CONFINED AND COSTLY: How Supervision Violations Are Filling Prisons and Burdening Budgets
Thanks to Member Joseph for bringing this to our attention.
Probation and parole are designed to lower prison populations and help people succeed in the community. New data show they are having the opposite effect. Until now, national data regarding the impact of probation violations on prison populations have been unavailable, resulting in a lopsided focus on parole. The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center recently engaged corrections and community supervision leaders in 50 states to develop the first complete picture of how probation and parole violations make up states’ prison populations. The analysis revealed a startling reality.
Once all the drug offenders have been released following the legalization of marijuana in many states, the head count in prison populations will need to be filled somehow in order to justify the expense of staying open. Don’t forget that state prisons get federal monies for every body in a cold cell. No law enforcement agency wants their budget cut.
Who cares about the prison population as long as everyone has work lol. In my case I’m on probation after 22 years for violating a SO retroactive law. I scratched out my ID for medical purposes. Even the state attorney told the judge I violated the law because people had the right to know. Her saying that proves my 1st admendment rights are being violated supposedly the markings on my ID are for police to know not the general public. I’m a business owner and raised 3 kids now I’m a criminal again being treated like scum of the earth by my PO for nothing who insist she has to call all my customers and inform them I’m an SO. Court date next week on that and 2500 dollars more I gotta pay just to work and not loose my customers. Create more laws catch more criminals!
What is ironic is, I only have the state statue on my ID real small (I guess that is changing soon and will be HUGE).
I got pulled over for a lane change violation and the deputy didn’t even mention the statue on my I.D but found out only after running my I.D. He was cool though and even though I made the aggressive lane change THEN he found out the bad stuff, he still gave me a warning.
True fact : The average citizen is 50% less likely to get a ticket from a patrol deputy when pulled over than from a city officer or a Hwy patrol trooper.
Add in a felony on your record and you are 60% more likely to get the ticket and add sex offender and you are 99% more likely to get the ticket than someone with no record.
These stats were gathered by the CherokeeJack institute of life knowledge and school of hard knocks
Thanks for clarifying that these stats are anecdotal. Otherwise I’d have not allowed your post.
Well thank you as well but I know that the only thing that got me out of that ticket was I use to be in law enforcement and knew what to say to ease and calm the deputy.
Having worked in Law enforcement I also know that the sheriff’s department focuses more on crime and less on traffic, although they do have a dedicated traffic unit ( mostly motorcycles ) and any deputy can also enforce traffic.
The budget is larger for the counties and are not as stressed to write tickets to justify their jobs whereas smaller cities rely on the traffic enforcement for extra income.
That is what I was basing my claims on but you are right, I did not do extensive research just first hand knowledge from being on both sides of the law.
Although I probably cannot quote real numbers I am sure you will agree that an officer is more likely to give a warning to a non offender than an offender?
Thanks again for all you do.
My personal opinion about parole:
I can understand the supervision for this method of “release” because you’re being let out earlier than your sentences time to prove that you’re worthy to be out.
My personal opinion about probation:
There is no need to put someone on probation supervision because if the court sentenced you to 5 years suspended after 2 yrs to be incarcerated, then let it be done with. Here’s the reason why I feel this way – When you leave prison, you’re still going to forever have the criminal record. On probation or off probation, every human being is capable of doing something to get in trouble again. Probation just makes it easier to nab you for something as petty as drinking a beer with your buddies while watching the Super Bowl. Something that anyone NOT on probation can do. And that person not on probation (criminal past of not) CAN commit an offense of ANY KIND while under the influence of alcohol.
If you have 3 years still hanging over your head from the 5 yrs suspended after 2, then have that 3 years hanging without having to be on probation with it. That means, even not being on probation, if you mug someone and get arrested, the court sees that you have 3 more years that you “owe” the state and can sentence you for any length of time for that 3 yrs + whatever the time for the new crime is (or have it concurrent). And there is no REAL NEED for a probation officer to have been a part of that violation.
If no one gets what I’m saying, let me know and I’ll try to explain it better.
Bottom line – probation officers are a fvcking waste of tax payer money.
We’re ALL on “probation” from the minute we’re born. Meaning that, in life, the justice system is just WAITING for someone to commit a crime.
And when a person’s probation comes to an end, he/she cannot be arrested for having a beer while watching the Super Bowl.
Parole is one thing. Probation…. waste of money. End it.
Correction: If you have 3 yrs hanging after the 2 of incarceration and you commit a new crime, the court can sentence you for any length of time WITHIN and leading up to the 3 years you owe + whatever time for the new crime. Just wanted to make that part of my statement clear. I left it open to “any length of time”.
