I don’t know much about
John's incarceration. He did not write
frequently and no one from the prison would talk to us or tell us what was
going on with him. John was released on
parole after 2 years and we did find out, after he had been released that he
was prescribed “a lot of pills” while in jail.
We never did learn what specific medications he had been on or for what because
John could not remember the names of them.
He only knew that there were pills to help him stay calm, different
pills so he would not be depressed and anxious, and yet more pills to help him
sleep. When John was released he was
told he had to live in a halfway house in one of the worst possible
neighborhoods of a city about 30 min from our family home. As soon as John called us – the day he was
released - we began attempting to contact his Parole Officer.
I had spent the period of
John's incarceration studying his neuropsych reports and learning about
FASD. We knew from John's probation and
from what we had learned about FASD that without support, without an external
brain working to help him with the executive functions he lacked John would not
be able to successfully navigate parole.
Our mother attempted to accompany John to three different meetings with
his PO but was told she had no place there and would not be allowed into the
office. She stayed anyway and tried to
write down any instructions or rules John could remember from his meetings with
the parole officer but most of what John was able to tell her was very
generic.
“Keep your nose clean, boy.”
“You have another
appointment next week.”
“When next week?” she’d
ask. “Um, I think the same as this one?”
he would say. But usually he was wrong about the day, or
the time, or where he was supposed to report to; the PO’s office, the drug
testing clinic, the Fresh Start support group.
Or if he remembered the day, the time and the place correctly he would
lose his bus pass or get on the wrong bus and end up missing the appointment
again.
John rapidly became
depressed and withdrawn. Although I live
several states away I made the trip to visit him several times to encourage
him. I called, faxed, and wrote letters endlessly to John's PO, to the head of
that office, even a couple to the State Board of Parole. No one was willing to so much as answer a
call or return a letter. John had been
out about 2 months when I noticed on one visit that he seemed unnaturally
lethargic and his eyes were highly dilated.
When I insisted he tell me what he was on he swore up and down he had
not used any illegal drugs. In fact he
was at great pains to show me the pack cigarettes he had purchased at the
minimart right across from his halfway house.
It turns out they were a newer form of synthetic marijuana. For those like me who have no idea what
“synthetic marijuana” means – it is a designer drug in which herbs, incense or
other leafy materials are sprayed with lab-synthesized liquid chemicals to
mimic the effect of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive ingredient in
the naturally grown marijuana. The original
forms of this sold as both “Spice” and “K2” were banned in 2012. These
drugs have become increasingly popular however, because as each brand of
synthetic cannabinoid is banned a new one is promptly developed and “legally”
sold until it is added to the list. John had indeed legally purchased the cigarettes he was smoking but he failed his
drug test that week none the less. He
did not understand that. He had no idea
how something he could legally buy at the same place he got his morning Pepsi
was illegal. But he promised not to
touch it again and his PO seemed willing to overlook it. We don’t know for sure what his thoughts were
because again he refused to answer any of our attempts to contact him. The only thing John shared with us from that
meeting was he had been told “Take responsibility for your actions and
be a man.”
John continued to miss, and
occasionally make, appointments and found a job doing maintenance work as a
volunteer for a local church. He was
able to keep good attendance at the church position because they were willing
to keep his hours consistent week to week.
We knew things were not ideal with John's situation. He would tell us occasionally about being
afraid of his housemates at the halfway house, things that we purchased for him
like clothing, bus passes were stolen or lost, and we knew his attendance at
various appointments was spotty. In spite of this, things seemed to be settling
into a holding pattern. There were no
repercussions for his failed drug test and while his living situation was
unpleasant John seemed to be doing ok. We stopped bombarding his PO with requests for
contact. It seemed futile and he did not
seem inclined to penalize John for his slip ups. This was a serious mistake on our part.
What John's PO was doing was
compiling a case to have him returned to prison for his full term. One day when John turned up at his PO’s
office he was met by an officer with a warrant to take him immediately to jail. He was able to call and tell us where he was
but not much else. He did not understand
why he was there or what was going to happen next. We were frantic. I called every number and resource I could
dig up through the internet. I finally
found two sympathetic and helpful people.
A secretary at the Public Defender’s office who got me the name of the
person assigned to John and the date of his parole violation hearing (only 4
days away) and Kay Kelly from the FASD Justice center at the University of
Washington. Kay pointed me to several
useful papers written about FASD and the Justice system as well as an excellent
web site by David Boulding a Canadian Lawyer who has done a lot of work in the
area. She also helped me dig up the
state laws on Parole and violation hearings etc.
Armed with that, I started
yet another phone and letter writing campaign.
I wrote a 14 page letter for the PD to give to the judge at John's hearing. I sent copies of the American
Bar resolution on FASD, copies of all the letters I had sent John's parole
officer, and copies of John's diagnosis and testing results. John's Public Defender was open-minded and
helpful. The judge was open-minded as
well. All of the violations raised that
were related to Bill’s areas of difficulty (ie missed appointments) were
dismissed. The failed drug test,
although six month old by this point, was the only complaint upheld. The PO asked for 24 months in the state penitentiary
so John “would learn his lesson”.
Mercifully the judge instead sentenced John to 90 days in a drug rehab
boot camp program and instructed that the intake and outplacement coordinator
there work with us to help John.
John completed his 90
program with no difficulties and was released to parole residing in our
mother’s home. His new Parole Officer has read all the info
we provided on FASD and is working closely with us to help John reach his
goals. John has not had a single violation
of the terms of his parole for 3 months now and was granted permission to
travel out of state for the holidays. We
celebrated as a whole family for the first time in 3 years. I don’t remember a holiday sweeter for us
since our father passed away.
I wanted to share this story
because it should not be this hard. All
of the systems involved to help a child like John failed him. A family should not have to fight so much to
be allowed to assist someone who is disabled by FASD. Can you image what the trajectory our brother’s
life would be if the public defender and judge at his second trial had not
listened to us? What do you suppose
happens to all of the young people who have families less motivated, less informed,
or less just plain stubborn than we were?
Our prisons are filled with people on a revolving door program who, just
like John, never had a truly fair chance.
*This story was shared with my brother's permission although I have altered his name to protect his privacy.
*This story was shared with my brother's permission although I have altered his name to protect his privacy.
