I wish I could post a message to this board that was witty and filled with smart suggestions and helpful facts. Maybe sometime within the next eighteen months to four years I will be able to contribute something but right now I have only questions. My son was convicted less than three weeks ago. Everything I know about Michigan prisons I've learned in the last couple days reading messages from all of you.

I haven't had contact with him since the day he was sentenced but learned from the prisoner search site that he's at Egeler. I made the mistake of looking at his picture. I never will again.

Somehow I got the impression---probably from his glib public defender---that Jesse would be in some kind of central holding place only briefly until he was assigned to a camp. The lawyer made it sound like a sort of fun, recreational summer camp.

Instead of bombarding you all with questions, let me start with a couple and learn as I go. Is Egeler, in fact, some sort of temporary stopover and is assignment to a camp the standard procedure?

Mrs D, those statistics you posted were a slap in the face. I had been assuming that an 18- to 48-month sentence meant that the inmate got out in 18 months unless he screwed up in a big way but what was that number? 44 per cent, I think it was, were kept beyond their minimum time.

I admire all you gutsy women who can face up to the anguish, give the system a hard time when there's an opportunity and even manage a little humor. This thing has been a body blow. It was a comfort finding this forum, though. I'm sort of socially isolated in the U.P. and expect I'll need a little handholding.

Is it possible to predict how long Jesse will be in that place, what one of you called a real hellhole? Even if it's not, thank you all for being around. Mary

Mary--

You're not alone up here! I'm in Brimley, just west of the Sault....Originally from the west end--Escanaba area...

So, he's in receptions still? Once, he's done there he'll be transferred to another facility. There's no guarantee he'll stay at that one though. MDOC likes to move them from place to place.....

It seems they're in receptions from several weeks to a few months...It depends on when a bed comes open at a facility that's a level they want to put him in....

Welcome to PTO! I'm glad you found us and joined...Where are you up here?

Deb

Hi Mary,

I'm glad you found us!!! You will find lots of help and support here along with friendship too!!!

Don't hesitate to ask questions......This Michigan bunch is pretty great and we know a few things too :D

As far as the 18-48 month thing......parole is changing a lot these days so its touch and go....

My husband and I have a firm motto: HOPE for the BEST, but PLAN for the WORST. It works really well for us!

mrs. d

:) WELCOME TO PTO! :)

THIS IS A GOOD PLACE TO BE!

Tommy was at Egeler and then sent to Bellamy, they classify at Egeler and will decide from there his security level, it's going through Bellamy that the parole board has been told to start letting people out, this is going through the prison, so I don't know how to take it

Thank you, guys. Somehow I feel better already. Less than an hour after my post there were four friendly replies and and my question has been answered.

Deb, I'm about halfway between Escanaba and Manistique, not too far from Garden Corners. Maybe we've stood next to each other in a supermarket checkout line at some point. Thanks for the nice, concise explanation of the receiving process.

Do the guys have phone access while in receiving? I know Jesse hates to stick me with those obscene bills, that dirty little secret that I learned about while he was in county lockup and that I bet the the general public is completely unaware of. The only thing I've been really able to grasp in this experience is that everything we've always been told about our wonderful system of justice is complete fiction.

Mrs D, you are maybe the bravest person I've ever come across in my 58 years. The news about the Innocence Project losing interest in your husband's case because the rapekit had been trashed is a nightmare. I don't know where you find the courage to persevere.

You've put me completely at ease about posting questions. Can only say thanks again. Mary

MARY ~ IN RECEPTION, THEY HAVE TO HAVE THEIR PHONE LIST APPROVED AND THEN THEY HAVE TO GET A PIN NUMBER BEFORE THEY CAN CALL AND IT MAY TAKE AWHILE FOR THAT TO HAPPEN. IT'S JUST A WAITING GAME AT TIMES...

