My brother is new at Lakeland and I just spoke to him.He was told that he has to take all these classes:

1) GED class - he is a 1984 highschool graduate. He doesn't spell very well but he is a graduate.

2) Drug class - my brother has never been on drugs and has never smoked cigarettes and he is not an alcoholic.

3) Learn a skill and learn how to write a resume - he is a business owner. He has this skill and many more. He has been working since he was old enough to. He has been in construction and machining besides taxidermy.

4) Also, they have his age listed incorrectly and is birthdate on these docs.

I am very upset and do not understand what is going on.

The lady who told him about the classes also told him that she did not believe that she could correct these matters and that he would have to take the courses anyways. She also told him that he can not get out until he has taken all of these courses and that he should plan on staying extra to complete them!

Losing all faith in Michigan......

I don't know very much about those classes, but if the MDOC says that he has to take them, there's not much he can do about if unfortunately. My boyfriend is taking an NA class, which is good for him, but he is also taking a violent offenders class that is absolutely required for him to parole out. The problem with that is he see's the board in September, and he won't be done with that offender class until December. We are scared to death that they won't parole him because he will have 3 months left of that course. I think that their rules are dumb in the respect that they hold inmates in longer then necessary! Sometimes they are on waiting lists for months for these classes that are required. I hope your brother can get things straightened out, but if they aren't going to change their minds, he should probably get into these classes as soon as possible. Good luck to both of you!

Jeni - Thank you for your reply. It is good to hear from someone. I am new at this. My brother has been in just since Feb 03. I have never prayed so much in all of my life. You must miss your boyfriend very much. I hope he gets his parole. Stay strong!

My son also ran into the same thing. They wanted him to get a GED (this is, I guess, now required before you can get parole). But he is a graduate.

I had his high school diploma. I brought it to the school where he graduated and had them make a copy of it and certify that it is a copy of the original certificate. I also had the principal write a letter verifying that he had graduated. I then had the school send it to the principal at Kinross. It was sent out in an envelope from the high school he attended and now Justin is cleared and going to start taking Auto Mechanics classes.

I would suggest you call the school principal's office at the prison where he is and talk with them, then get a copy or original of his high school diploma and send it in....

Justin is taking the equivilent of Narcotics anonymous as well even though he never used drugs but he said "who cares it looks good for the parole board and I don't have anything else to do anyways", so between school, his na class and his job the time goes quickly...

Hugs,

Jodi

they tried to get James to take his GED but he is a graduate so he had to get his dad to send up his certificate but it took months to get the whole thing sorted out. Regardless, the more he takes though, the better it will look when he goes up for parole, plus it will help pass time.

Witchlin

Bonjam,

Hang in there....its tough to go thru this and stressing over it only makes it harder. Sometimes you just have to shrug it off no mater how hard that seems to be.

I realize that the classes sound silly for someone like your brother, but they are requirements of the MDOC if he wants to get a parole.

My husband has gone thru AA at least 5 times, NA even more so, and he is just finishing up Custodial Maintenance for the 4th time. Each time he just takes the class and gets ONE more certificate. Those certificates will only be a positive when parole time comes up!!!

WHen you look at the WHOLE picture, these classes are good things. A lot prisoners don't know how to write a resume and have no job skills. Your brother may learn to spell better! Also, he may be able to help others if he is so inclined.

He can have his birthday corrected on things.....it probably got put into the computer wrong and no one has noticed. The MDOC website listed my husbands eye color as RED for over a year!!!

Mrs. D

Hi Everyone!

Thank you so much for all of your information. You have no idea how much it has helped me.

Does anyone know how much the collect calls using Sprint for 7 minutes are going to cost me?

Bonjam,

When he calls you will have an option to get the rate information. It all depends on how far away he is. When my husband was 200 miles away its was $8 for a 15 minute call. Now that he's 60 miles its $4.11. Several years ago when his son was still in Florida, those calls were about $15 for 15 minutes. I'm sure someone else can give you a closer estimate.

I'm glad we could help!!!! THat's what PTO is all about!!

Mrs. D

Bonjam,

Are you sure it's Sprint? I thought all the prisons in Michigan had gone to Correctional Billing Services? You may want to check out Tele-net up on the top of the front page of PTO if he will be calling you regularly. Calls thru them are 1/2 to 1/3 the cost. If you're in Wisonsin the calls are going to be quite a bit....I'm within the state and calls from my husband were $7.82 per call. (I'm over 400 miles away from him, but you're across state lines...)

I had to get my husband's high school diploma, certified transcripts and a letter sent to the warden as well. If I remember right I did it when he was still in Jackson. They assume that no inmates have graduated high school what about any college...

Deb