Scandinavian filmmaking couple Frida & Lasse Barkfors made a somewhat bizarre choice for this, their debut documentary that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival where it won a Special Jury Award. They opted to paint a very humanized picture of a halfway house for convicted sex offenders in Florida. Surprisingly they achieved it quite perfectly with a very balanced portrait that will actually make people re-think long held prejudices. By letting the 125 inmates and residents in the trailer homes in Florida Justice Transitions (that the local neighbors have cruelly dubbed Pervert Park) just talk without adding explanations or narration made this very sensitive subject easier to digest and understand.The ‘Park’ was founded by in St Petersburg, Florida by Nancy Morais after her son was convicted of sex offences and she realized that under the many restrictions laid down in law that it was nigh on impossible for him to find housing in an urban area. Not allowed to reside within 1000 feet of any place where children gathered such as schools, playgrounds, churches and even bus stops etc made life extremely difficult for him and others.
All of the residents are there because they are either are on parole and probation. Some are even under ‘house arrest’ and must wear an electronic bracelet so their movements can be tracked at all times. The stories that they related ranged from disturbing to downright horrifying but the one constant factor was that they were all brutally honest even when they didn’t come out to well from their own stories. Nearly all of them seemed to have suffered some personal abuse when they were younger, although not one of them ever raised that as an excuse for whatever caused them to end up offending.
They included men and women, straight and gay, of all different ages and backgrounds. One of the saddest was that of an articulate and highly educated young gay man in his 20’s with a Masters Degree who was entrapped online. This falls within the very wide scope of what constitutes a ‘sex crime’ and he bravely accepts his guilt even though it was clearly a one-off experience. He is now studying for his PhD to become a Professor, but he knows having the conviction on his record may still make him unemployable.
One of the most moving and tough-to-watch stories was that of Tracy who had been regularly raped by her father starting when she was just 6 years old. She then became sexually active and unknowingly had an abortion when she was just 11 years old. Later after two bad marriages she then abused her own 6 year old son. He in turn abused a girl when he was just 13 years old, and is now incarcerated for armed robbery. She seems to be starting to deal with her anger/problems being able to talk through them in group therapy and she made some quite profound statements on the nature of forgiveness and the need for closure, which she has at least been able to achieve with her son at last.
Interesting enough the group sessions are run by Don Sweeney a very laid back therapist who originally counseled victims of sexual abuse before he came realize that not only did the offenders need some help too, but that it was a service that no-one at all was providing. It’s a tough choice as society is much harder of this group of ‘criminals’ then probably most others, and rehabilitation and redemption, the goals of this particular community, is always going to be very tough to achieve.
The ‘Park’ is run by the residents themselves in a very disciplined manner. They try to help each other overcome many difficult obstacles on the road to recovery and eventual integration in society such as finding work which is no easy task when your name is on the national sex offender register. They must be doing something right as the statistics that run during the movie’s final credits state that the percentage of residents that re-offend is just 1%, which is the lowest rate in the entire country.
Sadly there is a new app easily available that lists the entire Register of Sex Offenders and that shows their photographs and gives out their full addresses. It may have been intended to ease any concerns of worried parents but the movie showed that is the perfect tool to feed the gangs of crusading vigilantes who know that often local police will almost encourage them to wreak havoc, and deny the fact that people like the residents of ‘The Park’ will ever deserve a second chance.
The movie is definitely not that easy to watch but because neither the residents or the Barkfors even attempt to ask for our sympathy, then somehow at the very least, they deserve some consideration.
