On Justice
For at least a year now, our neighbor has been "in the system". (He's been in the system for about 10 years prior to our meeting him, so while he is newish to us, his systemness is not a new thing.) He is on furlough, which means that he is supposed to try to integrate back into society while the justice system does everything in its power to keep him from being a productive member of society. While the guy definitely committed a crime, he recognizes his guilt in the matter. After some jail time and a lot of therapy, he is trying his level best to work within the system to complete his term and get out of the system.
As I said, we've known him for a year and some change now. In that time, he's become a friend. He will help around the house if he can do so without being "out of bounds". He calls often. We share meals sometimes. He had Christmas dinner with us last year, and Thanksgiving dinner the year before. When he started back to college classes over the summer, I helped him with his compositions, and sat as a model for his art homework. He's that kind of a friend.
And at every turn, at every possible opportunity, we've watched his parole officer try to break him...whether it was trying to find a job without being allowed to drive or have a car, or going back to school because he can't work in his chosen field anymore, or something as simple as being allowed to stop at the grocery store on his way back from group therapy...everything is a test, every single little tiny aspect of his life is an opportunity to screw up, to fail, to get sucked back into jail for the rest of his term.
I'm writing about this now because, as of last Thursday night, our neighbor is back in prison for a furlough violation he did not knowingly commit. He just happened to be in his garage (which is not out-of-bounds) at the wrong time. And his parole officer happened to show up and, as is this particular officer's wont, to draw all the wrong conclusions. It is clear that the officer means to revoke our neighbor's furlough over this, over something our neighbor didn't even do. The officer is trying to deny him witnesses at his hearing tomorrow, even though the law hasn't changed and he's been allowed witnesses in these hearings before. Our neighbor has one, maybe two witnesses who are willing to testify on his behalf at the hearing, but we can't get anyone at the facility to tell us what time the hearing is.
The clincher is that right now, our neighbor has no representation. His previous lawyer is on vacation (and it's been long enough that the guy doesn't even do criminal law anymore). The (former) lawyer's office was helpful, at least as helpful as they could be without being able to send a lawyer or find a public defender on no notice. I was at least able to find out from Prisoners' Rights that he is allowed to have witnesses, so it's possible that the witnesses will just drive to St. Johnsbury and camp on the damn place's doorsteps until someone lets them in and tells them where to go.
The last few days have been indescribable. I cannot believe that this shit still happens in our country. If you wonder why things overseas seem so inhuman...well, I don't. I haven't for a while, but now I really don't, because, frankly, it all starts at home.
As I said, we've known him for a year and some change now. In that time, he's become a friend. He will help around the house if he can do so without being "out of bounds". He calls often. We share meals sometimes. He had Christmas dinner with us last year, and Thanksgiving dinner the year before. When he started back to college classes over the summer, I helped him with his compositions, and sat as a model for his art homework. He's that kind of a friend.
And at every turn, at every possible opportunity, we've watched his parole officer try to break him...whether it was trying to find a job without being allowed to drive or have a car, or going back to school because he can't work in his chosen field anymore, or something as simple as being allowed to stop at the grocery store on his way back from group therapy...everything is a test, every single little tiny aspect of his life is an opportunity to screw up, to fail, to get sucked back into jail for the rest of his term.
I'm writing about this now because, as of last Thursday night, our neighbor is back in prison for a furlough violation he did not knowingly commit. He just happened to be in his garage (which is not out-of-bounds) at the wrong time. And his parole officer happened to show up and, as is this particular officer's wont, to draw all the wrong conclusions. It is clear that the officer means to revoke our neighbor's furlough over this, over something our neighbor didn't even do. The officer is trying to deny him witnesses at his hearing tomorrow, even though the law hasn't changed and he's been allowed witnesses in these hearings before. Our neighbor has one, maybe two witnesses who are willing to testify on his behalf at the hearing, but we can't get anyone at the facility to tell us what time the hearing is.
The clincher is that right now, our neighbor has no representation. His previous lawyer is on vacation (and it's been long enough that the guy doesn't even do criminal law anymore). The (former) lawyer's office was helpful, at least as helpful as they could be without being able to send a lawyer or find a public defender on no notice. I was at least able to find out from Prisoners' Rights that he is allowed to have witnesses, so it's possible that the witnesses will just drive to St. Johnsbury and camp on the damn place's doorsteps until someone lets them in and tells them where to go.
The last few days have been indescribable. I cannot believe that this shit still happens in our country. If you wonder why things overseas seem so inhuman...well, I don't. I haven't for a while, but now I really don't, because, frankly, it all starts at home.