We are in the proces of putting together a piece about Supervised Release and Probation in the federal and state systems. Any contributions of favorable and/or horror stories is appreciated.
Request
March 14th, 2010Collect Telephone Calls
March 14th, 2010We have been asked numerous times why our company no longer accepts collect calls from prisons. Hopefully the following will satisfactorily resolve that question.
When we started this business, we thought of ourselves not as vendors of goods and services to those who are incarcerated, but rather advocates who have the ability to assist inmates and their families through what for most of them, is among the hardest, and most trying period of their lives. The goods and services we sell are intended to finance the other stuff we try to accomplish on behalf of our clients and their loved ones; not that we’d object to turning a bit of a profit now and then. Unfortunately, the results to date have been very disheartening. Firstly, our good nature, and attempts to provide incarcerated people with a means for reaching us quickly fell flat on its face after only a few months. Many, simply do not give a darn about their fellow inmates, or about the cost of what they do….as long as they aren’t the ones paying the tab. Until last month we accepted collect calls. The purpose of accepting collect calls was to allow inmates to get to us in emergencies when they needed to get a message to a family member quickly and/or for emergency purposes. We wouldn’t call forward nor third party a call but we’d relay and/or obtain and pass information family related information. We’d also accept collect calls for the purpose of an inmate placing an order with us. The New York and the CT inmates took our kindness for weakness, and rung up thousands of dollars in nonsense calls. We finally had to stop accepting the calls or risk going belly up as a very real possibility. Interestingly, after we stopped accepting collect calls and they were on their dime, very few of those who would call us two or three times a day found it important to call us ever again. Many thousands of dollars later we’ve stopped accepting collect calls, and these days we hardly receive prepaid calls from the NY, NJ, CT markets.
It has taken a long time for us to be accepted among our constituency as a company that is going to do what we say we are going to do, and within reason, when we say we are going to do it. Given the numbers of orders we handle every day our screw ups are few, and we really do endeavor to correct whatever mistakes we make. We really try to bend over backwards to the end of keeping our clients and their families happy with our services. If any one has any ideas with respect to how to make things better, we are always willing to listen.
IMAGINE THIS…by Aaron Major, SCI Smithfield
February 21st, 2010Imagine someone you love plugged into a machine which keeps them alive. How would that make you feel? Imagine being the one who has to pull the plug to end their life? Could you do it? Would you want to do it, or would you search for some alternative? Heartfelt decisions are hard to make and are thought out thoroughly before being acted on.
There are groups of people around the world who are against the death penalty, trying to abolish its very existence. These people thought long and hard about the inhumanity in sentencing someone to death, considering it a merciless act. They would rather have a person sentenced to the rest of his or her life incarcerated. Which of course sounds better than being put to death. However a life sentence is not a lesser evil in this scenario. Actually it is almost exactly the same thing, give or take some fundamental differences. Having been sentenced to L.W.O.P., which in most states is until death, I know first hand that a life sentence is merely a slow and agonizing wait to die. Imagine being told that you have an option of being buried alive, and have to wait to die, or you could be killed now and then buried. Which would you choose?
A life sentence is another death sentence, just worded in a fashion that sounds less horrific, but by no means is it any less stressful, tormenting, or psychologically trying. I would never attempt to make light of being sentenced to death. I can only imagine the spiritually depleting feeling of those faced with such an atrocity. It is too serious a matter to ignore, yet in that same breath a life sentence is its close relative, sometimes just as inhumane, atrocious, mentally exhausting, and plain cruel. Yet this harsh sentencing is an often ignored topic of conversation when speaking of unjust punishments. Ultimately you are still waiting to die in a ready made tomb. Decades pass while you’re watching life without really being a part of it. What is worse is since there are not many activists speaking out about this other death penalty, you can easily become lost and forgotten in the system.
Now imagine having nothing to eat and slowly starving to death, then imagine having nothing to eat and slowly starving to death while watching other people eat. A life sentence means until death…no matter how much you’ve grown, matured, and changed for the better. You still sit in agony waiting for death to release you from this soul crushing ordeal. How much more inhumane is that? Imagine what must go through one’s mind? Counting calendars and seeing the world change around you but not being able to participate in it. Being told indirectly that what you have to offer is not good for society, peers, friends, or family. Imagine being put on punishment forever, watching life through a window yet never being allowed to live outside of that reality.
