OnceFallen.com's annual report for 2020 shows record levels for assistance

ONCE FALLEN ANNUAL REPORT 2020 

Since 2016, OnceFallen has published an annual report which tracks the assistance given to and given by OnceFallen.com. While the COVID-19 pandemic altered the focus of Anti-Registry activism this year, demand for assistance reached all all-time high.

MAJOR EFFORTS BY ONCEFALLEN

Despite the global pandemic, OnceFallen still assisted in a number of events throughout the year.

SURVEY & REPORT ASSISTANCE: OnceFallen promoted the Veteran’s Survey conducted by Shawn Rolfe and Emily Horowitz, sending the survey to dozens of federal prisoners. In addition, OnceFallen has conducted its own survey related to the COVID-19 registration issue. OnceFallen also monitored announcements from LEOs to maintain a list of closures during the initial pandemic wave in the spring of 2020. OnceFallen also counted the number of employed registrants in Delaware to determine a 36% unemployment rate for RCs in 2020 in DE.

DENVER PROTEST: OnceFallen assisted in the planning and participated in the protest against the Millard v Camper decision in the 10th Circuit, a bad ruling that denied the registry is punitive. OnceFallen also designed the brochures handed out during the event.

YOUR LIFE ON THE LIST, A REGISTRY SURVIVAL GUIDE: In September 2020, “Your Life on The List” by Derek Logue was published by Amazon.com. The guide was created to help prisoners and the recently released navigate the myriad of “sex offender” laws in place. The guide contains a comprehensive summary of the laws of all 50 states plus DC and the territories and other useful resources for Registered Persons. A PDF version can be found for free on OnceFallen.com while printed versions can be ordered from Amazon.com.

FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS RETURNED TO NEAR 2017/2018 LEVELS

After two years of steady contributions to OnceFallen’s Anti-Registry efforts, there was a huge dip in financial contributions in 2019. For 2020, donations returned to levels still below but closer to 2017/2018 levels. (A new laser printer of unknown value was donated as well.)

The primary expenses for OnceFallen in 2020 included the annual website fee, the protest in Denver, the material needed to send prisoner requests (ink, paper, envelopes, stamps), copies of books for distribution, and a new computer. Because donations exceeded expenses for 2020, OnceFallen ends on a slight surplus (as opposed to ending on a deficit in 2019). Thus, OnceFallen does not plan on hosting a fundraiser to start the upcoming year.

PRISONER OUTREACH SERVICES INCREASED AT RECORD PACE IN 2020

Prisoner outreach has taken over as OnceFallen’s primary function in 2020. OnceFallen offers the Informational Corrlinks Newsletter (ICoN) through the Corrlinks email system (a correctional email system used by the BOP and a handful of states, such as Wisconsin), answers requests for various guides such as the ACSOL 50 state visitor’s guide (a revision was made independently in Oct. 2020) as well as the newly released registry survival guide. See the resources I provide at http://www.oncefallen.com/icon.html

Subscriptions to the ICoN increased from 473 at the end of 2019 to 637 at the end of 2019 to 637, and increase of 164 subscribers (a 34.67% increase). This marks five years of increasing growth in the Corrlinks network, with 2020 having the largest increase in new subscribers. Here is the growth over the past 5 years:

• ICoN Subscribers 2016: 155
• ICoN Subscribers 2017: 221 (+66, 41.7%)
• ICoN Subscribers 2018: 350 (+129, 63%)
• ICoN Subscribers 2019: 473 (+123, 35%)
• ICoN Subscribers 2020: 637 (+164, 34.7%)

A total of 220 individual first contacts came from prisoners or those in civil commitment centers (109 through Corrlinks and 111 by mail).

A total of 285 postal letters arrived in 2020 and while not all letters come from prisoners, nearly all are requests for info related to the OnceFallen prisoner outreach. This year broke all previous records for letters received.

• Letters to OnceFallen 2013: 43
• Letters to OnceFallen 2014: 43 
• Letters to OnceFallen 2015: 73 (+30, 69.7%)
• Letters to OnceFallen 2016: 121 (+43, 65.7%)
• Letters to OnceFallen 2017: 184 (+63, 52.1%)
• Letters to OnceFallen 2018: 172 (-8, -1%)
• Letters to OnceFallen 2019: 175 (+3, 2%)
• Letters to OnceFallen 2020: 285 (+110, 62.9%)

NEW CONTACTS FOR ONCEFALLEN HIT RECORD LEVELS IN 2020

In 2020, OnceFallen assisted 476 individuals who reached out for assistance. About 46.2% of those (220 of the 476) were prisoners/ civilly committed. This is the most total contacts in any year overall and the largest increase since OnceFallen was founded in 2007.

