Ok. I just talked to my boyfriend this morning, and after days of scurrying around for him to get letters from his employers and his school (which I did get by the way) for the parole board, I find out that he has already gone up! (He's only been in for 13 days! Pretty quick eh?) Well, Robert tells me that it did not go real well. He told me that the man that he talked to said he was going to recommend 6 months. I was like " 6 months! That's great!!!!" But then he tells me that the man said that that's not for sure by any means, and that he could technically be looking at 12 months, or really even 24 months. ??? Well, what's the point of the guy coming to see him and making a recommendation if the recommendation can be completely off track? Does anybody know anything about this? If the guy makes a recommendation, does that usually stick? How many other people have to agree for it to actually go through? The one cool thing that did happen was that the man said that it was completely WRONG for Robert's parole officer to have forced him off a methadone program for his heroin addiction. He said that she was not a doctor, and did not have that right. Well, if we had really KNOWN that, we would not be in this situation at all! (That was the beginning of the end if you know what I mean!) But anyways. If he gets a year, he gets a year. But, if the guy recommends 6 months, is that actually a possiblility? And, does anyone know how long it will take before we actually find out? Thanks again for listening to my millions and millions of questions!:fb:

The guy at my husband's hearing recomended reinstatement of his parole - yet the parole board didn't go along with it and revoked him. There was a lot of other factors involved.

Hope for the best - every state and thus every parole board is different. As far as I know (which is limited) the parole board follows the recomendation most of the time.

Yea, that's kinda what I thought could happen. I guess that Robert's parole officer, in her report about him, basically had written that they had given him MANY chances to get clean, (which they really did) but a chance to them is not locking you up. And rehab to them is a homeless shelter in Cass Corridor, the absolute WORST part of Detroit. (yea, there actually is a "worst" part!) He dropped dirty many times before they actually took him in, which, I don't really understand why. I think it had something to do with the fact that Michigan prisons are completely over crowded. Mmmhh, wonder why! :)

OK, my husband explained the parole board thing to me like this: when he goes for his parole hearing, there is only one person there from the parole board. H e reviews my husband's file and talks to us. Then he makes a recommendation. After this another person reviews the case. This second person doesn't see us, he just reviews the case and either agrees with the first guy or not. If not, the case gets reviewed by a third person who breaks the tie, and the decision is made. But the decision here is either for parole or not, so yours is a little different. We haven't had good experiences with the Michigan parole board.

Hey, there's another question- When my b/f talked to this guy, no one in Robert's family was ever contacted. Why don't we have a chance to speak on his behalf?

Well, at least for the parole hearings, it's up to the inmate to let people know when his parole hearing is. The parole board doesn't contact anyone in his family.

Jeni,

This is how they do it here, from what you describe, it sounds like what your B/F is going through.

You go before the board for two reasons, to see how much time your going to do on a violation, & second to see if you make parole.

When you go before the board for a violation, you first get interviewed by either your PO or the PO/counslor whos handling your case. He looks at the specifics of the violation, & how you were doing on the streets etc. He then makes a recomendation to the board for how much time you should do on your violation. The board can accept his recomendation, give you more time, or give you less time. Monica is right most of the time time the board accepts his recomendation. However I have seen them give more time, & less time, so it could go either way. Once he serves his violation, he goes back out on parole. The time he is locked up counts towards his total parole time. He may see the PO/counslor again before he is released to go over again his parole plan & the conditions of his parole & sign his parole papers stating he understands the conditions, & agrees to follow them.

So if the guy is suggesting 6 months thats probably what he will get. The only time I've seen the board go against a PO's recomendation is for unusual circumstances.

The board also determins what kind of credits he will get like 1/3 time, 1/2 time, flat time etc.

Hope this helps.--------Ken

P.S. The reason no one spoke on his behalf was because it was a parole violation hearing to determine his punishment for violating parole. It wasn't a hearing to determine whether he gets parole.

Ok Ken. Lets see if I have finally gotten this :)
So when my boyfriend talked to this guy, he was basically trying to find out how much time he is going to do for his violation.(he wasn't trying to make parole) So, the guy goes back and makes his recommendation to the rest of the board. They will let my b/f know when they have reached a decision. Now, say they agree with the six months. Does he have to go up in front of them again after the six months? And, if he does, that is basically, like you said, to go over the conditions for his parole. Ok. Now, you said something about 1/2 time, 1/3 time, and flat time. Is that basically how much time of the recommended sentence, that he is going to do? Other then that last question, I think that I have FINALLY gotten this through my head! I don't know why that was so hard for me to understand! Thank you all so much for helping me. (you too Isadora) I can't wait until I actually hear the verdict, but I won't get my hopes up. I am just afraid that they will say six months, and then when that six months is up, he will go in front of them again, and they won't let him out. But, I guess thats what everybody fears right? Thanks again!!!

Jeni,

Yes thats it, if I understand everything right. It sounds from what your describing the same exact thing we do here. They are giving him 6 months, after that he's back on parole. Thats how it works here. He's just in on a violation right?

The 1/3 1/2 or flat time is how much time off his sentence he gets for credits. On 6 months 1/3 time means he would serve 4 months, 1/2 time means a little over 3 months, flat time means he would serve the whole 6 months.

Usually once your granted parole & your doing a violation you don't have to go back in front of the board to get OK'ed for parole again. You serve your sentence & your back out. In some rare cases they revoke your parole completely but they tell you that up front.

So, yes thats what it sounds like unless your state runs things completely differently than here. Thats why they give you a sentence. Once it's up your out.

Good luck & keep us posted----------Ken

Thanks Ken. Yea, he is just in on a violation, he doesn't have any new charges. (thank God) I guess I will just wait to hear what they have actually decided. I will definitely let you know when I find out. Thanks for all of your help! :)

It is always good to have a favorable recommendation BUT unfortunately the judge or parole board members have the option to override that recommendation if they choose to do so.