DA: Prattville mental health facility not acceptable for housing sex offenders

AUTAUGA COUNTY, Ala. (WSFA) - A judge granted a temporary restraining order Friday, preventing a convicted sex offender from moving into a mental health facility in Prattville.

According to District Attorney CJ Robinson, the temporary restraining order centered around the transfer of Tyrone Bennett. Bennett is a registered sex offender.

A Jefferson County judge recently approved a transfer for Bennett to be housed in a mental health facility located in the Prattville area. Robinson said the facility is too close to schools, daycare centers and other places children gather so it should not house sex offenders.

Robinson said the concern is the level of supervision the facility would have over Bennett.

“In the statute, there are some exemptions allowed. And our concern is we have documentation over the last several years that this is not a secure facility. Public Access is not denied and so, therefore, while it may be appropriate for some type of placement, it is not appropriate for sex offenders,” Robinson said.

Robinson added that there are numerous instances showing a lack of supervision by the facility.

“There’s almost 20 documented instances where people have walked off of this facility with no supervision, and that’s the ones that police had been called about. So I don’t know how many has happened that’s not. But I know these many this many has where the police had been involved to go find them or to be, you know, called to make sure they’re okay and that type of thing,” Robinson said.

The temporary restraining order will remain in place until a judge makes a decision on Bennett’s transfer to the facility.

We reached out to the Alabama Department of Mental Health for more information on the facility and its level of supervision if Bennett were to be transferred.

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