Mary-welcome to PTO. This is a wonderful site, and the Michigan part has grown and grown!!! Almost any question you have can be answered here.
Egeler is the receptions spot, and from what my boyfriend has told me, it is the definition of prison. Big, dark, scary, you name it-almost every inmate has the luxary of experiencing it. Your son will stay there until he is classified, and then he will be moved out. From what I hear, and I may be wrong, if your son is in on a first offense, non violent, camp is a very good possibility. Actually, my boyfriend's offense was violent, and he still got camp. Prison camp is the most minimum level there is.
In terms of phone priveleges, your son will fill out a phone list, and it usually takes a little while for him to get a pin number. Once he gets it, he will beable to call. Beware of the phone systems cuz they will charge you obsene amounts. (Which, I am sure you know-For me, the jail phone calls were more expensive then the prison where my boyfriend is now)
In regards to time, the parole board lives on a different planet. Sometimes it seems they parole people when they shouldn't, but most times they don't parole those that they should. But, it seems, they are paroling a lot more lately cuz we are so full.
Well, since I have just told you everything that you read in earlier posts, (lol) I will stop. If you need me to repeat anything that anyone else has said, let me know! :)
Again, welcome to PTO! You will LOVE it here. It is our lifeline!

My husband has been at Egeler since mid March 2003. He saw the Parole Board on April 9th, 2003 where they recommended the PVDP (camp). Since I'm in Texas, my phone has some sort of a block on it and our only form of communication is through letters. He feels very confident that they won't even send him to camp but instead be granted a new parole for later this year. I am clueless as to how this works but he sounds very positive about this.

Hi! Welcome to PTO. I can't help with Egeler much we haven't been there since 91. What I hear from the guys though is that in intake your better off keeping to yourself. Things are changing so much with sentencing right now it would be hard to say what 18 months will bring. Hang in there.

I'm sorry, welcome to PTO and mabears right theres alot of changes going on, we're just along for the ride, hang in there

Mary...thanks for the kind words!! See you are helping ALREADY!!!!! :D When I chose to live this life and love a man in prison I was NOT a strong woman. But because of his love I have learned to be.

I have had to learn to take the disappointments right along with the better times. That's whats so GREAT about PTO....when I feel like the rest of the world is against me, I can come here and realized that I have lots of friends and supporters who show me different!

Mrs. d

Mary--

Check out tele-net and ask for Richard. They do tele-net in Michigan now and it will save you TONS of $ on the phone bills... TALK TO RICHARD. There are posts about telenet on PTO--just do a search and you'll get them....

Deb

WELCOME MARY to PTO!!!!! Relax honey on the Egeler place. Yes it's a dirty old place, but it seems to be a pretty mellow environment. When my honey went there in February, he said the worst was showering with EVERYONE! It seems like a VERY long wait to be able to see them or talk to them again, but actually it's only about 2 months or so. The first 10 days is classification. Even tho they don't have alot of contact at first, they get out of their cells everyday to talk to someone. They see a doctor, a psychologist, and others to determine their level, and their state of mind. They also begin to determine what facility will best fit YOUR sons needs. Does he need a GED, bla, bla bla. If camp is what they choose for him, then he may just come up to the UP. Since that is where most of the camps are. GOOD LUCK in your journey! WE ARE HERE FOR YOU!!!!

oh yeah I almost forgot, 18 months will probably put him at a level I. Most level I and level II prisoners are pretty mellow. Not alot of violence in those 2 levels since the prisoners are nearing there releasees. At least that has been our experience. HANG IN THERE MAR!

Stacy

Stacy, thanks so much for your words of comfort. If showering in front of other people is what some say is the worst thing about Egeler, that changes the whole hideous perception I had. He's essentially a country guy and I imagined such horrible scenarios involving violence.

Getting out once a day and talking with professionals makes it sound better than county lockup where he was entirely isolated for a few months.

When he was arrested he was taking antibiotics and heavy duty pain med for an abcessed tooth. The pain flared up while he was in county jail, the level of pain that makes a person writhe on the floor and tears stream down his face. My first lesson in treatment of criminals (and he wasn't yet techinically---he hadn't gone to trial and was supposedly still innocent until proven guilty) came when the county did absolutely nothing about his condition. Eventually the abcess burst.

Do you know if inmates get the necessary medical and dental care at Egeler?

You and Deb have quieted my fears more than Prozac or any other pharmaceutical possibly could. I wish every mother of a Michigan inmate would come here and have her soul eased. I hesitated posting for days, afraid to find answers to the scary questions, until I managed to get a slight grip on myself and reasoned that maybe knowledge was better than ignorance.

It is. Messages like yours give me strength and I'll try to pass the strength on to my son. Thank you for the uplifting reality check about life at Egeler. Mar