well i called P&P this morning to find out what i need to do to get joe moved out of the halfway house and the only person ive ever dealt with is ms dayhood in releasing.....so i called her and told her of the situation and she told me that its up to the parole officer whether to let him transfer back home or not....joe and i were allready informed by the PO that this is in fact NOT the case that she cant transfer him due to it being a special condition that he has to complete this halfway house program till the program says he can go......soooooooo when i told her that she said thats just not true there is nothing the board can do we are done with him....(i knew this wasnt true while she was telling me but who am i to argue with her about her job)....so anyway, she listens to me a bit further and then says hang on let me ask susan belcher (SP?) what she thinks, then she comes back with a name and phone number to a lady that i cant call till after lunch that its her job to take things back in front of the board to have them changed.....so im on the runaround train at the moment but maybe this ms. minter can help get me off. ill let yall all know after lunch (that is if i really do get a hold of this woman) what came of this.....ms dayhood did say that nothing about them not putting him to work made sense, i told her that where i came from men worked and they did so every day....but then again not everyone was raised with my dad so that might just be something instilled in me special from my dad.

AWWW....dont' they just drive you nuts...I think I want a job with the ADOC, i'm tired of working.

Denisej

well i called and some other lady in her office said she wasnt back from the hearings but should be expected at any time so i left my name and number, hopefully ill get a call before my youngest graduates high school.....

susan belcher.. that sounds like a phoney name to me, girl! ;)

well as my luck would have it, no return phone call today and i called at 5 mins till 5 and the lady that answered said ms minter had allready left for today.....i guess ill just keep calling and keep leaving messages, you would think she could have taken a few mins at the end of the day to return her phone messages, anyway we will carry on tommorrow

No, cember Susan is for real I've spoke with her a few times and she seems like a sweet person. But I've also had them ask for my number and said they would call me back and it didn't happen. Don't give up keep calling!

I too have spoke with Susan,she's the one that told me the review board moved Lee's parole hearing from Aug.04 to March 04.She's a very nice lady,unlike the majority of these people we have to deal with.Her name is Susan Belser,I wasn't sure about the name when I spoke to her and I just ask her will you spell that for me.

i havent had the pleasure of speaking with her shes just who ms dayhood asked what i should do.....i did speak to mr hayes at the halfway house and i really didnt get a straight answer from him, i informed him that it appears as though all that needs done is his approval to let joe go and move on to where he can be of assistance here but that i was waiting on hearing back from P&P to define it for me, and he said "well let me know what they tell you" i know for a fact that he has ultimate control cause he told us this the day we checked him in, so why hes all the sudden playing dumb and wanting me to PROVE to him that he in fact has the final say is beyond me. i mean hes a really nice guy and i dont want anyone to think hes not, just getting clear answers out of him is like a full time job. i started to call him back without hearing from them yet and say "hey they said its up to you, so can he come home?" but i figured id wait it out like the good lil girl that we all know i am *snicker*

well yall WILL believe this, i called the PO and she went postal on me and told me that under no cicumstances was he leaving in the middle of treatment, i said excuse me but hes not even in treatment, raffa decided that SAP was all he needed and that he would be sent to work immediately and wouldnt be there any longer than 7 weeks, joe calls me today from his work says "hey bill says that hes gonna call my PO and tell her hes done with me and that he would like to release me this weekend" so i call the PO and am just wanting to tell her that this is where he will be coming to , she said she had heard nothing from bill and that he isnt going ANYWHERE till his TREATMENT is up and i didnt want to repeat it again for this (expletive) so i told her that i spoke with ms dillard and that ms dillard said that it was up to the PO that the board isnt having him be there any length of time, she said NOT TRUE, i said ok, how long does the board say he has to be there, she said TILL TREATMENT IS DONE and i DONT appreciate you going over my head to ms dillard....i call ms dillard and tell her what had happened and ms dillard "WANTS TO STAY OUT OF IT" im like totally not surprised at this point....i said ok you told me last week taht it was up to the PO am i correct, she said "you need to stay out of it and so do i, let joe handle it" i said he cant make phone calls "she said we still need to let him handle it" BIIIIIIIIG RUNAROUND....so just now i get a phone call from this ladies supervisor, and she tells me that i had told the PO some info that cynthia denies telling me.(cynithia also denied speaking with me before today and thats a BIG LIE)...yall i KNOW better than to put words in someones mouth...and i told her this she said that the PO told her i said "cynthia says yall should release him now" I NEVER SAID THIS....the PO was yelling at me the whole time and wouldnt let me speak....so the PO's super wouldnt let me talk either she just kept saying that the PO would handle it and that she had heard enough and didnt care to carry the conversation any further....guess this means the (expletive) will be making him pay for it by making him stay longer, they suggested that treatment is around 6 months....HES NOT IN TREATMENT YALL...what would you do?

jeepers creepers ragland, what a bunch of c u next tuesday's, if you know what i mean. is there any way you can do everything through bill? maybe he could call and clarify everything?

well, i wrote bill a letter that ill give to joe tonight to give to him so we will see...heres the letter so that you will hear the whole story...yall i cant believe that not only was i made to look like a fraud cause of Ms. Dillard saying she hadnt talked to me till today (which made me look like a liar) AND that the PO said that i told her that Cynthia said "let him go" i think we are all smart enough to know that if someone says let him go they will do the telling themselves, not through me...is there any recourse on this matter?