Not sure where the whole “can’t drink a Beer while on Probation” comes from? I am sure that if your offense was alcohol related, you would have restrictions. But if they aren’t alcohol related, there is no way they can stop you from having a Beer during the Super Bowl, or any other time. I say this from personal experience.
My understanding is that probation can, and often does, prohibit alcohol consumption. You can be required to undergo regular alcohol and drug screening, for one thing. This is especially true if your offense was alcohol related (as you mentioned) but it is probably also true if you mentioned anything about alcohol dependency in your defense or as a mitigating factor. And maybe even if you didn’t. I’m sure others will weigh in on whether their probation involved alcohol restrictions. In the documentary “Untouchable,” the vigilante who went around stalking RSOs to try to catch them in technical violations specially mentioned turning one in for drinking a beer on his front porch. He went to prison on that.
Yeah they use to drug test me every visit even though I have never done a drug in my life. One guy got violated after his wife served Poppy seed rolls for dinner which can test positive for some drug test. The officer said “Positive is positive” and a violation.
That is just HOW bad they want people back in the system.
Well MY personal experience as well as the piece of paper from the probation dept CLEARLY states that you may NOT consume alcohol beverages while on probation. Alcohol related offense or not. And probation periodically does urine testing to see if you’ve drank or done drugs.
Probation conditions are personalized – one person might have special conditions that another does not.
Maybe for some, but not for registrants. Blanket conditions for all sex crime, regardless of circumstance, are common and not limited to drugs and alcohol, such as internet restrictions.
I was federal: no such restrictions but then again i also didnt have any internet restrictions ever. Good life u til i landed in florida. If i only knew …
Not really mine say I cant drink to excess. but it’s to the po.s interpretation of what excess means
The probation conditions I was given were not specific to me. They were the basic conditions.
The idea that conditions are specific to an individual is true, only in that a judge decided to assign them to you. Of course, that is not to say that they actually have any thing to do with the person.
In my–somewhat cynical–experience, conditions applied are more a function of the judge than the real needs of either society or the convicted, or some rational procedures. Some judges are capricious. Some detest SOs. Some are thoughtful and actually consider the issues. Some are lazy and just apply boilerplate conditions.
So many aspects of the criminal justice system are simply a crap shoot. Chance determines the arresting officer, the prosecutor you get, the judge assigned and who your attorney is. We all do get individualized treatment, even thought it is a roll of the dice.
Before I went in, I didn’t have a computer. When I got released on Offender probation I was allowed to have a computer but was often the subject of unannounced raids and searches of my computer. Neighbors who did not like me living in the neighborhood would call in saying I had porn on my computer. ( Not even what I was arrested for as I never had a computer before that )
They never questioned how these people knew this and none was ever found. My lawyer tried to get it stopped unless they had hard evidence but probation told him that as long as they got tips, they would follow up with harsh and strict enforcement.
Although after the last one where they destroyed my house looking for non existent evidence, I never had another raid and that actually helped me win early termination from probation. ( After a 3rd attempt and with a new judge )
In my state, anyone on probation is prohibited from consuming alcohol or any other drug not obtained at a licensed pharmacy with a valid prescription. With medical marijuana now being legal, this could create more issues. DOC has not yet caught up with the new laws. They’re denying visitors from entering prisons if the drug dog hits on them, despite having a medical marijuana card. I’m sure we will soon hear about someone being sent back to prison when they fail a UA for marijuana. Since it is not obtained in a pharmacy, it doesn’t fall within the language of the law.
There is plenty of case law for getting your drinking law rights back if it wasn’t part of your crime. Also, there is plenty of case law for not working full time job used to win these cases once a week while working in the law library for a box of top. There is also plenty of case law for adding conditions to your probation without a violation (double jeopardy). Accepting an illegal sentence is also legal so don’t think your getting a legal sentence accepting this crap you can file grievance and win every time with case law or get a hearing. Quit being p……
“win every time with case law”
I wish that were true. F.A.C and their lawyers have used solid case law as well as other lawyers for many registry related issues and a large percentage of the time, the motions are denied.
I do not believe the LAW has anything to do with your outcome so much as the judge you go before. I got denied 3 times and my lawyer saw a window of opportunity to move on my appeal when the county judges went through rotation.
The new judge almost crapped himself reading the sentence I received. He could not rule on any of my case but had 100% power over sentencing and canceled the remaining years of my sentence and walked out free of anything but registration.
I did not even blame my probation officer in the previous cases. She did not speak up for me ( said she was not allowed to ) but also did not say a single bad thing about me either.
