Despite a report released last week stating 29 percent of registered sex offenders in Wisconsin cannot be located, Madison police officials said all sex offenders in the area are accounted for.
The report says 2,900 of the 9,900 released sex offenders in the state are delinquent in updating their parole officers as to their whereabouts, leaving the released offenders unsupervised. Bill Housley, acting captain of the Madison Police Department’s criminal intelligence unit, said currently, all released sex offenders in Madison are registered with up-to-date addresses.
Housley said if there was a sex offender in the area whose location was unknown, word would be out to all local police, and the force would be actively pursing the location of that person.
“It happens on occasion that a released sex offender doesn’t let us know where they are, but the repercussions are strong, and we make every attempt possible to locate where they are,” Housley said.
If a released sex offender doesn’t uphold parole conditions, such as updating their parole officer of a change in address, they are subject to strict penalties that could include being put back in jail.
When sex offenders are released into the Madison area, they are grouped into three categories based on their risk to the community. Level-one offenders are considered a low risk, level two a moderate risk, and level-three released sex offenders pose the highest risk.
When level-three offenders are released, Housley said the police department takes steps to make sure the community is aware a sex offender is moving in.
“We hold a public forum letting everyone in the area know this person is moving in [and] exactly where they are moving to, and we answer any questions they may have about this person,” Housley said.
Often, neighbors voice such strong objection to a sex offender living next to them that either the offender or the placement authority chooses another location for the offender.
Housley says level-three offenders are often placed in supervised facilities that are staffed 24 hours a day. He said these places help transition released offenders back into community life. In Madison, such facilities are located on West Washington Avenue, Spring Street and Odana Road.
Released sex offenders do, on occasion, leave these facilities without authorization from a parole officer or supervisor at the facility. Larry Kamholz, a public-information officer in Madison, said the Madison police take such occurrences seriously.
“Some offenders have left the Odana Road facility but were found and brought back right after that,” Kamholz said.
Kamholz said released sex offenders do not regularly try to leave Madison facilities without authorization. Currently, he said, all registered sex offenders are in known locations in Madison.
