MIAMI -- A convicted sex offender is forced to continue living under a Miami bridge after a judge turned down his request to go back to jail.

Kevin Morales, who has served his time and is on parole, asked a judge Thursday if he could go back to jail instead of living under the Julia Tuttle Causeway, but a judge denied his request.

SAFETY ALERT: Click Here: Is There A Sex Offender In Your Neighborhood?

The state ordered Morales and four other sex offenders to live under the bridge because the state has nowhere else to put them that would not be close to children.

The reason they are allowed to live outdoors is an ordinance intended to keep predators away from children, which makes it nearly impossible for them to find housing, County officials said.

The conditions are a consequence of laws passed to bar sex offenders from living near schools, parks and other places children gather. Miami-Dade County's ordinance said sex offenders must live at least 2,500 feet from schools.

State Corrections officials said the five men under the Julia Tuttle Causeway are the only known sex offenders authorized to live outdoors in Florida.

The men must stay at the bridge between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. because a parole officer checks on them nearly every night, officials said.