Again I am in no way making light of the cruelty in having a death sentence. I could not fathom such a plight. It is well beyond my thoughts, but close to my heart as I understand the hopeless feeling one often must fight against. I know very personally the heart aching pain of never seeing certain loves ones again in life. The attempts at rearing children with words of encouragment, without being present. Being affectionately malnourished and emotionally distant from all you care about. I also need to be reminded that my existence still matters to those who love me, being seen as a man, a human being and not just another body to fill a bed for some financial gain. In the midst of all that I wonder who cares for those of us serving the other death penalty????
By Mr. Aaron Major #CJ-6184, Pa. L.W.O.P. 1992-?, The Other Death Penalty
I am So Sorry For The Past Month
February 14th, 2010There truly is no excuse for not posting a Blog for what is now over one month. By way of explaination however, I’d like you to know that my husband had been quite ill. He required surgery to remove a Cacerous Tumor, and he will require some further surgery down the road, both for his Heart and the Cancer. In the interim, we temporarily lost our number one office assistant. Our daughter, Mare left to have her baby. We are now the proud garndparents of little Jada…maybe not so little..she weighted in at 9 pounds, two ounces. It has taken all my time and then some just to keep up, or at least not fall too far behind the Con Communications business mail. We receive about 20 to 50 e-mails a day, and approximately 50 pieces of mail. All require some action. In the past we’ve tried to respond within 24 hours. I’m now running about a week or so behind. Hopefully that situation will soon change for the better.
There’s also lots new going on here. We’ve taken on a line of discount Eye Glasses. The prices are really favorable and the frames up to date and appropriately styled.
We are about to launch a live Internet Radio Show…”The Joint Connection”. Next week we’ll tell you all about that.
We are also launching our first Service Bus Program. The Connecticut Prisons are our Beta Site. We will be running seven passenger vans from downtown Hartford CT to Osborn, Northern, Enfield, Carl Robinson, and Willard Cybulski. There will be two AM trips, one afternoon trip and one evening trip every Saturday and Sunday. Call 860 963 7720 for details.
Once again our apologies, and a promise that it will not happen again.
The weekly Blog will be posted weekly.
Inmate Terance Fischer Writes
January 10th, 2010Reform Ecstasy Sentencing Now
If you or someone you know has been sentenced (or will be) under the federal guidelines, there is important information available regarding the disproportional sentences MDMA offenders receive compared to other more harmful drugs. The circumstances surrounding MDMA sentencing are similar to reasons that compelled the Sentencing Commission to amend guidelines on four previous occasions. ( Most recently, the crack cocaine amendment 2007).
MDMA (ecstasy) Sentencing Information:
MDMA has fewer related fatalities than nearly all the other drugs on the equivilency table, with MDMA having less than .50 of 1% of drug abuse fatalities and 2% to 3% of what is attributed to cocaine. (As reported the the Government’s foremost reporting agency DAWN – Drug Abuse Warning Network) There is also a recent report by the British Government’s, Advisory Counsel on the Misuse of Drugs, affirming these facts.
Yet , MDMA sentences are calculated at (2 1/2 ) times that of cocaine at the gram level and five times on a dose comparative basis. Even heroin, has a lower dose to dose ratio. This contravenes the sole purpose of the equivilancy table…to provide proportionate ratios based on a harm compatrative basis. The empirical (medical/scientific) data proves categorically that MDMA is not as harmful as cocaine and heroin.
In plain language the guidelines are flawed; the marijuana equivilant used to calculate MDMA sentences is disproportionate to its proven harm and creates the very disparity the guidelines were established to correct.
There is a current proposal being drafted to the Sentencing Commission to amend the guidelines back to the original ratio (35 to 1, from the current 500 to 10). We are in discussions with a former US Attorney and a former
An Inmate Writes
January 7th, 2010“A Man Working Hard To Maintain His Sanity”
I am not quite sure how I should introduce myself. I understand the value of first impressions. Do allow me to give u a brief summary of the darkness that has surrounded my state of being over the years.
I will commence by stating my name is: Johnny Jahya Harris and I am currently serving a sentence at SCI-Forest. I am engaged in a battle to overcome this sentence, that was imposed upon me by this bloodthirsty state of Pennsylvania. I was convicted without any physical evidence linking me to this crime. This state, through zealous prosecution and persecution, managed to attain a conviction on their third try; two prior trials resulted in Hung Juries/mistrials. As well as, a part of this sentence being vacated and another unjust sentence being imposed.
When dealing with an unjust and wicked system of oppression, you are faced with many evils that will not stop until they have you imprisoned.
