my son spoke to his counselor today; she told him he is eligible for work release, however he will need letters from employers to ensure his acception, also other letters of support. On his psi report it indicated tha my son was self-emplyed as a refigeration tech; however since his incarceration it has folded. He had only begun this company and it has been inactive since his incarceration. He has submitted a w-4 form at his psi meeting. Now the question is does he write letters about the continuance of this company? The counselor gave an example that one inmate had shown letters from employees that needed their jobs etc, and they released this inmate to continue his company. Now my son has an opportunity to work in a contracting company (that both his brothers work) and I can ask the owner to write a letter of promised employment, which is better? What other letters are they looking for? Has anyone done this? We had just purchased a home before he was arrested- the house is under my name; but it was for him; do I write about this? Mortgage payments etc? HELP!!!!!!!!!

My boyfriend's counselor told me the same thing. He said it looks better if the inmate can show that they are employable. It betters their chances of getting approved for work release. I also called albany and I was told that it didn't matter if they had a job waiting for them they base their decisions on the inmates points, prison history(ex. tickets) and record. Letters of employment don't matter. So I'm confused also.

All I can tell you is that, unless they've changed the rules recently, there's absolutely no requirement that they have a job waiting. When my ex was getting out on work release I spent the first 2 weeks driving him to all sorts of appointments and interviews. And he finally landed one, but he knew nothing about any job before he started the hunt.

I am so glad because this is difficult, however can you tell me what you did to prepare for work release? my son has about 35 points, and he is within 24 months of his early release date, however only down for 9 months, he is currently preparing for his ged and is attending ART.

My husband never did any of that when he got work release the first time. Basically they made sure he had the required points, they looked at his record for tickets and his prison history Once he was within the time frame they shipped him down to work release. I guess it could never hurt to write letters of support just to show that he has a support system out here. I know there is a thread around here with sample letters of support. I think it's under the parole section. Good luck!

Really the only thing you can do to prepare, if he doesn't have a potential employer handy, is to find companies in his area of expertise and plot out transportation options. Those, of course, will depend on where he's paroling out to.