my niece told me that when she gets sent to the halfway house that we will pick her up and take her there. she said that she would be given 8 hours to check in there and that she must buy all of her clothes, toothpaste and etc. before she gets there. then she said after being there for one and a half weeks if she has a job back home she can be released to go home and finish her halfway sentance there. does anyone know anything about this stuff please let me know hopefully this is all true. she is in alderson camp

My husband is in the halfway house now, and I'm not sure how long your niece has to be there, but my husband has to report to them for a total of six months.

He got a job 7 days after he got to the halfway house & was allowed to take his first weekend pass after he got his first 40 hour check. He comes home on weekends regularly now. I pick him up each morning for work & take him home on most days, unless I have to work late.

I bought my husband his clothes, toothpaste, etc. before he was released. He wasn't allowed to have anything with alcohol in it, so you need to be careful when you go shopping. No mouthwash, etc. I've been told that most hairsprays, gels, mousses, etc. are off-limits also.

My husband is eligible for home confinement in July. He has to spend 10% of his time in the halfway house before's eligible for home confinement...this will be true of your niece as well. They will give her dates before she's released. These dates will be her 10% date & the date she's released...until her release date, she's still under their custody & control...any violations & she could be sent back. My husband tells me that almost every week someone is sent back for violations of one type or another. The most common violations are drinking, drugs, driving without permission, and using a cell phone without permission.

I hope this helps. Feel free to send me a pm if you want more information.

Sandra

Good information Sandra.
Are they not allowed to drive while at the halfway house or use a cell phone?
My son was under the impression that on the drive to the halfway house (with me) he could drive, with me in the car, as long as I brought his current driver license with me. ( I didn't think this sounded right though).
Thanks

my husband was in a halfway house a couple years ago and will be goin to another on monday all of them have different rules my husband was not allowed to drive he had to go to meetings na/ aa he was not allowed to have a cell phone they do go get jobs and all that stuff about the clothes and having a certain amount of time to get there was the same with my husband but with the job thing about her goin home i know when my husband was there he only had to be there till he had an apprioved homeplan but it is up to her probation or parole officer and i do believe it is also up to the halfway house i hope that helped a little

I thought they could have a car at halfway house, too. They can use it to get to their job, come home for weekend pass, go to church, etc. or am I wrong? Also, I thought when they were in halfway house after completing the 500 hr RDAP they had to stay the full six months, if this is not the case, how long do they have to stay before they can do home confinement. What is cell phone violation? Can they have a cell phone?

Yes they can have a cell phone and have a car to drive if they are in a halfway house. They cannot bring the cell phone into the facility and it must ONLY be used for work related things. When they call to check in it MUST be from a land line phone. My husband spent only about 11 days in the halfway house before he was allowed to come home to home confinement.

Are they allowed to work for their family's Business?

They are allowed to have a car after they get approval. Also, they can get approval to have a cell phone. At the HH where my husband is at, they tell him to bring the phone inside & give it to the staff; he can have it only when he checks in & out for work. Otherwise, it stays in the staff's possession.

It's my understanding that they can work in the family business as long as the counselor approves it. Where my husband's at they have an employment counselor who decides whether or not the company is acceptable & then he has a counselor for everything else...both of them had to agree for him to take his job...it probably varies depending on who has the contract for your area.

I'm counting the days until we're finished with these people...they haven't been too bad (although I've had my share of sleepless nights)...it's just a lot of little things & rules that pop up continually...trying to keep track of those is really frustrating. I can't imagine how anyone without family support ever makes it out of there!

If you have a spouse who is nearing his time to halfway house, you can get the vehicle approval done BEFORE he/she is even there. I had all paperwork done (copy of his driver's license, insurance info, copy of title) all there and they checked out his vehicle. I left the car there for him after I picked him up and he drove to work the next morning.

Yesterday I was sentenced to 5 months in a CCF (CCC??)... I am relieved that it wasn't FPC.... but i have no idea what the rules are.... any information would be greatly appreciated!..

