My husband is being released next month and I have heard through the grapevine that all parolee's are released in the county where they last resided? Is this true? And if so, what can I do to have him transfered or released to the county that I currently reside in. I have lived in San Diego most of my life and I've been on my current job for at least 16 years. I know my husband (who has never been here) will love it. Besides, I love him and the commute would put a big burden on us financially. What can we do? Also, I do not know who is parole officer will be, nor does his counselor. :confused:

Hi Homesoon and welcome to PTO! At this point with so little time to request a transfer while he is in prison, your first step would be to contact the parole division of the county that he is going to be released to. By now, they should have his release paperwork and he should be assigned a parole officer. You can simply call the division, and give your husbands cdc # and ask whoever answers the phone, probably the operator, the name of the p.o. that your husband has been assigned to. Then you would want to speak with that parole officer and let him/her know that your husband is requesting a transfer. Oh, and make sure you let them know that you are his wife and state that you are calling on behalf of your husband. They can get really ticky, if you don't have authority to call on an inmates behalf.

Again, because the time is so short and the prison can sometimes be so slow, it's best to just bypass them and contact the parole division yourself. More than likely, he will need to go to his county of commitment and when he goes to see the parole officer when he gets out, he can request a transfer at that time. If he has a job already lined up, they can do an emergency transfer. Other than that, it will usually take about 30 to 60 days to complete the transfer if San Diego accepts him.

If at all possible, try and find him some type of employment. If you know someone who owns their own business that would be willing to do you a favor so that he gets on record as having a job, that would work highly in his favor. Transfers are more favorable when you meet the three criteria for successful parole.... family support, employment, and stable living arrangements If you can't find him employment, have a plan of how he's going to obtain employment. Heck, register him in school, something along those lines.

After you phone the parole division and speak with the parole officer, follow up your phone call with a written request for transfer. In the meantime, just to double what you're doing on the outside, your husband should make a written request to transfer counties to his counselor and the Parole and Release desk. Who knows by some small miracle they just might be able to perform magic and get the transfer while he's in.

There have been a few discussions in this forum on county transfers. Go to the main page of Parole/Probation and click on the "Search This Forum" button and type in Parole Transfers or County Transfer.

If you need additional assistance, just respond in this thread.

Thank you so much for your information. I have been searhing through PTO for answers to my many questions and for the most part this site is very helpful. It is is nice to see that there others out there like me in the same boat. I have taken your advice and I wrote a letter of request; but I sent the letter to his counselor to put in his file along with our marriage certificate, since they did not have that.

I did speak with his counselor briefly. One, he has never even met my husband; because he is new to his case and has only been his counselor for about three months; Two he said at the time he did not know who my husband's parole officer would be; nor what county he would be released in. I will search this site for the county I think he will be released in because I'm not sure myself; and unfortunately niether does my husband. Our only form of communication is by letter writing and that takes up to three weeks before he receives any mail from me, so I have to take matters into my own hand on behalf of my husband. Your advice is very helpful and makes a lot of sense. I pray that he will be transfered to San Diego County because I would hate to make that long drive back alone from Solano County. Thank you again and have a very blessed day. :)

There's two ways to narrow down which county he'll be released to.... place of last residence, or the county in which the offense was committed. In most cases, they will attempt to release him to the county of last residence or the residence that was given when he committed the offense. What you can do also, is call the institution and ask for the Parole and Release Desk and explain what you are attempting to do, but you need to know the county your husband will be released to.

I hate to say, but the counselor knows full well what his county of commitment is. It is listed on a report under the heading of "County of Commitment." I don't remember the name of the report, but I know I used it everyday and the county of commitement was listed. More than likely for security reasons, the counselor will not give you that information. Maybe once he gets the marriage license he will. At any rate, call the parole office in the county of his last residence, and if that doesn't pan out, call the parole office of the county where the offense was committed.

If you don't get anywhere with the two divisions, then call the Regional Parole Headquarters for the county of last residence and/or commitment of offense. Also, call the regional headquarters for San Diego. You can find a listing of the regional headquarters and the counties they handle at http://www.corr.ca.gov/ParoleDiv/unit_loc.asp Ask to speak with the officer of the day, and just let them know that you have been unsuccessful at getting the info you need from the institution, and you need to know your husbands county of commitment, so that you can request a transfer.

I have also known others here who actually got the transfer done through the regional headquarters. You're really going to have to P.U.S.H (Push... Until... Something... Happens...) Call everybody you possibly can. 30-days is short, but there was one PTO member that was able to accomplish her husbands transfer within that time. But like she stated, she spoke to anyone who would listen.

Thank you. I am taking all the necessary steps. I was successful in finding his Parole Agent. I've put in a call to her, but she was not in. I will also give a call to the Parole headquaters for San Diego and San Leandro (that's the county he will be released to). I'm trying to get word to my husband, since we only communicate by letters so that he can do whatever he can on his end. Thank you your words of encouragement and guidance have been very helpful to us. May God continue to bless you.

Glad to hear you were able to locate his PO. Please keep me abreast of your progress and if you have been successful in getting his transfer. If you haven't already called the two parole headquarters, you should do that right away. That was the route a PTO member took, and was successful in getting the transfer within 30 days. I believe it's in the California Forum. I'll locate the thread, and send the link to you.

