Alabama

 

Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma AL

From the 50 State Visitor Guide :

Code of Alabama 2019 §13A-11-204, §§15-20A-1 through 15-20A-48

Ala. Admin Code. 760-X-1-.21

AWA Compliant

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

Initial registration and updates to registration info must be done “immediately,” defined as 3 days. §§15-20A-10, 15-20A-14.

“Reside” means “to be habitually or systematically present at a place,” and includes 4 or more hours at a place per day for a duration of:

(a) 3 or more consecutive days, or

(b) 10 or more days in a calendar month.

Because 4 or more hours at a place constitutes a day, overnights are not required to establish a residence.  §15-20A-4(20).

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Residence restriction: 2,000 ft. of school, child care facility, resident camp facility, victim or victim’s immediate family; exceptions apply. §15-20A-11.  Additional restrictions apply to residence with any minor.

Employment restriction: 2,000 ft. of school or childcare facility; 500 ft. of playground, park, athletic field or facility, or child-focused business or facility.  §15-20A-13.

Presence restriction:  For conviction involving minor, “loitering” 500 ft. of school, child care facility, playground, park, athletic field or facility, school bus stop, college or university, or any child-focused business; registrant must be asked to leave by an “authorized person.” §15-20A-17.

Travel regulations:   Registrants in AL must notify law enforcement whenever traveling for 3 or more consecutive days; travel without this notification will be deemed a change of residence.  §15-20A-15.

Relief from certain residency and employment restrictions is available.

Per Rolfe Survey, visiting registrants once placed on state’s registry ARE NOT REMOVED.

Duration & updates:

Life.  Homeless registrants report once every 7 calendar days.  §15-20A-12.

All others quarterly.  §15-20A-10.

U.S. Space and Rocket Center, Huntsville AL

Most recent visit: March and April 2022

Alabama has become notorious for having among the harshest and most inhumane registry laws in the U.S., but for visitors this state is not quite the worst.  Those distinctions belong to Illinois (third day aggregate per calendar year triggers registration, and it’s lifetime for out-of-state offenders) and of course my home state of Florida (third day aggregate per calendar year triggers registration, lifetime for all offenders including out-of-state, and you will never be removed when you return to your home state).

Instead, in Alabama the third consecutive day triggers registration (including partial days), or ten or more days per calendar month.  Furthermore, “Reside” is defined by statute to mean “to be habitually or systematically present at a place,” and includes 4 or more hours at a place per day.  Therefore overnights are not required to establish a residence.  §15-20A-4(20).

This over-definition of the word “reside” could mean, in theory, that if you arrive at your Alabama destination after 8:01 PM one evening that day would not count, you could stay there for the next two calendar days, then make sure to skedaddle by 3:59 AM the following morning and you’d be okay.  That remains just a theory, however, and I have no intention of ever testing it.

Alabama also has a long list of residency, presence and employment restrictions and yes they will all apply to you as a visitor even before you are required to register.  So be careful. Very careful.

As part of my 2022 Deep South Tour I passed through Alabama not once but twice. But I did so in two separate calendar months, which meant I could count my consecutive days and days per month separately on each pass.  Because the third consecutive day would trigger registration I made sure to be in state no more than two days each way. 

The only other option to lengthen my stay in Alabama without triggering registration would have been to leave the state not just for one night but two consecutive nights and then return for two days. Why? Because if I were to leave the state for just one night and then return, that first partial day back of four hours or more would automatically become the third consecutive day, and I didn’t want that!

Early one morning in late March I entered the state from Florida.  Traveling up US 231 I intended to stop at the Alabama Pioneer Museum in Troy, but OOPS, that was on a Tuesday and it’s only open Thursday-Saturday.  Oh well, I continued on to Montgomery where I visited the Rosa Parks Museum and the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. Yikes! Who knew that church is within site of the Alabama state capital building?! Must’ve been a scary place to organize a bus boycott!

From Montgomery I travelled the Montgomery March Highway to Selma, walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge which links the Selma Interpretive Center (which was open) with the National Voting Rights Museum (which was closed).  After a fabulous barbeque dinner I bedded down at a Talladega National Forest campground, equipped with a nice heated shower house.  The next morning I slept in, then cruised westward toward the Mississippi state line.

On the return leg of my Deep South Tour, in early April, I entered Alabama from Tupelo on I-22.  That afternoon I stopped at two natural wonders, Dismal Canyon and Natural Bridge, before settling in for the night at a Bankhead National Forest campground.  The big stop on my second day was the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. Very cool! Before leaving Alabama for Tennessee I stopped to see a couple of Alabama’s “famous covered bridges.”  Who knew?  But then it was on to Chattanooga.

