I'm so mad, I feel dizzy

so, six months ago or whatever, we all found out that it was apparently possible to be breaking parole while still in jail. because he didn't have an address. because of course he couldn't have found a place to live while in prison.

and it was either go into an expensive court battle or sign away his rights, agreeing to serve parole while incarcerated.

which, at the time, he was actually kind of grateful for because it meant he would stay locked up for a bit and hopefully get moved to actual prison after sitting around for two insane years in shitty county jail. that way he'd have access to some actual help and resources and could get to a stable place before being released.

and if he served parole while incarcerated, every day would count as two, so it would be six months instead of a year.

fast forward now to today

he was supposed to be sent to statesville so he could go before the parole board and they would be able to look at his file and officially say "yep you served your parole" and he would then be released, right

instead they skipped that step, released him without warning, sending him to that halfway house late at night.

told him to stay here until he could get a hold of the parole people.

couldn't leave until they get him an ankle monitor, has no money and only one change of clothes, etc etc etc

looks like he finally got to talk to the parole people

and they said that his parole didn't start until yesterday.

so... not only does this go against what they'd said before, and he's now stuck with a year of extremely intense parole restrictions and check-ins and all the stuff that goes along with that....

THEYRE NOT EVEN COUNTING THE TWO EXTRA WEEKS HE SPENT IN PRISON FOR NO REASON

so it's not like that extra time had even that silver lining. it literally counted for nothing.

ALSO he has to stay at the halfway house for at least a month???

probably because he has to wait until they get around to getting him fitted with an ankle monitor

so he can't go home, can't look for work, can't buy anything, can't even wash his clothes unless someone else gives him change for the machines

if he didn't have a family there to support him in some way he would have literally nothing

my sister's husband is trying to drive into the city (very very dangerous part of chicago) to bring him another change of clothes and some money to buy any necessities

i just. can't believe this. he needs a lawyer so bad because this is such bullshit but I don't know if this is something a public defender can take care of.

oh wow

literally felt a flicker of dread when i saw the plurk toplevel

he can't afford a lawyer. couldn't even get to a court date until he is allowed to leave the building, which who knows when that will actually happen

hahaaa yeah

holy shit, this is a nightmare

was that parole in prison deal recorded on paper at all?

that's how I felt when I saw a text alert float across my lock screen

probably?? but he doesn't have a copy of anything in hand. he didn't leave there with even a note that said his address on it, which is why he got sent to the halfway house

so trying to get that. trying to get documentation of anything anywhere, still takes an effort that might require a lawyer or something to get it done

not that these people don't seem to rewrite the rules on the fly to make things worse for the prisoners and families as they choose

yeah, like there is no leverage there. no one is going to get in trouble over this without a legal battle

so yeah. Im sure I dont have all the information, because I can only stand glancing at the chaos that is my family's group chat right now

there's nothing i can do from here.

except get mad.

my uncle is trying to help. he has kind of stepped up as the one doing the grunt work trying to get in touch with anyone, making a pain of himself until he gets answers.

it has become almost a fulltime effort in recent months

jfc

my brother was supposed to be 100% free at the end of september.

I'm so sorry for all of you

to all of you? you know what I mean

lol yeah I getchu

it's a sorry situation all around

this is absolute fucking hell what the fuck i am so sorry

yo I can't believe that there are somehow still surprises to be had

like you'd think they'd run out of bullshit at some point

YOU WOULD THINK