to get that CDL license.
- [Interviewer] Here was, you did time,
you paid your price to society,
- And the biggest problem is that,
when housing of a, I'm a tier three registered sex offender,
the worst of the worst.
So community notifications have to go out.
The only problem I have with that
is that my crime was committed
years before that registration ever came into effect.
Now the Ohio Supreme Court has reversed two decisions
that were made retroactive, regarding sex offenders
and I'm hoping someday to be able to launch a campaign
to be able to turn this around
because my crime was committed in 1987.
I was convicted in early '88, in April of '88,
but these registration laws never came into effect
until the early mid-90s.
So I'm wondering why we have to
register and it affects our life.
I spent 13 and a half years inside for my crimes.
I don't have any problem with that.
The time fit the crime.
I take full responsibility
and accountability for my actions.
I regret what I've done.
People, when you're in prison
and you're getting ready to be released,
one of the big questions that's always asked is,
how do you feel about a second chance?
I said I don't want a second chance
'cause a second chance to me,
represents the potential to fail again.
If I fail again, that means there's another victim.
None of us want that.
They say, well what do you want?
I said, what I want,
is the opportunity to live the potential I've always had
but was afraid to live.
Say that again.
All I want is the opportunity to live the potential
that I've always had, but was afraid to live.
I'm getting that start.
I still need some help.
I'm homeless, I've been homeless for almost three years now.
And I have a real compassion for the homeless people.
I have it a little bit better,
I have some friends, some family who I go to,
to get a shower, to get a hot meal.
- [Interviewer] Nobody would know you're homeless.
- Nobody would, I've had a lot of people,
homeless people come up to me and say,
hey, I'm homeless, can you help me out?
When I tell them I'm homeless, they're like what?
They don't believe it.
- [Interviewer] Well, as we were talking,
your first priority is to not offend again.
- Right, right.
- [Interviewer] And being out on the streets,
I mean, it doesn't help.
- Here's the thing about it.
Three years ago,
I was on probation for the attempted failure to register.
I was given three years.
I did everything legal.
My son had a friend up in Michigan,
I contacted the Franklin County Sheriff's Department.
Verified with them
that I was getting ready to move the address.
They told me I had 10 days to effect the move
or there would be a warrant for my arrest.
I went up to Michigan, I ran into all kinds of roadblocks,
10 days went by, I figure I got the warrant for my arrest,
come get me.
Six months later, Michigan calls down and says,
hey is David down there?
And they said no.
I got word that the county had a warrant for my arrest.
I called them, turned myself in.
I did the right thing.
On probation, again, I was put through programming
and in that programming,
I learned that sex offenders, particularly tier threes,
their risk offender rate, recidivism rate goes way up,
- [Interviewer] When they're out on the streets.
- When they're homeless and jobless, okay?
Now, I was in a program.
I didn't complete the program,
they continued my probation for another year.
About halfway through that, I was violated.
Two reasons, being jobless and being homeless.
Not because I was hanging around schools or parks
or doing anything improper.
For being jobless and homeless, I was violated.
Like I said, according to their statistics,
recidivism rate for my crime goes up dramatically
if you don't have a job or a home.
Why would somebody not make that a priority,
particularly for tier three offenders like myself
to get at least housing,
so that we can reduce that potential for recidivism?
Every time,
- [Interviewer] It's a huge issue, it's a huge issue.
- I was, again, I was on probation,
six months out on the street,
never offended, never did anything.
In fact, in their program for job training,
I raised the bar
beyond anybody that's ever been in that program
for the nine years that it was in existence.
I hit the highest one, being jobless and homeless.
I say that to say this.
If people choose not to offend,
nothing out there, being jobless, being homeless,
isn't gonna matter.
You have to choose within yourself,
that you don't want another victim,
you don't want another person to go through that.
You have to have a real sense of victim empathy.
And there are people out there that,
like when I was in programming,
they said every time you hear of another arrest,
of another sex offender
or person involved in child pornography,
it's hard on those of us
that are trying to do the right thing.
Society, there are people out there
that don't want any more victims,
that have had victims.
I'm one of them people.
My number one priority is no more victims.
And I'm just saying, let's help us.
If society is concerned about
recidivism rate for those of us
that have to be out on the street,
then get us off the street.
There are, I walked downtown here at Columbus
and I see dozens of buildings that can be utilized.
- Unbelievable. - To help us,
if there were a little bit of funds,
a little bit of organization.
- [Interviewer] Thank you for having the courage
to be honest about this subject.
This is a serious subject, obviously
and the housing and homelessness issue to this,
and the recidissism rate needs to be addressed.
So thank you for
having the courage.
I'd like to close with asking people three wishes.
What if you had three wishes, what would they be?
- It would be to have a good enough and steady income
to where I wouldn't need outside resources to help me.
I would like to,
I'd like to be more active, proactive,
in helping other homeless people.
Having been homeless for more than four years now,
has really touched my heart.
And I see some that just don't care,
some that have given up,
but some that want help.
So that would be probably wish two.
Wish three would be,
to take a nice vacation because I need one.
But seriously, I want to say thank you
for the opportunity to speak on the subject.
- [Interviewer] Well thank you very much.