It’s an ongoing struggle for life each day in this environment, as it was, when I was a free young man on the streets of Philadelphia (Philly). However, I offer these words because a human heart can only be torn asunder for so long, before it’s hardened and the fighting positive spirit deteriorates to the point where a human being becomes, someone other than himself.
The psychological torture I’m forced to endure, can only be sustained but for so long before it starts taking me under.
As a man working hard to maintain his sanity, I’m reaching out to you (those who are caring and willing to help save a good heart) for whatever support that can be given, to a man in my position!
I must keep fighting against this system, in order to maintain a sense of balance in life. This way, I won’t fall victim to this diabolical place. I don’t want to fall into the deep dark waters of (hatred, ignorance, and deceit) that besiege my vitality. This is why I am extending my hand out to you, in order to keep my mind where it should be, on productive matters.
It’s my sincere hope that you will take the time to engage me in some serious dialogue. These words are not sent to garner sympathy, because the light of truth shall shine over my head one day.
Submitted By Inmate:
Johnny Jahya Harris
Prison Legal News
December 27th, 2009Prison legal News is a publication that has been serving the needs of inmates for as long as I can remember. The arrival of each new edition brings with it hope that “ just maybe this edition will contain a favorable decision with respect to my particular circumstances.” I recently renewed my faith in PLN by renewing my personal subscription. I implore all of our readers to do the same. It’s one of the few publications out there that’s all about the rights of inmates.
On the face of one of PLN’s recent advertising brochures was a quick paragraph attributed to Charles Dickens after he visited the old Eastern State Penitentary (open for business between 1829-1971) in Philadelphia.
“Charles Dickens visited Philadelphia’s Eastern States Penitentiary in 1842 and he later wrote: ” The system is rigid, strict and hopeless…I hold this slow and daily tampering with the mysteries of the brain to be immeasurably worse than any torture of the body.” The prison remained open for 129 years after Dickens condemned it as barbaric, and forms of its inhumane practices continue to be routinely used in state and federal prisons nationwide.’
What a sad commentary on the state of corrections in this country at this enlightened stage in the growth of our nation.
An Inmate Sends Greetings
December 26th, 2009Lori Ann Barnes 12169-424
This is my holiday greeting to all my family and friends.
Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. It is my hope and prayer I will be able to be celebrating with you next year.
Lori Ann Barnes
The Con Com Family
December 26th, 2009We at Con Communications Inc wish all of you out there, a very happy holiday seasons, along with our prayers that all of your hopes, dreams and aspirations come true during this new year.
Gail , Family and Staff
From a Connecticut Yankee
December 2nd, 2009Today my husband was challenged by a Connecticut State Probation Officer to have me blog about his/our feelings, and our corporate view regarding Probation in CT. My husband and I did some soul searching and discussed our feelings for quite some time with respect to the current probation system, we certainly have mixed feelings; my husband as a probationer and myself as a wife/victim of the system. The first reaction one has is a knee jerk…. lash out verbally, criticize and condemn the system because it is personally oppressive. On reflection, when viewing the Meta picture, such a commentary would be inappropriate and in any event untrue.
Despite several personally problematical experiences both of us fully endorse and support the need for a probation system in Connecticut, and frankly when all is said and done, and the dust clears, ours is first rate when compared to others. I would like to be able to say otherwise, but as a responsible taxpaying citizen, I have no complaints about my tax dollars going to the Probation Department and its officers. Through Con Com I’ve had the opportunity to interface with many departments…ours is heads and shoulders over most. With respect to our system however, in my perception, and my husband’s the role/mission/goal of the probation department should be to assist it’s its probationers to achieve personal success by living a moral and crime free life within the community, and I think they have that a bit mixed up. I think they see themselves as some kind of “police force” charged with protecting the community. It’s a syllogism. It is my/our belief that the probation system should to the extent financially and socially possible provide the tools necessary to keep the recidivism rates down, however not be so restrictive as to stymie the potential positive growth of its charges. It is our feeling that the way the department is currently operated, like the rest of the prison industrial complex in CT it runs scared, and won’t allow probationers ample space to grow. To some extent this is a function I believe of the repercussions following the unspeakable tragedy that befell Doctor William Petit and his wonderful family a few years ago. If found guilty it wouldn’t trouble me an iota if the two alleged perps were boiled in oil, but that being said, clamping down on an entire system and population because of two maniacs just doesn’t cut it…and by the way, the two alleged perps were not on probation, they were on parole.