At the very least, if the transfer does not go through before he gets out, when he reports to his parole agent, he should request the transfer at that time and it should take up to 30 days for Alameda County to hear if San Diego will accept the transfer.

Again I can't tell you how much I appreciate your help. On Friday, Sept. 17th coming home from work I found a business card stuck in my door. On it was a note from a Parole Agent here in San Diego. I was so happy that I felt as if I left my body for a few minutes. The note was addressed to me and stated he would like to talk to me regarding my husband's transfer to SD County. I danced into the house, jumped up and down and became very nervous, but excited all at the same time. :) I called my friend (a friend that I have come to know and love while visiting my husband. She and I both married our husbands on the same day). She said this is a good sign that an agent tried to contact me. Where on the otherhand she has already been contacted by her husband's PA and he has denied him a transfer from Alameda to Sacramento County. So I have given her all the information about PTO and forwarded my questions and answers to her in regards to my situation. I basically told her to get some support letters from family and friends ASAP and send them to his PA. She has done so. I also told her when he gets out (by the way he gets out the same days as my husband also) for the both of them to visit the PA in person and put in a request for his transfer again. They are married and we can't understand why the PA won't grant his transfer, which is only the next county over. She has property and her job is in SAC county. So I have two questions for you; 1) The fact that a PA came by my house is that a good sign that my husband will be released to SD County? 2) Did I give my friend good advice as to what to do in their case? And yes, I did finally speak with the PA and I was still kind of floating, but I think he said he had no problem accepting my husband to this county. I think that's what he said. He asked me a series of questions and that was that. I forgot to ask him if he is released to sd county how long before he has to report to SD, because my husband wanted to visit his mom in Alameda county before we head to SD.

Girl, move over cause I'm floating with you! Oh my God.... I am soooo happy for you! Gosh, that was some pretty fast work! I'm so excited for you that I don't know what to do. Yes, the PO showing up at your home to discuss his transfer is a very good sign. He'll come back out for a home visit to make sure everything is in order, so make sure your home is clean, free of weapons and alcohol. If he's released on the weekend, he'll have to report to his PO on Monday. If it's during the week, he'll have to report to his PO within 24 hours of being released, so basically he'll have to report the very next day.

More than likely your friend's transfer did not go through, because Sacramento is a "closed" county. Meaning, they are either at or over their quota for parolees. The only hope that he will have in transferring is if the two counties do a swap. Meaning someone from Sacramento wants to transfer to Alameda County and vice versa; the two counties trade transferrees (that's a word I just made up) LOL And let me tell you, people are fighting to get out of Alamdeda County rather than trying to get in, so to find someone to swap is going to be difficult.

Anyway.... Yes, most definitely you gave your friend good advice. They should meet with the PO and continue to request the transfer until there is an opening. Unfortunately, he chose a very tough county to to transfer to. Most people from Alameda County try to transfer to Sacramento, Stockton and Contra Costa counties, and those counties are always closed. His other option to enhance his chances is to find employment in Sacramento, and maybe they'll do the transfer because he has work there. It's worth a shot. Remember to tell them to P.U.S.H. (Push Until Something Happens) Also, if he can't transfer right away, he can always request a pass to visit his wife on the weekends. Only thing is he'll have to report to the PO on Mondays when he returns from his visits.

So tell me, what steps did you take? Girl, I want details! :)

I did exactly what you said. First I called the prison to speak with his counselor. As you know he was not much help. That's when I turned to this site. I got the list of parole offices by state from this site. I made a phone call to a Alamedia county Parole Office. The Officer who answered the phone, got on the computer to look up my husband's name and CDC and found that his Parole Agent (PA) was located in the San Leandro Office. I called her but she was not in so I left a message. In the meantime I had wrote a letter to his counselor to put in his file along with a copy of my marriage certificate, even though the counselor said I did not need to send a copy of the license. The letter was addressed to the Parole Agent and I just simply stated when we were married, where I work and live and how beneficial it would be for my husband to live here with me in San Diego. During this time is when the PA came by my house and left his card. That was a Friday and I finally reached him on Monday. I think that the process of his transfer had already been in motion. My husband did tell me a while back that he had spoke with his counselor (the previous one) and put in a request to SD County right after we were married May 29th. He had not heard anything since putting in his request so I began doing whatever I could to make this transfer happen. I'm sure my husband put the transfer in at the beginning of his "out process." But your site (PTO) played a very big part as far as Im concerned. Because I panicked when my friend told me that her husband request for a transfer was denied. That's when I began doing whatever I could. I found this site by accident. I was acutally looking up information about parole and this site came up under google search. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions. I know you guys have alot on your plate. Believe me when I say we are grateful. This site is so encouraging and so infomrative. I've told several people already about this site and I am going to get more involved and would like to really start showing my appreciation. I want to make a monetary donation to the fund raiser, I will be going into that forum and take the necessary steps for my donation. Again, thank you so much. I pray that everything continues to go smoothly with my husband's release on October 27th. I'm so happy, even if we do have to turn right back around and head back to San Diego. I will be happy that he is coming home with me. :)

Homesoon... you are more than welcome. And yes.... please stick around and visit some of the other forums here at PTO! :) You have great energy, and I believe you will be a positive support and encouragement to others here at PTO. I will definitely share your words of appreciation with the PTO administrative staff. Keep in touch, and let us know how the "Coming Home" for you and your husband went.