Swept Under the Bridge

Diaz, who was appointed to the Eleventh Judicial Circuit by Gov. Jeb Bush last June, is the only judge who agreed to discuss the case. He says he cannot recall being informed of any offender sent to live in the jury parking lot and adamantly denies ever giving instructions to anyone to do so. He blames probation officers for Wiese's placement. "I can't say where to put them," he says. "We let probation deal with it."

And then there is the disturbing issue of treatment: Besides a compulsory weekly meeting with other offenders, there isn't any. "The only reason I can think that they put us here," Wiese reflects, "is that they're just waiting for us to violate, so they can throw us back in."

Meanwhile, the problem of homeless sex offenders isn't going away. Just four weeks ago, Circuit Court Judge Rosa Rodriguez had a sex offender in court named Ivan Daniels, whose family had agreed to take him in. The family's home, however, was too close to a day care or school. The offender's probation officer, Rodriguez was told, had found another solution. "It was a bridge by Twelfth and Twelfth, by the courthouse," she recalls. Rodriguez says she was shocked. "I said to the defendant, öLook, I'll release you, it's your right — but I don't want you to have further problems or to be in a situation where you're out there, where there's maybe drugs.' So after conferring with his attorney, they decided the better option was for him to stay in jail."