The original sentencing judge and prosecutor were friends outside of the court ( Should have disqualified one of them ) and were giddy during my entire hearing the first several times. It was a circus of madness and a show put on for others in the courtroom that , that judge was not playing around.
Good Day CherokeeJack….
Yes, some Judges have Hearts and Souls….
At My Sentencing, My Judge, a 64 year Female with an Impeccable Judicial Record actually withheld tears at my sentencing of 10 years SO Probation and she took the Initiative to allow me to Travel the World, with Passport(as at the time there was no IML) and gave me ‘phone-in’ allowances which meant I had to only call into announce to the Probation of my travel plans…at the end of my sentencing, She Retired from the Bench….
…and, yes, I am writing a novel….’stay tuned…news at eleven!’
Yeah every once in a while a judge has a heart. Mine listened because he was good friends with my attorney. My attorney would not have spoken with the judge and put his neck out there if he did not agree that the previous judge had a grudge against me (and anyone with any accusation of sexual nature). She insulted my lawyer so badly he had to be excused several times. She made it personal so, so did my lawyer.
The only thing I wish he had done different was to encourage me to get a public defender when I ran out of money instead of pleading guilty to things I did and DIDN’T do.We basically gave the prosecution everything they asked for and more. I got the MAX for every charge with NO mercy even though I had never even had a parking ticket in my life, was a college grad, etc.
Where are those time machines already? I think I would have to go back to age 6 to fix all the issues with my past.
Isn’t that what GEO and all the people they donated to fauls?
I know that FAC is following the Ron book DUI case but I think it would be pretty cool if FAC could post quarterly, (like clock work) a main newspaper article of his DUI arrest along with it his other crime he was arrested for involving money, I can’t recall the charge. Even better, put the articles of his arrests on the Home Page of FAC’s Website for all to see at anytime!!!!! BAM!!!! Ron Books face and crimes on the Internet for all to see. 24/7!!! Day and Night Forever!]!!! His own evil ways DROPPED RIGHT BACK ON HIS HEAD BY FAC
not something we would consider doing.
I agree F.A.C then we would be doing the same thing we do not want done to us.
The verse is “Do unto others as you would have them do to you”
NOT
Do unto others as they do to you.
We need to be an example of doing the right thing and focus on our cause, not on bad mouthing others to the public.
It even pisses me off when the news shows someone arrested for something then when it is found they were not guilty, nothing is said by the news.
Casey Anthony and George Zimmerman would wholeheartedly disagree.
Dustin,
Those were super high profile cases.
But a lot of no bodies (meaning people no body ever heard of )
get caught in a fake sex sting and have their faces blasted all over the news. The news shows up with a camera crew and reporter banging on their door demanding an interview and talking to your neighbors.
Some of them fight the charges and get them dropped ( sometimes ) but their names and faces are there on the news archives until Jesus returns.
ok.
So 17% of FL state inmates in for tech violations, 83% for crimes.
Lower than some other states but still a sign that supervision isn’t working very well.
More relevant to FAC— has anyone checked what % of FL state inmates are in for registration failures, and is it higher than other states.
Registration violations are a new crime.
And it’s more central to our mission than are supervision violations, no?
Have we ever tracked the # of FL inmates in for registration failures? We should, shouldn’t we? If anybody knows how to do this.
There are SOOOOO many projects that I think would be EXTREMELY helpful to our advocacy, among them tracking the number and cost of arrests, prosecutions convictions for registration violations (as opposed to new crimes), cost of registration, monitoring, tracking, apprehending, compliance checks, etc.
We just lack the volunteer manpower to make this happen
I was asked many questions when I left prison in 2013 and started the probation portion of my sentence. Biggest general one was “Whats the big difference between your probation and not having any”. Finally used this example. Two people leave prison at the same time with the same SO status. One on probation and the other not. The guy not on probation could get in a bus full of under-18 yr olds with no issues….. if the guy on probation said “hi” to someone on the bus he’d go right back to prison.
I’m curious to know how much of that 45% are registrants. Special conditions for them are so overlapping and borderline impossible to comply with that violation is almost inevitable. Even the technical violations that for any other probationer are swept away often result in max revocation and conversion to special conditions for registrants. Factor in the seemingly unspoken rule that no court ever rules against its probation officers and the appellate courts rare review of revocation and I’d bet that registrants account for the overwhelming majority of the 45% population in this study.
When I registered last time, a guy said he was there to tell them he was going into the hospital. He asked if it was less than 3 days does he have to register it.
