What is Article 10, you ask?

In April of 2007, Eliot Spitzer signed into law Article 10 of the Mental Hygiene Law, also known as Megan's Law.  Basically, this law allows the State of New York to hold anyone with a sex crime in a mental health facility pending a civil trial which would determine whether or not they have a mental abnormality that would cause them to commit future sex crimes, and whether or not they should be committed based on the court's findings after the trial.  If they are not committed, they can also be placed on a special version of parole for sex offenders that basically makes sure that they are supervised in every aspect of their life until the State is content that they need not be supervised anymore.

Now, I bet you are all asking yourselves "how did she fall into the trap of this law?"  Well, it is a long story.  Long story short, in May 2008, my best friend hounded me into writing her ex who just happened to be in prison.  She thought we would hit it off, and we absolutely did.  I was 31 at the time, and he was 23.  He was serving two consecutive 3 year sentences for what I like to call "glorified statutory rape".  No violence involved.  Just an age problem.  So, six years total for what most men would only have a 2-3 year bid.  By the following June, we were married, and we had our honeymoon all planned for the two weeks following September 13th, 2010, when he was supposed to be released from prison for good.  He was maxing out, which means that he never tried to get out on parole.  He served his full sentence and was supposed to be free for good.  Well, all except the whole being a registered sex offender thing.  But we were both willing to deal with the backlash from that little glitch.  His now 7 year old son was so looking forward to finally be able to see his Dad in a place not surrounded by razor wire and big heavy metal doors.

Well, about a week before he was supposed to be released, we were informed that he would NOT be released.  An expert, obviously paid by the State, had sat down and had a 2 hour conversation with him a couple of weeks previous to determine whether he would be affected by Article 10 or not.  Basically, what his report said was that he (the expert) believed that he showed signs of a mental abnormality, but that he was basing his findings on his past history.  No mention of how much he had changed over the SIX years he had been locked up.  So, just in case, they better hold him at a psych center and go ahead with the expensive trial that could be avoided if they would just have someone not being paid thousands of dollars by the state to be biased to sit down and have a real conversation about who he is and how he has changed.

This is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, as they say.  Obviously, it is now April of 2011, and he is still locked up at the Central New York Psychiatric Center in Marcy, NY, and the trial probably won't even start until around Samhain.  That's the end of October for you non-Pagans out there.

I am a woman.  I am a wife.  I want to be a mother someday.  All of these tiny dreams that many others stumble into, and take completely for granted are denied me because the State made a law that is being used without abandon.  My husband deserves a chance at a new life.  A new start.  I deserve to have my husband here, home, in my arms.  We deserve to consummate the marriage we both know is the right future for us, together.  We always joke that if the lawyers and judges and experts and people who seem to be able to decide our future could see us every weekend in that visiting room enjoying every precious moment of time we are allowed to see each other, they might not be wasting the taxpayers money on a man who is very obviously not sick.  He was convicted when he was 19.  He was child himself.  He has never had a chance to make the life he always wanted.  And now he may not have that chance for a very long time.

I am sad.  I am angry.  I live alone in a one room apartment that has cockroaches.  I work 40 hours a week building medical equipment.  I am in limbo, waiting for a system to work that is not working.  This law was not created to help cure sex offenders of their mental abnormalities.  This law was created to keep sex offenders locked up for as long as they can be locked up, even if they have done their time.  And if they can't keep them locked up, they can keep track of their every move for 2, 3 or 4 years on the outside, all the while looking for any reason to violate them and put them back inside those walls.

Trust me.  I am not defending the men who have done unspeakably awful things to women, men, or children.  I am defending the other men like my husband who were misguided, made a mistake, and do NOT have a mental condition predisposing them to be sex offenders for life.

And maybe I am just being selfish.  I want my best friend home here with me instead of on the phone or in a visiting room where we aren't even allowed to touch each other during the visit.  I miss him everyday, and want to live our life together, and no one cares!  No one will listen!  We are alone in this struggle, and some days, it is unbearable.  The only good part in this whole story is and always will be that we have each other and we are lucky for that.

If you care, send this blog to someone you know.  I will be posting as often as I need to, being I have no other outlet for the myriad of thoughts I can't get out of my head.  I need to fight.  We will fight this until we are heard.  This law needs to be fixed and addressed.