Sex Offenders Find Little Relief From the Cold

Jacek Gancarz

​There's no relief in sight for the sex offenders living under the Julia Tuttle Causeway. As Miami experienced record low temperatures, the group was forced to huddle for warmth in the makeshift halfway house.

Because of county rules that forbid sex offenders from living within 2,500 feet of schools and other places where children congregate, the only legal areas for the 34 offenders to live are either out of their price range or on a patch of land under the causeway.

"Most of the shelters are within an area where [sex offenders] are not allowed to be. It's just the way they drew up the maps," Sam Gil, vice president at Camillus House, told the AFP.

Fires are forbidden under the bridge, and the group's generators are running low on gas. Faith-based groups, volunteers, and relatives have stopped by to offer help.

Like everyone else in the city, the sex offenders will have to endure at least one more night of temperatures in the 40s, before Wednesday's low is projected to rise into the 50s.

[AFP: In Miami, sex offenders out in the cold]