I am so proud of my son.

My son has been out of prison since early October and has been working 5 days a week for about 2 months now having to get up 4:30am to leave by 5:30 to travel by public transit for 3 hours, work from 8-4 and travel 3 hours back. He has done wonderful and never complains. He has been doing great, he is calm, has his manners and is very helpful. The 3 and half years in prison doesn't seem to have had any affect on him at all. He is home, that is what matters the most. We didn't have the Thanksgiving and Christmas I had wanted because I am financially strapped right now but he is free and we were all together as a family and that is what mattered the most.

Home now for 1 month already

One would never know my son spent almost 4 yrs in prison, there are no after affects at all. Here I was worried if he was going to be nervous, have his back against the wall and be paranoid in new situations.
None of it. He is calm and peaceful. No anger issues, no temper . He made it through his first week of work taking 30 some buses in strange areas he has never been with just simple written directions from me on a piece of paper.
There is hope for all felons.......my son said he wasn't in one fight because he stayed to himself. He wrote in journals and read and slept and exercised and took part in every thing the prison had to offer. He utilized his time wisely and even got his GED.
If anyone passing by has a loved one in prison tell them to keep busy. Tell them to take advantage of every program.
Having a poor me, life sucks attitude only makes it worse.
I am just happy he is home in a safe place, just playing a game he found on my laptop or watching movies.....simple stuff, quiet stuff.

You got a Job!

Congradulations!
Sent out emails to various help organizations and got some positive replies.
 My son went to this place that hires ex felons on Friday and he started the job on Monday. From 8-4 Mon thru Fri, its min wage but thats okay. He has a JOB!
In a month he has turned himself in on outstanding bench warrant, spent the night in jail until it was lifted the next morning, he has a new court date for failure to appear on that old legal matter and now has a job . It can happen. Just have to be on it constantly and really pursue.
Now I am trying to find a room for rent for him so he can commute easily to and from work.

Ongoing but maybe over soon............another court hearing

I must say the Philly court system is whacked out. First my son turned himself in on a 2006 warrant. At first he had some trouble getting the police to hold him. So they finally cuff him and put him in a holding cell for the night. They take him to bench warrant court 12:30 pm the following day, the bench warrant is dropped but they take him up to Curran Fromhold Prison on the Failure to appear charge, he is a holding cell with 30 some other dudes getting processed. I get a call a few hours later from him in the Social services office at 5:15 telling me he was going to be discharged later in the evening. First they tell me to call back at 8 pm, they told me he was going to be discharged 4-6 hours from that time, that he wasn't processed yet. So from then on it was guess work, will he arrive in Center City 1:am, 2 am or later and how and when do I get there and where the hell is going to be if he doesn't have a dime or a cell phone and gets no more phone calls. So when I was on the phone at 5:15 pm I quickly said., meet me at the Greyhound terminal and stay there until you see me.....then I wondered if he heard that or even knew how to get there.
So he arrives at 12:45 am .He was escorted all the way up to the prison from court, was in a holding cell for 6 hours, saw 3 fights between cops and dudes, had 2 baloney sandwiches for lunch and the same for dinner and then he is released. Why in the hell did they go through all of that just to release him ? Makes zero sense to me.

Bench warrant

Well, my son has been out of prison for about 10 days now, he is calm and seems to suffer no ill effects from prison life .He watches TV, fools around on the computer and sleeps and eats well. I would never have known he was in prison for 3 and half yrs because he seems totally okay .

 This morning we headed into Philly so he could turn himself in on a 2006 bench warrant for FTA on a small possession of marijuana charge . In order to proceed with as normal as a life possible he had to get this done so I cried as I say goodbye when the handcuffs went on and he could spend anywhere from 3 to 30 Days in a Philly county jail and then be given a court date to answer to the Failure to Appear charge. Bench warrant is now gone, once he gets out he can live normally while awaiting his court date. I wish this was all over. I am so sick of courts, judges and the whole mess.

9:30 AM You are 8 hours away !

I am just sitting here, nervous, excited and restless to leave to go meet my son at the bus depot. I leave at 1:00 pm, have to take 4 different buses to get into Center City Philly. I am so happy this is over. I can't wait to see my son.