Bella

I am currently at a halfway house in S.F., most of the information provided is correct. Remember, every halfway house is different in the rules and the way that they operate. Here, we can have a car as long as all of the documentation mentioned above. We get to keep our phones 24 hours a day however we are only supposed to use them for work related calls, yeah right. Nobody leaves the halfway house for home confinement until they pass the 90% point. You can only be home for the last 10% of your total encarseration time. The house I am at is very opressive with it's rules, they are on us all the time about something or nothing at all. Luckily I will be going home in another 3 weeks, I can't wait. I've already been there for just over 5 months.

I tried to get our vehicle approved before he reached the halfway house & was told that they did not work that way...it comes down to the luck of the draw in terms of who you are sent to for your CCC. They were able to tell me the things he could & could not have with him which was helpful when I went shopping for him.

For those who are facing CCC, I suggest reading/memorizing the handbook they give you. Almost every time my husband has a question he's told, "that's covered in your handbook."

In MN, you only have to have a job and have a successful weekend visit at home and you are eligible for release home..my husband was there for less than 2 weeks and of those two weeks he spent one of those weekends at home

Can a person in a CCC have a job that is off the books? Which means they pay in Cash.

As far as I know, they can't have an "under the table job." We have to turn in the paycheck stub showing the # of hours worked, gross pay, net pay, etc. every week. Then they calculate his 25% subsistance pay & then tell us how much of it has to go in savings (usually 10%). He's required to keep this savings account separate from our other savings account, even though they did allow me to be listed as a joint owner. Plus, all of our subsistance payments have to be with a money order.

The subsistance payment is the 25 %, right, so you deposit the check in your checking account, then draw out 10% and put in saving, the draw out 25% and get a money order for that amount payable to the halfway house, is that right?
Also, Sandra, when he comes home, if it is before his release date, will he have to wear an ankle monitor?

Julie, absolutely not. No under the table the job. They must show their paycheck stub to the staff at the halfway house.

The subsitence is 25% of your gross income. In my halfway house, you had to get a money order for the 25% and turn it in.

A person must reach their 10% date before they can go on home confinement. In the case of people who have fairly short sentences and go to RDAP for 6 months, they can plan on being in the halfway house for most of that 6 months. No ankle monitor is required. The halfway house will call frequently to make sure the person is there.

I 36 mo fairly short? I think Sandra's husband had about the same, but he also had a consecutive state sentence, too,( I think). If I'm correct he ended up serving about 48 less good time, but I could be wrong.

Yes, it is. He will spend a good portion of his time in halfway house before he is eligible for home confinement.

I went back and read the message she sent me, she said he had a 37 month sentence, and that he will have to serve 10% of that in the halfway house - 3.7 months. He went to the halfway house in March and she said he will come home in July. He had some jail time he didn't get any credit for on his federal sentence. He is suppose to be in halfway for 6 months.

Susan,
Our halfway house uses the ankle monitors for home confinement. I think it's a choice that they make depending on where you're at (doesn't everything?). They call several times each weekend when he's home on passes & if we leave for church (he has a standing pass for it), we have to call before we leave the house, call when we get to church, call when we leave church & call when we get home...these people must love to hear his voice LOL! Next weekend, his pass will have several places we're going because we're having a birthday party for our son, plus we'll be grocery shopping for the month, church, and then back home...we may as well take out stock in the payphone business!

The company is using direct deposit for his paycheck, so we pick up something at the office every week that shows how much he's paid & then call the counselor for the 25% gross figure (somehow, their math never matches mine & I'm using a calculator!). Then, I draft money from the checking into savings for the 10% & bring in the receipt. Then, I have to buy a bank money order for the 25%...it's a lot of hassle, but it means he gets to keep his passes & gets one step closer to home confinement...

Just remember...this too shall pass :)

RDAP graduates go to halfway house before their 10% date. They become eligible for home confinement on their 10% date.

Sandra is correct, halfway houses all seem to be run a lot different from each other. While mine was actually pretty lax, there is another halfway house in my district that was extremely strict. I had a friend in a halfway house in Iowa and when she went on home confinement, the staff actually came to her house to give her a breathalizer a few times a week.

