The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) is dedicated to protecting the Constitution by restoring the civil rights of registrants and their families. In order to achieve that objective, ACSOL will educate and litigate as well as support or oppose legislation. The ACSOL website and recordings are provided as a service to registrants, registrants’ families, and others for general information only. The information on the website and in the recordings are not designed to provide legal or other advice or to create an attorney-client relationship. You should not take, or refrain from taking, action based on their content. Prior results and case studies do not guarantee a similar outcome in future representations. ACSOL accepts no responsibility for any loss or damages that may result from accessing or reliance on content on the ACSOL website and recordings and disclaim, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, any and all liability with respect to acts or omissions made by registrants, registrants’ families and others on the basis of content on the ACSOL website.
Important News / Announcements
Janice's Journal
General News Feed
CA: COVID-19 is a death sentence for many California prisoners. Gov. Gavin Newsom must act
In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom imposed a death penalty moratorium in California. Will it matter? The COVID-19 outbreak unfolding at San Quentin State Prison – and in other jail and prison facilities around the state – may impose death sentences on people who never received them from the courts. As of Wednesday, over 1,100 of San Quentin’s 3,000 inmates had tested positive for the...
Los Angeles Superior Court Denies TRO Application
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has denied a TRO application filed by the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) that, if granted, would have required the CA Department of Corrections (CDCR) to release from prison individuals convicted of a sex offense based upon the same eligibility factors as those convicted of a different type of offense. The basis of the TRO application...
General Comments July 2020
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of July 2020. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil. This section is not intended for posting links to news articles without additional relevant comment.
CA: California’s state funded program for sexually violent predators costs taxpayers $4,000 a month in rent in Jacumba Hot Springs
[kusi.com - 7/1/20] JACUMBA HOT SPRINGS (KUSI) – A state funded program for sexually violent predators is paying out four times the going rate for housing in San Diego’s East County. In a lease obtained by KUSI News, taxpayers are paying $4,000 a month in rent for each sexually violent predator housed in Jacumba Hot Springs. Watch the video
NM: Massive COVID-19 outbreak at a southern NM prison hits just one type of inmates — sex offenders. That’s by design.
[http://nmindepth.com - 6/27/20] As the coronavirus established a foothold in southern New Mexico’s Otero County Prison Facility in mid-May, state officials quietly moved 39 inmates out of the massive complex near the Texas border to another prison near Santa Fe. The inmates shared something in common: None was a sex offender. In the days before the 39 departed the massive correctional complex where New...
Janice’s Journal: Let My People Go
How dare they! How dare the CA Department of Corrections[1] once again deny rights to individuals solely because they have been convicted of a sex offense. Didn’t they learn? The department has recently lost every case in which another of their “mistakes” involving registrants was challenged. Those cases were focused upon the department’s regulations which denied the benefits of Proposition 57 to every person...
Kat’s Blog: Post Incarceration Syndrome (PICS)
Researchers at NCBI/National Institute for Biotechnology Information have suggested that Post-Incarceration Syndrome/PICS should be considered a specific sub-cluster of psycho-social problems that share or overlap symptoms with PTSD/Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PICS symptoms are specific to those incarcerated and those recently released from incarceration. For registrants diagnosed with PICS, cluster symptoms seem magnified due to not being able to fully reintegrate back into society...
NC: Guilford County investigating jail inmate’s in-custody death
[wxii12.com - 6/25/20] GREENSBORO, N.C. —A Greensboro man's death is under investigation after he died in custody at the Guilford County Detention Center Tuesday morning. Guilford County Sheriff Danny Rogers said Jeffery Johnson, 61, died as the result of a lengthy and chronic medical condition at the Greensboro facility at about 10:20 a.m. Johnson was arrested by the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office on May...
ACSOL Files TRO Application to Stop CDCR’s Exclusion of Registrants from Early Release
The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) filed an application today for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) that, if granted, would stop the exclusion of all registrants from early prison release granted by the CA Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). The basis for the releases is to reduce the possibility of COVID-19 infections for both prisoners and staff. "CDCR has declared that...