Mr. Hayes,
I am not the type to stir up trouble but apparently with me caring enough about Joe’s well being I have stepped on some toes, I know you are a busy man so I thought it best to write to you instead of attempting to call. After speaking with you about my trying to find clarification on how long the board wanted Joe with you, I did in fact speak to a Ms. Dillard. The first time was last week and she explained to me at that time that the board no longer had authority over that matter, that if it didn’t state that he had to be there for any particular length of time that it was up to his PO. I then went on to explain that we had already had this conversation with her the first day Joe met her and that she stated that it wasn’t up to her that it was up to the board, (which I think I remember you and I discussing that briefly). So I asked Ms. Dillard what should I do after she tells me this again, she said I could go to her supervisor and I mentioned to her that I was at one point an Army wife and know all about not jumping the chain of command and that I would prefer not to go that route. So I didn’t. I finally got a hold of her today and the conversation went south VERY quickly when I explained that my goal was to try and get Joe home. She stated that he was NOT leaving in the middle of treatment, I explained that he wasn’t in treatment but doing work release and that with your blessing and hers Joe could come home rather quickly. She said not till treatment is done, I didn’t want to insult her intelligence by repeating myself again so I let that go. She was very brash with me during the conversation and so I really didn’t get to the meat of the subject. I explained to her that Ms. Dillard had sent me to her and she was quick to point out that my going to Ms. Dillard was CLEARLY going over her head, I explained that in no way did I know that Ms. Dillard was her boss, I am a layman in all of this. So after getting my hind quarters chewed by this woman, I called Ms. Dillard back to ask her if she remembered our conversation from a few days ago and in fact she did. I went further to explain that the exact same thing was told to me that I knew would be told to me and that I would like it if she could call her and tell her the same thing that she told me last week. I explained how rudely I was spoke to, and that I wasn’t upset about that that my only concern was to handle this matter. She then told me this…. “I think you and I need to stay out of this” I explained that Joe has no access to call her during the hours she is in and that is why I was handling things in his place. she repeated the same thing to me again and told me that Joe should handle this. After getting off the phone with her I received a call from the PO’s supervisor and she was, I hesitate to say, less than helpful due to the fact that she informed me that Ms Dillard told her that the first time she had ever spoke to me was TODAY after speaking with the PO….this is not the truth Mr. Hayes. She must have been misunderstood by the supervisor. However, she told me that the PO had heard me say that Ms. Dillard said “they need to release him”. Not true again. I have no power over this situation, I am far from the type to put words in someones mouth. When I spoke to the supervisor, she wouldn’t speak to me about any of the subject matter only that she wanted to make sure her PO hadn’t done anything wrong. I told her that nothing was wrong at this point, that she was brash with with me but in her job I understand so I took it. My reason for telling you all this in detail Mr. Hayes is because I think you know atleast a tad bit more of my demeanor than the others mentioned above do. And I am hoping that I have not put Joe’s situation in further jeaprody. I would have NEVER called anyone if I would have thought that it would turn out this way, I was only trying to be of help to Joe. She didn’t come right out and say it but from the sounds of it she wants Joe there for a lot longer than you, I or Joe have even fathomed. The PO I am assuming, not sure about this for fact, will be calling you to find out about this “treatment” situation. I pray that I have not caused her to treat you as she did me today. If so please accept my greatest apologies for that, you have been a blessing to our entire family and I would never wish someone to talk to you in that way. Well atleast you are brought up to date on what I know of the situation. I will give this to Joe tonight at church so that it gets to you tomorrow.

well i just got back from church with joe and the first thing he told me was "baby im leaving rapha fri you need to be here to pick me up im done there, they are letting me go" i showed him the letter for bill and it crushed him, he said for me not to think he was leaving fri that this same PO has made many of these men do useless things....one guy was headed home earlier this week and mr hayes said so....well she then informs the guy that he HAS to stay ANOTHER year!! and what gets me is that she claims its for treatment but that guy AND joe are not drug offenders...hes never had a drug case, so how they can make that a demand is beyond me...hes thinking now that things happened the way they did that he will be stuck there, yall i felt horrible and he just kept telling me that its not me that hes heard for weeks now that this woman is NOT someone easy to deal with....