Sandra is also right about the calculation of the 25% subsistence. No one ever seems to get it right, so we always called the office before we made our payments. If not, you had to get another money order in the correct amount.

cjjack,
My husband has to take a breathalyzer every time he comes back, even if he walks out to get something out of the car that he forgot or that I'm bringing him. I'm amazed at how strict this place is. Everyone also has assigned chores & chores are done three times/day. If you don't go to work that day, you're working at the halfway house. I think they do it to discourage people from not working LOL! The only bad part about chores is that it may take only 5 minutes to do your share, but it takes them an hour or so to clear the chores (kinda like clearing count). No one can shower, watch tv, use the phones, etc. until chores are cleared.

Sandra

Jeesh!!!! Mine was nothing like that!! We had chores of course, that had to be done once a day, but it was no big deal. If you don't have to go to work, you stay in the halfway house unless you have free time, but your time is your own pretty much. I am ever glad that I went to the halfway house that I did!!!!!!!!!!

What about a disabled person? My father has had several heart attacks before he was incarcerated. He is in the federal system. Will he still have to find a job? He was on Social security before he left and actually still is. Anyone know?

i was at the coolidge house in boston, everyone had chores there regardless of whether you had a job or not, at least for a while. when i got home from work, i still had to do chores around the place. generally if you work during the day, they'll try to find something easier that you can do in the evenings. when i first went to coolidge, it was washing dishes for two weeks and taking the trash from the kitchen to the basement, that sucked and took at least 2 hours. then it was cleaning the "common area" every night for a couple of weeks, then taking the trash from the kitchen to the curb for a week, then after that it was just dusting the stairwell area (5 floors) until i was released. i was only there 6+ weeks, but i guess other people that had been there much longer no longer had to do chores if they had a job.

cell phones were the same as mentioned here, if you had permission, you had to leave them at the desk when you came back from work and pick them up on your way to work. they didnt really track who had permission though and it was VERY VERY difficult to get a pay phone in the evening (many phone hogs who would spend hours on the phone), so some people had been known to 'forget' to turn in their phone.

the car you needed permission for, had to provide proof of insurance, and could only use it for work.

Ok in regards to how long you have to physically live in the halfway house I hope someone can give me an idea here. My bear was sentenced to 65 months with recommendation of RDAP so if he does RDAP he is eligeble for 6 months halfway house time and if he doesn't do it he is eligible for 5 months and 19 days halfway time...10% of actual time served with GTC. So how long will he really have to physically live in the halfway house for both scenarios...on the 6 month halfway house sentence with RDAP and with the %month and 19 day sentence without RDAP????????????

assuming your calculations are correct (and policies dont change over the next several years), if he doesnt do RDAP, he would be eligible for home confinement as soon as he arrives at the halfway house. however, before they sent him home, he'd need to have a job and jump through their hoops for a while before they file with the BOP to make arrangements for home confinement (which in itself takes time). ie, he could be there a few months even if someone is motivated to help him get home. if someone isn't motivated, he could easily spend his entire time there.

i dont know enough about RDAP to answer what he's eligible for if he does that.

What about a disabled person? My father has had several heart attacks before he was incarcerated. He is in the federal system. Will he still have to find a job? He was on Social security before he left and actually still is. Anyone know?
good question, one that probably doesn't have a clear cut answer. my roommate at the halfway house was disabled, they didn't care, they wanted him to find SOMETHING to do, whether it was being a greeter at walmart or answering phones. so i think it's going to come down to the halfway house he goes to and whatever his case manager there wants. my roommate eventually took a job as a parking lot attendant, but it didn't appear the halfway house was in any hurry to get him home (however he gave them a pretty hard time over this issue and managed to piss off a lot of people in the process)

Wow so if he does RDAP he has to physically live at the halfway house the whole six months???????????

He will at least until his 10% date.

10% of his actual time in cusotdy meaning the 5 months and 19 days??????

Yes, exactly.

