What about these small housing estates/trailer parks which end up being like little colonies of sexual offenders?
I will look it up but I am 100% certain that the article I read about them said that because no one else wants to live there because they are always miles away from shops, bars, but importantly, schools, playgrounds and anywhere else sex offenders are typically ordered to stay away from, the people who own them start to make deals with the authorities for the purpose of housing these nonces.
If Chris gets to go to one of those, they can just let his tugboat cover a rent on a cheap trailer or basement apartment under a house, and allow him live out his life there?
Far from children, older people, with only sex offenders to potentially harass.
You have to remember, that the state foots the bill for those halfway houses. Or the government subsides them heavily. So when a taxpayer looks at it (the constituents) they see it as a cost and not really a benefit.
The idea of a halfway house is to provide a place for people to get on their feet and to get moving so they don't rely upon the state for housing/needs. If they just let Chris and/or sex offenders to just live even in dilapidated trailers, that's still an expense and that's real hard to justify to the city/county/state. Especially when budgets start getting tightened.
They don't want people to become burdens to the state, because the more they rely upon that, the more they become dependent and the less motivation they have to strike out on their own. It's also more expensive to run halfway houses than it is just to incarcerate people. Is it fair? No, not in most situations I'd argue. I think it's fucked that the state would just keep people in jail because they don't want to shell out the money for subsidized temporary/emergency housing (I'm thinking of drug related offenses specifically), but the reality is, governments have budgets and it gets harder and harder to justify these kinds of programs as things get more tough financially.
The Government would rather sell the land/property to a private business and make a profit than use it themselves, so even if it's in the sticks, they don't want to hang on to it unless it has some kind of value to it. You also have to consider that the further away these places are, the harder it is for the people living there to secure employment/transportation/amenities. Most people when they get released have nothing. No home, no car, no wardrobe, nothing. So when you have these places 20 miles away and it's not feasible to walk or catch a bus, it's like they're being set up to fail.
Don't get me wrong, I don't have a ton of sympathy for sex offenders or murderers or rapists. I just think it's kind of fucked that the state puts people who've done their time in a no win situation. The whole point of being locked up is to pay your debt to society. But with how this all kind of works, they're given little to no chance at succeeding (I'm not talking about Chris specifically, but people in general. I don't give a fuck if Chris succeeds. I doubt he will with even the best chances).
The Government aren't landlords. They shouldn't be interfering in peoples lives in general unless there is a danger to others around them. The less oversight the Government has on peoples lives, the better off we are as a whole. Once Chris is out of jail, he'll have his 4th amendment rights restored to him. Shit, he'll have them ALL restored because it's a misdemeanor (that includes the 2nd amendment unless he goes on the SO registry).
The United States is in dire need of justice/criminal reform, but I've gone off on a tangent enough as it is. Halfway houses aren't permanent. They're not designed to be. Chis MIGHT be able to lock in Section 8 vouchers for a shitty apartment and squeak by on disability, but they need to have the spot for him to get it. There are waiting lists for halfway houses/section 8 that can span into the years. They can't just let him out unless there is a plan and a place for him stay. And it's going to be up to him to figure that plan out, explain it, and make the case it before they let him leave.