so what happens next? is he coming to live with you?

hes thinking shes going to make him pay for me being an intelligent enough woman to know that this IS her decision and her NOT knowing this....even after speaking with ms dillard i couldnt get her to agree to call the PO and tell her this, she actually said she was staying out of it but let me know that i was right....so joe thinks he wont get to come home now no matter what cause that woman knows now that i was right and is going to use it against him......i would do anything to take back calling her today cause if she had heard this from bill then maybe she wouldnt feel so threatened by him knowing what her job is....i wish there was recourse but i dont know of any that wont ulitimately make joes life a living hell under that woman, but know this and know it for sure....when his 16 months is up on ALL parole...i WILL remmember this woman and i WILL pay a visit to her via the phone, email or in person and i WILL be heard.....even if i have to make daily phone calls to her higher ups to see to it that they know she had no reason whatsoever to treat me or ANYONE this way....if i can get him here, the county where i live and work daily with these POs, it wont be an issue, they like me so they will treat joe better than just ok.....i know for a fact she had no reason to treat me that way cause i wasnt going to give her one.

rag i feel for you. i cannot stand for some1 to talk to me that way when i have not given reason. i also have talked to dillard in the past and she seemed to be nice. maybe there was a breakdown in communications or this so-called po didn't hear dillard right. either way she had no right to talk to u like that. if we didn't take care of certain issues for our loved ones who would? for now just eat it and wait for 16 months and THEN

Ragland, I'm sorry you are going through this.I mean in all other way's, Joe is a free man, yet they are still using their authority to keep him under their thumb. if the parole board released him to a halfway house, then the rest should be up to a PO.
hang in there sweetie,
sue

oh heck...these people are beoned belief.... I would record telephone calls and every thing else. Document everything and once he's off there freakin' paper i would have some lawyer take a long look at it.

They just love to play games with our lives over and over again as long as they can. I believe the biggest problem is things like this happen and because we are afraid of what might happen we do nothing.

Parole is a privilage I know, but it is also earned by the inmate themselves and shouldn't be used to apply more unneeded punishment to the family or the inmate..

I am so sorry Ragland prayers and patience being sent your way.

( have you thought about calling Mr. Segrest at the parole board? or better yet writing him)

i wont do anything at this point till we hear if hes coming home fri or if shes going to make him pay, if she has him there for 6-12months, i WILL be calling someone...cause what does he have to loose....like he said, he would have rather just stayed in if he wasnt going to be able to live where he wanted.....i feel horrible for this situation

well, surprised as yall might be hes not home today....he was told by mr hayes (halfway house director) that the PO called and yelled at him and said "you are NOT letting him go, i forbid that" he told her that he wouldnt argue with her but said he was curious as to why....she said that it was due to the fact that in the acceptance letter that mr hayes sent to joe in prison and the board that he would be entering a 6-12 month treatment facility...NOW....the funny part is that when the board paroled joe if yall can remmember back, they stated that that he was paroled upon approved home and job plan, he couldnt come here so thats how he ended up there....NOT due to treatment, which hes not in....so mr hayes said that we need to "appeal this" and that he would stand behind joe and tell them that he agrees that joe should get to come home...he said that i need to get together a "hardship packet" with a cover letter and any financial and medical hardships in it, why im having to do this is beyond me you would THINK that its enough that the state cant afford his butt anyway and the less that the state is out of pockect from a man supporting his family would be the better route....my question is to PTO members....what now? who do i call, fax, write and what do i say? im seriously at a loss here and ms dillard is NOT an option for me to go to , i justgot caught up in that POs having a bad year and its all looking like im to blame....anyway, any suggestions would be great

oh girl, im so sorry. its not fair.

i dont know what to say... maybe email mr segrest like denise suggested?

well the only thing that bothers me about that is that the PO made sure to mention to mr hayes that she did NOT appreciate my going to ms dillard her boss...(he made sure to stick up for me and tell her AGAIN that i had no way of knowing that was her boss) and so im concerned in a way that this might REALLY set her off but on the other hand how much more could she take from him, she used her power to do what she COULD do, not what she HAD to do

Ragland, what more are they going to pull?
sweetie, mr. segrest will not answer an e-mail. he sends it to the person in charge, you guessed it,Ms. dillard. any e-mail I've sent to him, he sent straight to her.
I'm so sorry you are going through this mess. I don't know what to tell you to do. maybe you could find a lawyer who gives a free consultation and get pointed in another direction.
hang in there hon
sue

sue, im soooooooo glad i asked before i did this, your info is worth gold in my shoes as you can well see...so if someone wanted to just ask a blanket question of the P&P about how to do an "appeal" what number do i call i mean im thinking if i just state the situation and not the name and case that i might can slide this straight through to the board instead of having to go through the stupid chain of command there.....i know alot of people think ms dillard is really nice but im the ONE person that got caught up in some crap with her from her NOT remembering talking to me before so it made me look like i fabricated the whole thing and so im feeling more screwed than ever!