Wow and if he doesnt do the RDAP he can leave the halfway house so much quicker....kind of odd, but I think that will influence him not to do RDAP...too bad!

Halfway house beats prison any day, in my opinion.

i dont think anyone has said that if he does RDAP he has to stay there the whole 6 months (unless i missed it)... though i do recall hearing that before.

however as mentioned, halfway house is WAY WAY better than prison (though when i was in prison, i cant tell you how many times i heard how bad the halfway house was and that prison was better..... anyone saying that is just completely clueless).

Well of course the halfway house is better than prison but home is better than the halfway house. If he does RDAP he has to stay in the halfway house 5 months and 19 days...which is his 10% date. If he doesnt do RDAP he only has to get a job and complete a weekend pass and then he can get released to go home...

thats not at all what cjjack said, cjjack said the same thing as i did, he would be eligible at his "10% date" which is the date at which he has 5m19d left in his sentence.

also dont hold your breath on him coming home after a weekend pass and a job. like everything else in the system, that all takes time. it took me 5 weeks before i got a weekend pass even though i had a job all lined up the day i arrived at the halfway house. the fastest way is to not only make sure he has a job lined up, but to see if his job will pay him in advance. nothing triggers the process until he gets his first paycheck. also, to send him to home confinement requires that the halfway house complete paperwork and send it over to the BOP. the BOP then needs to sign off on it, and ... well, you already know how quickly the BOP can move.

OHHHH So he would be eligeble to leave the halfway house when he has 5 months and 19 days left....I thought it was after he completed the 5 months and 19 days in the halfway house....well maybe RDAP will seem more appealing then. He already did 6 months on bond in an out-patient facility, so he is weighing his options now so to say. IMO, he should do the RDAP program regardless because it is a good program. We will see!!!!

O.K. Now I am really confused :(. My hubby was sentenced to 60 mos he is in rdap he got in when he was 21 mos short of his sentence with goodtime of course... His actual release day is feb. 28. 2007. O.k. Now if he completes rdap he's going to halfway for 6 mos. Now saying that he has a job waiting for him when he comes home. And everything is going well he's untitled for a weekend pass after his 10% time. And also home confinement? Also what is his 10 % time I am not understanding where do I get the time taken out from his sentence or his new release date after rdap or what?

O.K. Now I am really confused :(. My hubby was sentenced to 60 mos he is in rdap he got in when he was 21 mos short of his sentence with goodtime of course... His actual release day is feb. 28. 2007. O.k. Now if he completes rdap he's going to halfway for 6 mos. Now saying that he has a job waiting for him when he comes home. And everything is going well he's untitled for a weekend pass after his 10% time. And also home confinement? Also what is his 10 % time I am not understanding where do I get the time taken out from his sentence or his new release date after rdap or what?
your hubby will need to give you his 10% date, it's on the same paperwork that he was given that tells him his release date. once he hits the 10%, has a job and has given the halfway house a paycheck stub and their 25% of his pay, he will be eligible for a day pass. after he does one of those, he will be eligible for an overnight pass, after that he will be eligible for a weekend pass. after that he can apply for home confinement.

So let me clarify this ih he were to do the RDAP program he would get out to the halfway house when there is 6 months remaining on his sentence. After he has only 10% of his sentence left....5 months and 19 days....and he has has a job and has given the halfway house a paycheck stub and their 25% of his pay, he will be eligible for a day pass. after he does one of those, he will be eligible for an overnight pass, after that he will be eligible for a weekend pass. after that he can apply for home confinement. SO technically if there were a job waiting for him upon release and then he gets a paycheck stub...which would take about 2 weeks I am sure and gives the HH 25% of his pay he can apply for his passes and with succesful completition he could go home. SO technically he shouldnt be in the HH more than a month?????? Am I correct on all of this?????