IL: High court upholds ban on sex offenders in parks
The state’s criminal code completely bars child sex offenders from entering public parks, despite an exception written into a similar but separate part of the law, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled last week. The 5-2 majority held that the exception in Section 11-9.3(a-10) of the Illinois Criminal Code of 2012, which allows child sex offenders to visit public parks with their minor children when...
FL: Cyberstalking injunction obtained by Sen. Lauren Book overturned by appeals court
[sun-sentinel.com - 6/24/20] TALLAHASSEE — Citing First Amendment rights, an appeals court Wednesday overturned an injunction that state Sen. Lauren Book obtained because of alleged cyberstalking and harassment by an activist who opposes laws dealing with sex-offender registries. The full 4th District Court of Appeal, in an 8-3 ruling, said a Broward County circuit judge improperly granted an injunction that, in part, was designed...
MO: Sheriff’s office turns registrants into social media companies
[chillicothenews.com - 6/23/20] Missouri Revised Statutes Chapter 589 covers issues with Sex Offender Registration requirements. By statute, the sheriff is the Chief Law Enforcement Officer for each 3rd class county and one of the sheriff’s duties is to oversee sex offender registration. At the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office we strive to make this task as easy and routine as possible for both our staff...
ACSOL Files Lawsuit Challenging CDCR Early Release Plans
The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) filed a lawsuit today challenging the early release plans of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). The agency plans to begin releasing from prison on July 1 anyone convicted of a non-violent offense who has a release date no later than December 31. The agency's plans, however, exclude anyone required to register as a sex...
Sex Offender Registries Are Fueling Mass Incarceration — And They Aren’t Helping Survivors
[jacobinmag.com - 6/22/20] The “sex offense legal regime,” which has developed alongside mass incarceration over the last forty years, has failed. US sex offender registries now list nearly one million people. Federal, state, and local ordinances prohibit convicted sex offenders from living within a certain distance of schools, parks, day care centers, and other spaces where children might congregate. In places like Miami–Dade County,...
PA: Commonwealth v. Torsilieri
Nature of Case: Mr. Torsilieri — the Appellee in this case — was convicted of a sex offense and, as such, was required to register as a sex offender under Pennsylvania’s sex offense registration scheme. He brought a post-conviction challenge alleging that, because Pennsylvania’s sex offense registration law essentially used an irrebutable presumption of dangerousness that if violated several constitutional provisions related to punishment...
UT: Supreme Court strikes down law allowing sex abuse lawsuits
The Utah Supreme Court has struck down a state law that allowed victims of sexual abuse to sue decades later, siding against a woman who alleged a former federal judge raped her when she was a teenage witness and he an attorney prosecuting a white supremacist serial killer. The state’s high court ruled the 2016 law unconstitutional, finding the Utah Legislature did not have...
CA: 2020 Ballot Initiative to Repeal Justice Reform Would Come at a High Cost
A new report from the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ) analyzes a November 2020 ballot measure that seeks to roll back key elements of recent justice reforms, including Public Safety Realignment, Prop 47, and Prop 57. As California continues to disproportionately arrest, prosecute, and incarcerate Black, Indigenous, and Latino people, this proposal will particularly harm communities of color. Full Article Report -...
FL: Divided Florida Court Revokes Sex Offender’s Probation After Bizarre Feud With Neighbors
[law.com - 7/17/20] A peculiar dispute between two South Florida neighbors came before the Fourth District Court of Appeal on Wednesday when it found that a registered sex offender’s three-year “campaign of harassment” against the couple next door violated his probation and warranted a prison sentence. Read the full article (must sign up)
Kat’s Blog: Talk and Text Only
For many registrants on parole, the basic flip phone” is the only type cell phone allowed by parole officers. You can make phone calls, you can send texts, but beyond that, you are relegated to the dinosaur age. Internet access is for bidden. Recently a registrant on parole needed a new phone, his trusty old “flip phone” no longer held a charge. It wasn’t...
VA: Shipyard superintendent, porn convict, seeks online access at work
[dailypress.com - 6/16/20] A superintendent at a local shipyard wants access to the internet at work despite being convicted of a child pornography charge 12 years ago. Willoughby Warren “Billy” Colonna IV, of Colonna’s shipyard in Norfolk, is asking that his prison release terms be amended to allow him to use the internet at his family’s Norfolk ship repair business. The Virginian-Pilot reported in...