• New Contacts 2016: 291
• New Contacts 2017: 422 (+125, +42.1%)
• New Contacts 2018: 401 (-21, -5%)
• New Contacts 2019: 336 (-65, -16%)
• New Contacts 2020: 476 (+140, +41.7%)

For 2020, I kept up with the nature of requests to help me better serve those who make inquiries. Some of these may overlap because people sometimes make multiple requests. Also, some folks contact me occasionally with later requests.

• ·         Legal Questions: 105 contacts. This includes everything from questions about particular state laws or a specific topic like residency laws or IML, or for requests like attorney lists or activist contacts for a particular state.
• ·         Housing issues: 94 contacts (housing list or advice). Three housing providers, however, contacted me requesting removal from the housing list, and those three aren’t counted here.
• ·         General Info: 62 contacts. This includes contacts for a variety of reasons, like calls from those from people soon to be convicted or from family members of registrants who don’t know what to expect, or advice on finding employment or other resources.
• ·         ICoN-specific inquiries: 59 contacts. Direct questions related to the ICoN/ Prisoner services.
• ·         Resources: 54 contacts. These are direct requests for specific printed guides or books from prisoners. An underestimate since only initial inquiries are counted. Many inmates request multiple guides. This number is expected to go down in 2021 since many resources are contained within the registry guide book created by OnceFallen.
• ·         Veteran’s Survey requests: 15 contacts.
• ·         COVID-related issues: 9 contacts.
• ·         Harassing calls: OnceFallen received threats of violence and harassment from seven vigilantes in 2020.

New contacts by month: 72 in Jan., 33 in Feb., 37 in Mar., 30 in Apr., 38 in May, 54 in June, 37 in July, 46 in Aug., 40 in Sept., 35 in Oct., 40 in Nov., 25 in Dec.

People from a total o 41 US State, one US Territory and Canada contacted me (185 contacts were of unknown origin.) Most contacts by state/ nation: FL (26); CA (23); OH (21); TX (21); NY/VA (14 each); IL (13); PA (12); WI (11); CO (10); AL/GA (9 each); MD/NC (8 each); NJ (7); AZ/IA/MO/OR (6 each); AR/KY (5 each); KS/MI/MN/NE/SC (4 each); ID/IN/LA/TN (3 each); DE/MA/OK/UT/WA/WV (2 each); MS/NM/NV/SD/WY/US Virgin Islands/ Canada (1 each); unknown (185). No contacts from AK, CT, HI, ME, MT, ND, NH, RI, or VT of the known contacts were made in 2020.

New Contacts by means utilized: email (153), Corrlinks (109), Postal Service (107), Phone call (64), Text Message (30), Facebook (11), and LinkedIn (2).

ONCEFALLEN VISIBILITY

OnceFallen.com received 253,132 visitors in 2020. OnceFallen.com counts actual visits, not “hits”, to determine users to the site.  

• OnceFallen.com Visitors 2016: 133,491
• OnceFallen.com Visitors 2017: 228,275 (+97,484 or +71%)
• OnceFallen.com Visitors 2018: 334,687 (+106,412 or +46.6%)
• OnceFallen.com Visitors 2019: 218,040 (-116,647 or -25.9%)
• OnceFallen.com Visitors 2020: 253,132 (+35,092 or 16.1%)

At least 24% of visitors to OnceFallen.com use the site multiple times throughout the year.

In total, 2262 free PDF copies of “Your Life on The List”, OnceFallen.com’s registry survival guide and overview of each state/ territory registry laws were accessed. Since OnceFallen gave full distribution rights (and profits) for the physical copies on Amazon.com to Reset Missouri, they would have data on number of physical book sales; thus, I don’t know how many books sold through Amazon. 

Appearances of Derek Logue or OnceFallen.com doubled from 2 in 2019 to 4 in 2020. Two OpEds written by OnceFallen in The Crime Report, and one in the Lincoln Journal Star. The other appearances were in South Florida media after Derek Logue defeated Florida State Senator Lauren Book on 1st Amendment grounds in the Florida Appeals Court.