Mississippi

Elvis's Birthplace, Tupelo MS

From the 50 State Visitor Guide :

Miss. Code Ann. 2019 §§45-33-21 through 45-33-61

AWA Compliant

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

Initial registration: 3 business days §45-33-27(1).  New residents must notify DPS 10 days before first residing in or returning to state and changes to address §45-33-29(1), then 3 business days to register with county sheriff §45-33-27(5) and 10 days to register at the “Driver’s License station.” 3 business days for most other changes. §45-33-29. NOTE: "Permanent residence" means 14 or more aggregate days per 6 mo. period. §45-33-23(d).

Visitors: “Temporary residence” defined as “resides for a period of 7 or more aggregate days.” §45-33-23(i).  Updated Aug. 2024. However, SOR office claims to still use 7 or more consecutive days even after I pointed out new language. Updated Aug. 2024.

Per MS SOR office, partial days count & the 7th day triggers obligation to register. Also, all residence & presence restrictions apply to visitors! However, per SOR office there is no limit on return visits per month or year. Updated Aug. 2022.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Residence restriction:  3000 ft. of school; child care facility; “residential child-caring agency;” a children’s group home; or playground, ballpark, or other recreational facility used by children.  §45-33-25(4)(a).

Presence restriction: loitering w/in 500 ft. of school, and may not enter school without permission; exceptions apply to both. §45-33-26.

Per Rolfe Survey, visiting registrants once placed on state’s registry ARE NOT REMOVED.

Duration & updates:

Life. Petition to remove – Tier 1 – 15 yrs; Tier 2 – 25 yrs.

Updates: Registrants who are electronically monitored – annually.  §45-33-31.  All others quarterly, in person at the Drivers’ License station to obtain a new “sex offender card.” §45-33-31.

Mississippi's Petrified Forest

Most recent visit: March & April 2022

Mississippi is a pretty tough state, both for registered citizens and for visitors.  Despite what its state law says, the friendly lady at the state SOR office informed me that if you stay four or more days (or partial days) in any calendar month, whether or not consecutive, you must register.  I’m sure that like me, you don’t want to have to do that! 

The only silver lining is that, at least according to that same friendly SOR lady, they only start counting the days when you spend a night.  However, like so many other states, you have to assume that once you spend that night you now have 2 partial days to count toward your maximum of three for that month (because the fourth day triggers the registration requirement).  So plan your trip carefully.

During your whopping three days in Mississippi you will have to contend with a list of residence and presence restrictions.  Wherever you spend the night you’ll have to be at least 3000 feet from the usual ridiculous list of child centered establishments.  Fortunately almost all Interstate motels, truck stops and National Forest campgrounds can meet this standard.  During the day just stay away from any school and you should be okay.

Also, notice that Parks aren’t on either list!  So you can visit any state or local park you like.  However, I have noticed in the past that Mississippi state parks seem to have a lot of play equipment in them so you won’t be able to camp in them.  *Sigh*

As part of my 2022 Deep South Tour I passed through Mississippi not once but twice. But I did so in two separate calendar months, which meant I could count my days per month separately on each pass.  Early one morning in late March I entered the state from Alabama.  My first destination was the Mississippi Petrified Forest, just outside Jackson.  Yes there is such a thing, and it’s quite impressive!  It also turns out there are quite a few Indian Mounds in Mississippi, they are well marked and organized into a “Mississippi Indian Mound Trail” with brochures and little museums on site (but most of those are closed).

It rained really hard that day as I traveled west from Jackson, such that when I arrived at my intended National Park campground near the Mississippi River it was completely underwater.  Had to find a cheap motel nearby, making sure it was far away from anything.

My second day on that trip I drove down part of the Great River Road (a state designated scenic highway), then tried to visit the BB King Museum (but it was closed that day). Then it was on to Arkansas.

On the return leg of my Deep South Tour, in early April, my first stop in Mississippi was the Museum of the Mississippi Delta which, while interesting, turned out not to be nearly as big a thing as the name implied.  The rest of that day I moseyed eastward until I came upon the Natchez Trace Parkway, Mississippi’s answer to North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Parkway.  And a very nice thing it is.  I stayed the night at a National Forest campground off the parkway. 

The next morning I backtracked to the town of Vardaman, MS which bills itself as a the “Sweet Potato Capital of the World” (!) where there are stores specializing all sorts of sweet potato sweets and a festival the first weekend in November … oh well I missed that!

Next stop – Tupelo and Elvis Presley’s birthplace.  Worth the stop!  But it turns out you don’t actually have to make a separate trip to Tupelo to see this landmark.  Instead you can go to Graceland in Memphis, and get on the Graceland Excursions bus that will take you to Tupelo as a side trip.

In my case, once I was done with Pressley’s birthplace I headed east on I-22 onward to Alabama.