You are Free !

I signed up for VINE that is really meant to notify victims so they can keep tabs where the person who they had problems with . VINE has been very helpful in locating my son as soon as he was transferred somewhere else, I didn't have to wait until I got a letter from him.

Just got this message, one last message .

The inmate for whom you registered, JARED xxxxxxxx with offender number xxxxxxx 
is no longer in the custody of the Florida Department of Corrections as of 
10/2/2014.

You are free Jared on your way to the bus depot. 

5 Hours to go !

Well,Jared this is the day .

You will probably be leaving the prison by 12:30 for the hours drive
to the bus terminal.

By 2:00 pm you will be getting on a bus for a 27 hour ride home.

Tomorrow around 6 pm I will see you, finally after 4 years.
I am so excited, I just can't believe it .It's over, well almost.

I have missed you so much.

Today

If everything goes as planned today is your last day in prison.
I am a nervous wreck. The classification officer is supposed to call me today to give me details. I just want to know you are in the clear to come back to PA.

4 More days to release !

Just tonight and 3 more nights in prison until you get on a bus to begin your journey home.   

7 More Days

This time next week you will be getting out of prison and on your way back to PA. to be with your family and start living.
I am both excited and worried.
I cannot wait to see you get off the bus, I will be so happy to finally see you after 4 long years.
I am worried how difficult it might be to find a job with a record.
Any job will do at first to get your foot in the door. You need to prove to future employers you can handle a job and remain out of trouble.
I found a Church that I think you will like........looking into self help groups and other resources.
The time is now to make it out here. I love you and want you to have a normal life.

Happy Birthday Jared

Your last birthday in prison..............

I  haven't seen my son since June 2010,he has been in prison since March 2011 and his birthday & Holidays have been difficult. He comes home in 24 days! 
Wishing my son peace, strength, faith, courage and joy throughout this year.
Happy Birthday Jared. 
Always your mom no matter what, I love you .

It's almost over

My son has been in prison for 3 1/2 yrs, I haven't seen him in 4 years  and he will be released Oct 2 nd. In less than 35 days I will see him getting off the bus and bringing him home.
I can't wait to see him and just hug him and have him here to reconnect and help him towards a new life.
I have been buying him things he will need like clothes, toiletries and will be getting him a pair of boots because he has nothing left and his belongings are the house in Florida where he got in trouble.
I am just scared he is going to have a problem getting a job due to felonies against him. He needs to be productive, he needs a lot of luck.
It will be so nice having him sleep in a calm, quiet safe place and to be able to eat real food and take showers privately, things he has been unable to do for the last few years and wear real clothes instead of a prison uniform.
This Thanksgiving and Christmas will be the best ever with all of us together. The last few have been difficult. It's been pretty impossible feeling the Christmas spirit when you know your son is in prison.
I am glad this is almost over, I just can't wait to see him.

Just me,your mom

It's been awhile since I posted

Hi Jared, it's been awhile since I have posted anything here, it has been great talking to you every week since your cellmate got a phone. I don't know how he did it but it has been so nice of him to let you call me every week and talk for an hour. It has made a big difference hearing your voice and discovering how well you have done there under these circumstances and that you sound the same.

Just a few more months and this will be over and you will begin living a normal life again.
There will be obstacles but we will conquer them one at a time.
I miss you and love you.
God Bless You,
Mom

Happy Valentines Day to my son

After 3 yrs I finally got to talk to my son !

I kept my cell phone off all day yesterday and when I checked it last night, there were 9 calls   from another cell on it and then a text that said ' This is Jared'. I was so excited and didn't know how these calls were made. I thought either a guard was being very nice or he knew someone who had smuggled a phone in..
So I sent a text about being so sorry I missed the calls and asking whose phone I was calling, just a few minutes later my son called. His cellmate woke him up after my text . I was so thrilled to hear his voice after so long. Actually he sounded great . His cellmate has a phone. I told him to be careful. He wanted to say hello to his siblings so he talked to his brother for a few minutes, his sister wasn't here ....then we hung  up and he called back again. I am so thankful that we were able to have that 30 minutes. I did send a text to the owner of the cell phone thanking him for making this possible .