The officer stated ( Where all of us could hear it ) that once he was in an assigned room, he needed to call them and give them the room number and they will call the hospital and inform them a sexual offender would be staying in the hospital regardless of how long you are staying.
No wonder every time I am in the hospital I get treated like crap. Last time they didn’t bring me food for 28 hours and took the phone out of my room so I could not call for help. Little did they know I had my cell phone and my parents called an attorney who in turn called the CEO of Florida Hospital. Within an hour of that call I had a new nurse, food and all the desserts I could eat.
Another thing that was interesting. A guy lives in a commune of about 20 offenders and EACH one of them when they come in to register are required to give the license plate , make and model of all 20 cars in the compound. That one blew my mind. If you do not have access to a certain car, you shouldn’t have to register it. I gave that guy the contact info for F.A.C. He said he would pass that on to his lawyer since he is not allowed to use a computer for ANY reason. I told him I also thought that was ruled illegal as well but was not sure.
@cherokee
Anyone living under the same roof at the same address that has a vehicle is required to register all other vehicles at that address.
Anyone living under the same roof but having a different address are NOT required to do so.
I do not know if it is one house but one guy owns the entire compound and only rents to offenders. Many times when I register there is a van that drives them all over to register at once if there are enough who register in the same month
Back when I still had some money, I thought of buying up my old neighborhood and doing the same thing. I spoke with my insurance agent and she said “Good luck getting insurance for those homes”.
Hoping my parents do not get dropped now since I have to live with them since I no longer work. Most of the neighbors have known me since I was a kid, just the newbies who have moved onto the street I have to worry about.
However if you Compare other Developed/Western Democracies. E.G./I.E. Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Europe to the United States. If you are facing a Parole Violation only in Australia, New Zealand, Canada or Europe their Parole Boards/Parole Commissions will send you a letter in writing to show up to the next Parole Board/Parole Commission meeting. If you fail to appear then they re-arrest you and if you caught a new charge on Parole then your Parole is Revoked and you are re-incarcerated. If you are facing a Probation Violation only in Australia, New Zealand, Canada or Europe their Criminal Courts will send you a summons/notice to appear to show up in Court. If you fail to appear then they re-arrest you and if you caught a new charge on Probation then your Probation is Revoked and you are re-incarcerated. Remember that in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Europe you can still vote from prison so therefore convicted felons in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Europe are true constituents and they have a voice.
It’s nothing more than any other money making scheme revolving around the judicial system. The whole system is designed for profit! I mean why else are lawyer’s paid so well for?
Wasn’t there a article a short time ago where someone said their P.O. threatened to notify all of that registrants customers and a judge said probation wasn’t allowed to do that ?
Yeah man I’ll t was when probation makes up their own rules. The DOC video they show in the probation office says if you own your own business they need your business license and tax returns somehow pO wants way more that that and have no problem taking your rights from you If you let them you gotta pay more money go back to court to have a judge make them follow their job and law.
I could see a violation for a new REAL crime. Say you were a drug dealer and released on probation and got caught again selling drugs. That is a no brainer ( for any crime ) that you commit again and not learn your lesson.
Having said that, when I was on probation I barely left the house out of fear of making a mistake. One time my probation officer was at my house ( 4 cops were hiding on the side of my house ) and she asked where I had been. I said at work and she said she wanted to come in side to look around . When I turned to open the door with my key, the four cops slammed me to the ground, handcuffed me and sat me in a chair while they scanned my computer for child porn ( not even what I was arrested for ).
After 30 minutes of running the program and “Trashing” the Hell out my house looking for anything that could violate me, they left and did not even talk to me as they left.
As soon as I was off probation I moved to another county.
My point is, you stay clean and do your time and the Gestapo does everything they can to send you back. Meanwhile there are numerous murderers and others walking the streets with Warrants that are sometimes decades old.
Technical Violations in FLORI-DUH….occur mainly when a Registrant has the ‘666’ ANKLE BRACELET ATTACHED TO THEIR APPENDAGE….this is where the Probation ‘Officer’ always wins…they can say anything at anytime; violate you..lock you up as the Clock is ticking..and, if you have the CHA-CHING (which most Registrants DO NOT HAVE), you will need to hire an attorney ASAP who will have to file a notice with ‘Tracking/Monitoring Company (Used to be owned by the 3M Corporation, but was sold off to a hedge fund controlled by one of the former Board members of 3M-go figure!) to get the data track of the ‘666’ device-which normally takes weeks and by then the judge has already sentenced you and you are FCKED!-the only positive is that you will be sitting in County Jail up to 364 days-NOT back to STATE Prison as the ‘law’ was modified
ASK Mr. Joseph Pratt about this one.,.he and many others fell into this abyss and got royally screwed!-like me as well!…once again, there is no Due Process!