My husband has been in the CT system for about four months. For the most part, his reactions are favorable. One of the good things that happens right up front, or at least in the office to which he reports, is that the probationer meets with the Chief Probation Officer, TM, on his first visit to the office. This woman is no body’s fool. She has an easy down home style, but all the time she’s talking, she’s taking (mental) pictures. She’s been around for a bit and it strikes me that her assessments are pretty on the money. I like that she takes the time to do that. To some extent it assures that the right PO is assigned to the right probationer, and it gives her a feel for the probationer and what she might expect. To the uninitiated it may not sound like much, but It’s a really strong plus for the system. The negative side of MS M interviewing probationers is that the system is very rigid and unforgiving. It doesn’t allow the people who operate it and operate within it a whole lot of latitude. Lots of what happens within the system has little to do with the law, rather it’s policy regulations formulated by those on high, and does not leave much room for interpretation…. That’s a big flaw in the system. Good or bad, to some extent, the line Supervisors hands are tied. At times that places a real hardship on the probationer and at other times on the system. A system as large as Probation needs rules and guidelines to operative effectively. But it needs to provide for the individual as well. I think this system in my/our experience falls short of the mark in that area. The line Supervisors needs more authority, and the more senior Probation officers do as well.
The PO assigned to my husband’s case is an example of that rigidity. I need to start by saying, he’s a really heard working PO, and in our opinion a very good one from the system’s perspective.. One can reach him on his cell phone day and night…he invariably answers his calls, and when one gets him for the most part he has answers. That’s the good part. The bad part is, we believe he perceives his mission is that of a cop rather than someone trying to help the probationer succeed. I think a good PO needs to be some of both. I personally find the way of some probation officers a bit too intrusive. I understand the need for some intrusion, but some place there should be a line. I am not on probation. The probation department has a standard line or that…”your husband is, and if you don’t like our methods we can have him move out.” That is a bunch of nonsense. There is certainly a happy medium. It’s a mixed bag, to some extent a matter of degree. I don’t mind a PO coming on a home visit, but I don’t think it’s appropriate that each time he come, he walks through every room in the house. When a PO is told for example, this room is my office and there is nothing of my husband’s in the room, that he still walk in and look on desks etc. My business papers are none of his, whether or not in plain sight. If he chooses to walk in a room to see whether there may be some kind of contraband visually present, I suppose that is okay within limits, but to actually stare down at papers and personal mail, I see as “going too far.” And then there is our bedroom. What possibly could a Probation Officer want that might be on my personal nightstand, or in my bedroom closet? To physically walk into the closet where I hang my clothing and night wear, to my way of thinking goes above and beyond. The same applies to our bathroom. Unless the PO has needed to relieve himself, or is taking a survey about bathroom tissue, why look in our bathroom?
Although I personally want nothing to do with these people, and will not interface with them except as absolutely required by law to satisfy the requirements of my husband’s probation, I must confess that on the whole, as a member of the community I applaud PO JM’s diligence, and the diligence of his brother and sister officers. However, as the wife of a probationer, I wish at times he’d/they’d be a bit more liberal/reasonable if not trusting. I’m not suggesting they give away the candy store, but by the same token life changes, and as people get older, they really do change. At my husband’s age and health condition he’s not doing anything stupid, and that’s where the system falls down. They are so worried about what he may have done in the past they can’t accept the fact he’s now a 65 year old cancer victim, who has suffered two heart attacks, open heart surgery, and is likely to need more heart surgery soon. He’s also a diabetic and hypertensive. All those factors weren’t present then…Nor was I. They are now. My husband does not choose to die in a prison, and these people just don’t get it… Their needs to be some room, some play.
In all fairness I might point out that my husband has an extensive major fraud background, and while in the system, he was not passive. When he perceived injustices were being heaped upon him, he responded in the appropriate forums…and he won. The system is unforgiving in that regard, and it wouldn’t surprise us if someone on high didn’t whisper into someone else’s ear about “special treatment” for my husband during this probationary period. Can I make that as a cold hard accusation?
Absolutely not. But you the reader can draw your own conclusions. Also, as a matter of disclosure, you should know I do bear some bias (and a pending law suit) against the state corrections system. The state would undoubtedly attempt to use my husband as a lever to induce me to drop my litigation. Although corrections and probation are not the same entity, they are tangentially related. I was a state employee for over 20 years, much of it in corrections (in a professional, non-custodial capacity). I’ve seen and heard it all. Thus it is possible my feelings are not totally objective. They come from a place of having been there and seen the best, the worst, and everything in between.
Hopefully this is not about our family but rather a commentary on the probation system as we see it. Reluctantly but being truthful, on the whole we are compelled to give the probation department high marks.
Responses are welcome.