Sexual Predator Shantytown

Photographs by Charles Ommanney / Getty Images for Newsweek

From 2005 to March 2010, a colony of sexual predators lived under the Julia Tuttle Causeway that spans Miami’s Biscayne Bay. They were there because they had nowhere else to go. In 2005, local lawmakers passed a series of ordinances that barred registered sex offenders from living within 2,500 feet of certain gathering spots for children, like schools, parks, and playgrounds. That rendered most of the county off-limits except for a few pockets, including the causeway. Over time, the community grew, and in 2009 numbered more than 70 people, some of whom are shown here (only first names were used, to protect their identities). The camp sprawled out in every direction. Some slept in tents pitched amid the mangroves, others in rickety shacks made out of plywood. Life there was dreary. There was no running water or sewage system. Squalls regularly rolled through, leaving everyone drenched. Inhabitants relieved themselves in shopping bags, which they tossed in a pile of refuse. Every now and then, tension boiled over and fights broke out. In 2009, one man became so depressed that he slashed himself with a knife in an apparent suicide attempt. In March 2010, officials shut down the shantytown, saying that the offenders would be relocated to area hotels. But some were evicted from the hotels after a deal to house them fell through, and homeless advocates predicted the colony would return elsewhere.