Inside the secret town dubbed Miracle Village where 100 convicted paedos live together cut off from society
Florida's strict laws mean child sex offenders cannot live within 1,000ft of a school, playground or park
Florida's strict laws mean child sex offenders cannot live within 1,000ft of a school, playground or park
IT may look like a secluded holiday camp but 'Miracle Village' is home to a much darker reality.
Deep in south Florida, around 200 people live in the cluster of small, well-kept bungalows - more than half of them are convicted paedophiles.
The majority have served prison sentences, some of them have downloaded child porn and some have even abused their own children.
Under Florida state laws none of them can live within 1,000 feet of a school, park or playground, so they live in the isolated community two miles away from the nearest town.
The village opened its doors for a new BBC documentary presented by Stacey Dooley which looks at the state's approach to sex offenders.
One resident told the programme how he was convicted for having sex with his 14-year-old girlfriend when he was 18.
Chris Dawson said: "She lied to me about her age and had fake ID.
"I had no idea. All her friends believed her so I believed she was 18 too."
The village was originally built in the 1960 to house sugar cane workers.
But long after the workers had moved out, Miracle Village was set up in 2009 by Dick Witherow, a church pastor who has since passed away who recognised the difficulty in finding the sex offenders a place to live.
The scheme is run by a Christian community dedicated to helping the convicts rebuild their lives and includes anger management courses and bible classes.
Florida's strict laws mean the restrictions are in place for life after conviction.
In Bradford County another measure is for police to post red signs in front of the sex offender's property featuring their names and declaring that they are a "convicted Sexual Predator".