technically, you're probably correct as far as your timeframe, realistically though it's very unlikely. once he applies to go home, the paperwork is done by the halfway house and sent to the BOP. The BOP process can take as long as they feel like making it take. A couple weeks minimum I was told, but depending on how motivated the person on the BOP end is, it could take months and it's out of the control of the HH. All this again is assuming his case manager at the HH WANTS to get him home. If the case manager is lazy or really doesn't care about him, they'll let him spend his whole 6 months there (you'll have plenty of opportunity to spend time with him even while he's at the HH, it's a far better thing than prison - I worked for a friend and my wife would come by my work, we'd do lunch, etc)

In theory, from my experience at the HH..... the absolute fastest way to get home is if he has a job lined up through a friend who is willing to cut him a paycheck in advance, and he arrives on say a Monday or Tuesday, he could go pay subsistance IMMEDIATELY on Thursday (at least it was thursdays in boston) and be eligible for a day pass within his first week.

I think it's realistic to plan on closer to 3 months to get him home.

SO RDAP or not it doesnt matter it is still up to his case manager at the halfway house when he gets released to home confinment. Thanks everyone for all of your replies!!!!!

does anyone here know of any halfway houses in florida- the broward or dade county area??????

Question --

Im supposed to get a 12 - 18 mnth sentence. How much of that should I expect to be at a half way house.

JB--I dont know anything about florida...I suggest u start a new thread tho as u will most likely get a lot more responses...good luck!!!

mtm--no idea but if u start a new thread also someone helpful will come along!!! good luck!

If there is not a halfway house in your home state (Nebraska), do they try to get you close to home? Or is it like they do sentencing... wherever they feel like putting you? Does anyone know if the CCCs listed on the BOP website are the only ones, or are there possibly some that aren't listed?

thanks... lots of questions to come, I am sure! :D

I dont know when the list on the BOP site was updated but if u do a search on here someone had a list of all the halfway houses everywhere that had been updated lately. As far as I know they do keep you as close to home as they can...best of luck to you and your loved one....if thats who were talking about!!!

I think now that I re-read ur post the CCC"s u are seeing online are definately not where all the HH's are. Like I said do a search on halfway houses and u will come across the thread that someone had that list or start a new thread yourself...someone is bound to come across and help you!!!!

Good luck~~~~~~

Thank you for your answer... I'll definitely try the search. Yes, I was talking about my husband, and we appreciate your good wishes!

Your welcome all my best to both of you....

Question --

Im supposed to get a 12 - 18 mnth sentence. How much of that should I expect to be at a half way house.
if you got 12 months, you'd get zero time at a halfway house, if you got a year and a day, you could expect to spend about 32 days there. if you got 18 months, you could expect about 45 days there.

note, a sentence of a year and a day is BETTER than a sentence of a year. you get no good time off for a sentence of one year and you get no halfway house time (unless the judge gives you a split sentence, though im not sure how common that is).

does anyone here know of any halfway houses in florida- the broward or dade county area??????
jb, here is a list of all the halfway houses in the USA, this was done in 2005.
For some reason, when a cached page is linked, it doesn't last long. So this link won't be any good in a few days. So if this link goes bad, anyone who needs it can PM me, or ask here, and I will re-post it.
http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:IQPnHlnkHIoJ:www.bop.gov/locations/cc/CCcontracts_05.pdf+Directory+of+Active+Contracts&hl=en&start=1

Or if you want to look at it in PDF format, here is the link. This link should stay up.:)
http://www.bop.gov/locations/cc/CCcontracts_05.pdf.

RDAP

What is/does RDAP mean??

Jala

it's a drug/alcohol program

RDAP = something like residential drug & alcohol program

OOOOH!!

Thanks for teaching me what it meant!!

Jala

I have a quick question. My fiance is due to go to a HH in Alabama. His offense was not related to drugs or alcohol.
I live up here in NY. and the plan is when he is in the HH and has a job for him to begin the search on weekends for a place for us to live. I'd really rather he be paroled up here....so much easier for me as I have a job and family here. However, his mother is ill and he wants to be closeby for her for awhile.

Questions: It's a Federal HH. His offense isn't drug/alcohol related. Will he be required to do the 'breathalzyer' thing and all?

How do weekend passes work?

