Walking Out the Front

THIS BLOG WAS WRITTEN IN FEBRUARY, 2015.

 

            I received an email (by printed copy of course!) asking about newly released prisoners. What happens when you leave? First, DOC has what they call “adjustment days,” 30 of them. Your “release date” is 30 days (or 28 – 29 days if on a weekend) earlier than calculated provided you have a verifiable home plan. What’s a verifiable home plan? A place to live that isn’t in a high-crime area with other felons – or guns – around. Yeah, that’s realistic for most guys in the system! So, they take some of those 30 days back while a home plan gets perfected (half-way house included). At the end of 30 days, plan or no plan, you leave – they can’t keep you beyond your release date (unless, of course, you are civilly committed as a predatory sex-offender).

            Guys learn early: Get a home plan or entered in a half-way house and don’t rely on these people. Counselors are notorious for dropping the ball – you learn 2 days before your release date your home plan fell through. Worse, if you are heading out of state you must be pre-approved with the receiving state (called “inter-state” compact). That process can take up to six months.

            You get everything lined up and you are ready to leave – what happens? DMV comes and prepares you a photo ID (looks like a driver’s license). You meet with the release officer who goes over your money (you get $25 in cash plus your savings on a debit card which, as an aside, is costly to use – it’s part of the JPay system notorious in prison. All that money comes from you – the state gives you nothing).

            Clothing: Families can send in “home clothes” 30 days before you leave. You put those on the morning you walk out. No one sends you anything? You are measured and given a khaki work pant and windbreaker set.

            You box up and send out all your personal stuff. Guys in the building hover around hoping to get a spare bowl, or book, or tee shirt.

            Release day. If no one is coming, you’re called out of the building at 4:00 am handcuffed, shackled, and driven to the bullpen at Powhatan where you are placed in a van and driven to the bus station. But, if family or friends are coming to pick you up, around 8:00 you leave the building. You walk down to property, dress, and then around 8:30 you walk up the boulevard and through the gates to the administration office, the front door, and freedom.

            You greet your family, you don’t look back, and you hope to God you aren’t one of three coming back. There’s a meeting with your probation officer within the first 48 hours and a drug screen. You have to find work and make plans to pay court costs, restitution, and fines. And it’s scary – you see it on the guy’s faces as they head up the boulevard – but there aren’t standing counts or chow lines or lock downs. You wear the scarlet “F” – “felon,” but you are out.

            Each year, upwards of 17,000 men and women walk out. Each year 5,000 to 6,000 walk right back in. The odds aren’t great but ultimately it’s on you … and that’s a good thing. Your record is public information. Your release documents are yours alone; but, DOC always has your number. You are always in their system.