Gadsden Office - Legal Services Alabama
802 Chestnut Street
Gadsden, AL 35901
256/543-2435
FAX: 256/543-2438
TOLL FREE: 888/288-5434

Office serves Etowah, Blount, Cherokee, DeKalb & Marshall Counties

this is the address and phone number for legal services in Gadsden. they may be able to help you. they are free or reduced fee's based on income. since Joe isn't able to pay, they should be able to offer him at least an appeal. also you may contact the united way of northwest Alabama about their legal services. I support United Way in my area and I know they have some legal services available.
I believe Joe would get better results if he is the one to file an appeal with the pb. I'm not sure how he would go about that, but I will research this for you.
hang in there hon.
sue

well no matter what it will have his name on it, not mine....thank you sooooo much sue

your so very welcome. I hope you find some legal help because it appears that the parole board has to be under the gun before they act. if you can't find any help in any of these two., let me know and I will search further to see what we can come up with.
you are right hon, you are the one to find him help because they have him in a position where he can't help himself.
best of luck
sue

sure let me ask you this, do you COMPLETELY understand my confusion of this situation due to them granting his parole via an "approved home and job plan" not "an approved treatment facility" i just so happened to find this place on my own, i cant seem to get ANYONE at P&P to agree with me on that, they keep saying that he was sent there manditorily and it cant be the case cause he was granted prior to my finding this, it could very well have been my home that his home and job plan was for...i hope i just made since

Ragland, I do understand how confused you are from all of this. it doesn't make any sence. I keep thinking that your only recourse now is through legal channels although it shouldn't be. it is almost like your talking to them about one person and they are talking about another person. it is really messed up. I'm sooooo glad that Lewis decided against a half way house.
sue

Hey Rag just wanted to say i'm thining bout ya, praying for y'all this its terrible. i had a problem with the proale board and tried to appeal something. tried to email segrest first time he answered when the answer was positive from then on when it din't go the way he said and i tried again to contact him he never responded forwarded to dilliard. i didn't get good feelings from her either iwas told nothing there could be appealed cause they can make whatever decisions they wanted. i too understand your confusion and wish you well. contact legal services i would love to know how you make out. i wish you well. not luck but godspeed.

well im going to call legal services first thing in the morning and find out what can be done if anything.....somehow i feel that hes not going to get the help he needs no matter what i try and that he will be stuck there till november....also, we were informed that if he is there long term (which is the case at the moment) that he will end up paying that 1500 and cant get weekend passes till the money is paid in full....im more concerned about some recent findings of the facility than i am anything else....the finding that this place not only is easy to get drugs at, but that its the norm that whoever is there no matter what their flavor is, they can get it.....im really bummed about that part of it....i mean if you are going to hold him down somewhere why not make it somewhere that he CANT be tempted so soon after being let out of prison...and im afraid that if i mention what i know to anyone of authority they will inform the halfway house and make joes life hell for my mentioning that the place has issues...catch 22

ragland im so sorry you have to go through this... i hope legal services can do something for you!!

as for the drugs thing, i mean, from what ive heard from mark, even in prison you can pretty much get any drugs you want as long as you have money... and once he's on the streets he's going to need to be able to resist temptation.. so if he's able to stay clean, this will just be another step for him in his recovery.. that's all i can think to say! i definitely would not mention that to the parole board, tho. they're just not reasonable enough to react in a normal way!


you know i love you girl!

the answer from the legal services in gadsden is "im sorry maam, we are federally funded and cant take on any clients that have been or are currently serving time on a crime" any other suggestions yall?

ok that didn't work. could you e-mail your state legislator or someone in the senator's office?

what do i ask them to do?

well i tried to go back to the route of calling ms minter (the one that takes things back in front of the board) i couldnt get a hold of her and this EXTREMELY nice lady named ms beasley asked me if there was something she could do and i said "im not sure but im willing to tell you if you have a minute" she said sure i explaned *without breathing bettween sentences* very quickly what the situation was and that whether or not she could help me wasnt as important as her saying "yes maam i see where there is a conflict" she said that she totally understood where i was coming from and when she heard that mr hayes was willing to write to the board and explain that in no way did he accept joe for treatment, and that he was willing to assist joe in trying to get out of there....she said to have mr hayes fax over something in writing stating this and that she would take it to the next level which might be ms minter...it may not sound like much but it atleast its something.....please keep your whatevers crossed!!