With house arrest, would that apply to ones own apartment or house?

Any other stuff, please let me know. I have no idea what to expect. He was locked up for quite awhile.

thankyou
Fyre

It is standard procedure to have all residents do a breathalyzer upon return to the HWH from work or passes.

Home passes are given to ONE APPROVED residence and he can go straight there and straight back with no unapproved stops. At the HWH I was in, I could get approval to go few places (like church) where I could not be reached by pager or phone. For instance, I could not go to the public library that was within walking distance.

I do not believe he would be allowed to search for a place to live. While at the HWH he could get approval for his mother's house to be his residence for passes. If he wants to do supervised release in NY when he leaves the HWH, they can prepare the paperwork for the US Probation Office. Both districts must approve the transfer.

Thank you for your reply Susan
He won't be going to live with his mother. She is in a nursing home and ill. The plan has been for him to go to live with his older brother who is retired and his brother's wife, and do his visits there until he's found a place to live. But they have a small space, and really, this is meant as a temporary measure.
He wants to 'house hunt' or 'apartment hunt with his time off, so we will have a place to live. At this point he wants to stay close by his mom, who has had some grave health issues.
I don't want to move my life there at this point, til I know that we'll have a place to live, and of course I plan on starting to job search from here.
His offense was not drug or alcohol related. Wonder why they would do the breathalyer thing.

thanks,
Fyre

It is just standard operating procedure to do the breathalyzer test when people have been outside the facility. Remember that the HWH is not the beginning of freedom bu the end of his period of incarceration. He is still serving his sentence and is under the jurisdiction of the BOP.

BOP policy is that they (HWH) must to be able to contact a resident within minutes. Therefore, their policy is to only allow passes where they can page a resident or phone them.

In Texas is is nearly impossible for a convicted felon to rent (or share) an apartment in one of the apartment communities. He is probably going to have to get a garage apartment or small house from an individual that will not require a background check. Perhaps his brother or sister-in-law can assist with this.

If families have to come from out of state to visit someone in halfway house- do they visit them there at the halfway house? or can the supervised person leave to visit them outside- like at a park or something? and how long can they be visiting for? hours? a day? a weekend?
any information would help.
I am asking specifically about halfway houses in California's northern district.
thanks!

Each halfway house will have their own rules. Remember that the HWH is part of the BOP and the residents are still inmates.

Passes for shopping are generally a few hours and the shopping must be conducted at stores where the HWH can page the resident to a phone to verify their location. This is BOP policy - the HWH must be able to locate the inmate within a matter of minutes whether at work, on a week-end pass at home, etc.

You could visit at an outside location but it must be one where you could be reached such as a coffee shop.

Once the inmate has worked 40 hours and paid their subsistence payment, they are granted passes to go home. Ususally the first one is 12 hours, then 24, and finally 48. He/she can go to NO other residence, although others could visit them at home.

Thanks Susan-
what if the inmate has no home or family in the district where they are in the halfway house? They will not be allowed to visit family except at nearby location for only a few hours? Do you know if that would be only on weekends? I am wondering because driving all the way there and only being able to see him once for a few hours would be very hard for our son.
So there is no visitation at the halfway house?

Also- if they have no home or family in the district, where eill they be released to?

Most halfway houses are going to have visitation rooms. Some will have visiting hours all day on the week-ends and some half day. Since residents are required to work full time as well as perform assigned cleaning chores, most will have not week day visiting.

If he has no home or family in the district he should request a transfer where he does have a home and/or family. The whole purpose of the halfway house is to transition back into the community.

Thanks again Susan- you are a wealth of info. Its so good to get information when you don't know and your life is so affected by it.
I guess we'll just see him on weekends. He did request to transfer where we are but they denied it. We can request it again once he goes to the halfway house there, but I am worried if they said no once they'll say no again. Will it be the same people deciding? He's worried that might start things off badly.

There is no reason to fear that a transfer request would cause any problems for him. His counselor at the HWH has the opportunity to observe your interaction and his/her recommendation may carry some weight. Ultimately both districts must approve the transfer.