Clarify – you are talking about PROBATION VIOLATIONS, not REGISTRATION VIOLATIONS.
Thank you for that clarification. I don’t live in Florida, and my jaw was (metaphorically) on the table at the thought of ankle monitors for registrants. You guys at FAC are good about separating the legal concepts. I feel much better now.
ED C
In the words of the great Elmer Fudd
“Be berry berry quiet”, don’t give the law makers any ideas
Yes, Probation Violations….
Once the ‘666’ bracelet is strapped on to you, ‘they’ can Technically Violate you for anything..Imagine going out to dinner with Clients not realizing that you are a block away from an all-girls school, and all of a sudden your dining table is surrounded by corrupt LEOs and your Probation Officer….well, for some, that was the reality..I was not taken into custody then, but later was taken in to custody when making my monthly visit to the Probation Office which resulted in 26 months in State Prison…yes…My attorney (costing me another $12K) was able to obtain the ‘tracking info’ from the tracking company but the Judge refused to analyze the information and relied on the Lies of my Probation Officer to sentence me, knowing full-well that his presence was a ‘conflict of interest’ as I went to boarding school with the Judge’s son and still refused to allow for this conflict of interest…You, all must realize that the SYSTEM is entirely corrupt..I spent over $136K during my defenses, and it got me NOTHING!
Glad ( not for you ) that I am not the only one who had to sell 3 kidneys to pay for my defense only to get the same outcome I could have gotten myself.
Am I blaming the lawyer? Yes. He should have stepped aside when I was out of money and told the judge to offer me a public defender. Instead he said “Just plead guilty to all the charges and we can barter for some to be thrown out” Well guess the Hell what. I was sentenced for ALL of the charges with NOTHING in return. I spent all of my $60,000 and that is like a million for a 20 something year old kid ( ME ) at the time. I had been saving since I was 12 years old and worked since I was 13.
YES I did get myself into the situation but pisses me off the prosecution adds on tons of false charges for trial to bargain with but if you do not go to trial, you get charged with everything they faked on your charges.
The attorney did redeem himself years later getting my sentence quashed but that was also not free but he gave me a heck of a deal and promised a 70% chance of getting it dropped before the new judge who he was a close personal friend of. (Touche’ prosecution, we can play dirty pool as well)
I also got a freebee a few years back when the FDLE had 15 charges listed on my offender page when it should have been one but we settled with them for three. I had a single incident which they made to look like 15 different victims. Lawyer did not charge me at all for that one as we did not have to go to court and he directly contacted FDLE. Won’t do that again though as right after that they changed me from 2 times a year reg to 4 times a year.
My last re-reg a guy in front of me (OC Florida) was taking longer than usual. Suddenly a deputy burst through the door and cuffed the man. He was supposed to contact DMV for new Drivers License as a new registrant. He yelled.. I was in jail for the last week! They hauled him away…
Cops are looking for any way they can to arrest you for compliance violations..
Stay Safe
JEV -True Confessions
Funny how some will get busted for some BS thing in one county and another does “Speed dating” style registrations. I moved from Seminole ( not sure how they do it now ) but I had to move or face a violation every time I went in. They were doing polygraphs, drug tests, interrogations etc.
Most people went out of there in tears.
Before I got on a medication for migraines, I would have episodes that lasted for sometimes a week. You had to make appointments and I let the Deputy know I was sick and experiencing a migraine and was about to pass out. The bastard kept me there for four hours. When I got to the parking lot I puked all over the place.
When I register now, I make sure to have the entire day free “Just in case”.
I had a list of “standard” probation conditions. Same for everyone. Sex offenders got a second set of conditions. Same for everyone. Now if you had money for a lawyer (and some did), you could get those standard conditions altered.
According to the Gainesville Sun, some people on probation who commit low-level violations of their terms can avoid being sent to jail under an Eighth Judicial Circuit program. The program is for non-criminal “technical” violations. Circuit Chief Judge Jim Nilon said, “Given the nature of the violations…this is a better way to handle them. It is an alternative resolution program. I think it is also potentially a money saver because the time that is eliminated from people handling it in the criminal justice system is (saved). Other types of legal matters can be done instead of these routine violations of probation.” Jail time is not totally ruled out, though. The Eighth Circuit includes Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Gilchrist, Levy and Union counties. No exclusion of “sex offenders” was mentioned, but I am waiting to see what happens.
https://www.gainesville.com/news/20200314/probation-violators-can-avoid-jail-under-court-program