Get Catty with Calyn: Dangers in our community

Michael+Pigney%2C+a+sex+offender%2C+will+be+residing+in+the+Rapid+City+area+upon+his+release

Photo Courtesy of rapidcityjournal,com

Michael Pigney, a sex offender, will be residing in the Rapid City area upon his release

Calyn Dunklau

Recently, a Facebook friend of mine posted a photo of a skeezy looking man with a blurb attached.

Of course I did my due diligence prior to having any sort of reaction to it, but after following it back to the original source (the Facebook page of a South Dakota news station) I decided I had enough information to have feelings about it all.

The man in the photo was a prisoner of the South Dakota State Corrections Facilities whose release date was coming soon.

Now you might be asking, why does it bother you? Prisoners are released every day.

Well, it bothers me because I have a three year old daughter and this man had spent 15 years in prison for sexually assaulting children.

And it bothers me because in that blurb attached to the photo of the prisoner was a statement made by an employee of the facility, stating he or she felt this man to be a continued risk to the community.

A CONTINUED RISK.

But he’s still set for release.

So here I am, a mother of a beautiful three-year-old and all I can think of is how every single child in the Rapid City area (where the prisoner supposedly intends to live after release) is in danger.

Are there precautions in place to help keep these children safe?

Well, yes, I suppose so. The sex offender is required to register with the city, not live close to a school or daycare, blah blah blah.

But who is watching this man, night and day, to ensure he’s following said rules?

My point exactly.

So a man who has been convicted of sexual offenses to children is being released while still considered a threat (and, in my opinion, they are all a threat, “rehabilitated” or not) but some kid can get busted for pot and have a stricter sentence?

I call bull. Bull on the system, bull on those running the system.

Do I understand pot is illegal? Yes. Do I understand why people go to jail for doing illegal things?Yes.

Maybe this is crazy of me, but I do feel that the molestation of a child, the forcibly taking a child’s innocence is so perverted, so revolting and so infuriating that the sentence for the subhuman who is willing to do such things to children should be far more than 15 years.

No, there probably weren’t incidents in prison, but last I checked, prison tends to be full of grown men and women.

Not children.

You’ve devastated a child, you have forever marked him or her emotionally.

And for that you certainly deserve more than 15 years to sit and think about doing it again.