Help looking for court appointed rehab programs in Houston

Myguysinmoco · #1 12-28-2008, 09:26 PM

My boyfriend is in Montgomery County Jail on a blue warrant and with a DUI charge. He expects to be put in a rehab program since his parole officer has told us that was an option (we have a good attorney representing him and really don't expect he'll be sent back to prison). I live in Harris County and he will be moving here soon. He has heard that there are rehab centers that would place him in a job and allow him furloughs from time to time in Harris County (6-month program). Does anyone know the name of these programs or where they are located? The other option is Safe-P, which I really don't know anything about. Thanks for any information.

**mamajmg** · #2 01-03-2009, 06:53 PM

Hello MyGuy ~ I'm sorry you haven't received a quicker reply to your post. Seems it's a little slow due to the holidays.

It's been my experience with Harris and Montgomery Co. that they will assign a substance abuse facility of their choosing. I know that there are some in Harris County and can get the name of some for you.

As far as SAFP is concerned - it's also a Substance Abuse Felony Punishment program. My son has been through it and I will be happy to help you if you find he goes there.

I'm just curious - do you think he will be sentenced to attend a Harris County program - is his offense there?

If you'd like me to get some of the program names for you just let me know.

Janice

Myguysinmoco · #3 01-04-2009, 10:46 PM

Wow thank you Janice,
Actually he is in Montgomery County right now, his charges were dropped to misdemeanor and really the only charge we are worried about is the DUI (he blew a 0.09 breathlyzer). He has been on parole for a year and a half and has had no set backs but due to this DUI and a charge of assault (which has now been dropped because the woman admitted she lied) his parole officer put a blue warrant out. So, once he goes to court (in 2 weeks) for the DUI charge, then he will have to wait another 2 weeks to go in front of the parole board for a revocation hearing........so we've been told so far. Our hope is that they definitely will not send him back to jail, but maybe a treatment center instead and when he gets out, he is hoping to move from Montgomery County to Harris county to live with me. (unfortunately the woman who made the charge has been stalking him in Montgomery county and sends him love letters in jail and constantly calls his family and drives to their houses so we don't want him to go back to living there as she was released from a mental hospital and seems to make a lot of problems). He keeps asking me to find some treatment centers that would get him a job and allow him to work during the day (he held a job the entire time he was on parole but got fired due to this set back). His lawyer seems to think we can get the DUI charge dropped all together and won't have an issue with the parole board regarding the matter, but if they would be willing to send him to treatment rather then prison, we'd like to request one in Harris County, that is why I asked the question in this county forum rather then Montgomery. Based on your response, I don't know if they will allow treatment for misdemeanor charges or only do that for felonies. My BF says that there are guys in the jail with him right now who have had 3 DUIs that the parole board didn't send back to prison so when he hears stories like that he feels confident, but then you never really know and theres nowhere to go for answers it seems.

**mamajmg** · #4 01-13-2009, 09:38 AM

Hi ~ Just wondering how things are going for you and your b/f. Hope things went well.

J

Myguysinmoco · #5 01-24-2009, 10:23 PM

He keeps going to court and his attorney (who we are paying a lot of money to) keeps getting the case put off for a week, or two weeks at a time, and we are very FRUSTRATED with that. He went to court yesterday and the DA offered to completely drop all charges on the assault (which the person who made the claim dropped them anyways)and wants him to plead guilty on the DUI. The attorney doesn't want him to take the plea yet until he can check with his parole officer to see if having a DUI charge will get him sent back to prison or any chance they will put him back out on supervision or can we get them to send him to some kind of treatment program (we have offered to pay for the treatment center ourselves, but they don't seem to care). If the parole officer says that having a DUI on his record will send him back to prison, then the attorney is going to fight the DUI charge, because he only blew a 0.9 on the breathlyzer and he only drove because he was escaping from the woman who had blackened his eye and cut his head open (she is the one who said he assaulted her, but she was actually the one who commited the assault, she has since admitted it and dropped her charge but the DA made it really hard for her to drop the charge). So, he is still in there, and we are trying, trying, trying to get his parole officer to talk to us so we can find out what the chances are if we accept the plea. I just can't believe the amount of people who have come in there on murders and such and gotten out already since he went in in October, and he is still in there, and truth be told he was only running for his life from a crazy woman who beat him up. From what I have read here, he shouldn't be sent to SAFP because it is for felons and he committed misdemeanor, so maybe he will be sent to a 30 or 60 day alcohol program if we ever get this dang court case over and get to the revocation hearing with the parole board.........I just cried at our visit today because I am feeling like the rest of my life will be spent driving 2 hours every weekend to spend 20 minutes talking to him through that scratched up window and there never gonna let him out. I've lost friends and I barely leave my house anymore, I'm broke because of attorney fees, collect phone calls and giving him money in the jail because they won't even provide him with underwear or a pillow and the food stinks. I write him once a week, but he hasn't received the mail for last 4 weeks or so, so we don't even know why he doesn't get his mail......every second of this is killing me.

**mamajmg** · #6 01-27-2009, 10:07 AM

I so understanding that frustration - but I must admit that it seems that the "better" of plea bargains come towards the end.

One thing that we did find in Montgomery County was that they were determined to get some form of conviction. They charged my son for a felony for an empty "baggie" that had gone thru the washer. They acknowledged all that HOWEVER instead of charging him with paraphenalia (however you spell it) as they absolutely wanted the felony conviction they ran his probation concurrent with Harris County. He paid his fines/fees and that was it. I guess what I'm trying to say is MOntgomery County seems hell bent on a conviction of some type. If your lawyer is playing the waiting game it's very likely that he doubts M. C. would want to go to trial and will offer a better deal.

I know this is a difficult journey. The emotional roller coaster keeps us jumping and the fear of the unknown keeps us in knots. Hon, you've got to take care of yourself during this. Try not to get lost in all the stress of it. You are here with people who understand and care - please remember that.

I was not aware that conditions in M.C. were that bad. Let me get in touch with a friend of mine here who has had much more experience with the jail end of it. I know some phone calls were made to the facility with results. At least we can tackle that part, okay?

Hang in there hon and you post your stress away here! PTO is here for that reason - to help us through this!!

Hugs

Janice

Myguysinmoco · #7 01-28-2009, 11:00 PM

Thank you so much for your kind words Janice. I called his parole officer myself and he was happy to hear the DA was willing to drop the assault charges and it seems he didn't care as much about the DUI as our attorney had made us think, so I found a rehab program (halfway house) that can take him when he gets out and miracle of all miracles, the PO says he will revoke the blue warrant and allow him to go to the treatment center if he takes the plea from the DA. So, as soon as he goes to court and signs the plea he should be released, what a shock!! I'm on the up end of that roller coaster and hoping the ride is about over, thank God for listening to all our prayers, my guy could be going to a halfway house for 30 days and then home to me soon, I'm so thrilled!!!!

kdub2008 · #8 02-03-2009, 10:11 AM

My fiancee is in a program called satf@ peden in harris county. Its a 6 month program...he has a job there and in the last month he is locked up he will get a furlough for 8 hours on a sunday. Info on this place is very hard to find online though...try to google it

**mamajmg** · #9 02-05-2009, 12:34 AM

Oh that is WONDERFUL news! Not to be a downer on this but if all this comes together I sure hope your b/f understands how fortunate he is!!!! I'm really happy for the outcome!!!

Is the h/way in M.O.? Just curious. Let me know how it all turns out! It's so good to hear when things actually go good in the system!!

J