Our HwH Update

So far things have been going pretty well. Yesterday was 1 week since Chance got to the Hwh. He has not been able to leave there yet. This hwh does not allow them to leave at all for the first 7 days but it is expected that he will be able to leave this weekend for 3-4 hours to get a haircut and go to Walmart ( the only store they can go to while out on an itinerary). They are given an itinerary not a pass, which means he has to go to the exact destination and come directly back. Once he is eligible for passes he will be able to go anywhere as long as he calls to check in periodically. They don't get any passes until they have employment. He has not been able to go out looking for a job yet because the he has 9 classes he has to complete before he can get an itinerary for job search. He has 5 classes done so hopefully the beginning of the week he can begin his job search. We get to visit every evening from 7-9 and he gets 2 visits on the weekend 2-4 and 7-9. I am only 14 miles from the Hwh so it works out perfect.I can bring any kind of clothes or food to him. He can have a small t.v, video games, dvd's, cd's and just about everything else except a laptop and cell phone. There are 8 payphones and they can even get incoming calls. The people there are really good about going to get the others if they have a phone call ( all I have to do is give his last name and room #). This experience so far has been far better than I thought it would be. After 4 years of dealing with the BoP, I never dreamed we would be able to have a some what normal relationship.

Ohhh, and how could I possibly forget. The case manager came out to the house yesterday. We have been approved for Chance to come here on all of his passes. I was so afraid that they wouldn't let him since he is not actually going to reside here ( because of the daycare). BUT the case manager seems awesome. She said " even though he hasn't obtained employment, I don't want to waste time in getting out to your house because I may get busy and then he won't be able to come to your house until I find time to make the home visit." SO that went over great with me, because I want him here as soon as possible. So pray for us that Chance is able to find a job right away, then next will be the apartment search.

I hope and pray that everyone and their loved ones are doing well.

Melanie & Chance

Trial Bound

I got a call from Mike early this morning. He is in transit to Fresno for his upcoming civil trial. I haven't heard from him before this for nearly two weeks. When I talked to him this morning he said he is already in Oklahoma. Now I understand why I haven't been sleeping all that well. He is representing himself in this trial and he is quite nervous about it. (So am I) I am happy that he will be here soon and I can finally see him. We haven't seen each other since 2006. He was designated to USP Lee in Virginia but by the grace of God the Warden has just signed off on his transfer. Now we sit and wait for the BOP to designate him. We are praying for something closer to home. His trial starts on October 20, please keep us in your prayers.

First holiday without my father

Sunday is the Muslim holiday of Eid which we celebrate at the end of Ramadan. This is the first time probably in my life that we have to spend it without my father there. Its the first for my mother in the past 28 or so years. I am not even sure how we are going to "celebrate" it but at least we will have some family, my father on the other hand will not. I know other inmates are like friends and family but he is only been there three weeks. I doubt if others even know there is a holiday.
Holidays always bring such joy but this time all i can feel is a dreadful feeling, like I do not want to go through it. I do not want to think of all the years that my father was with us and that we did not appriciate all that he did for us. Its so true when they say u don't know what you have until you lose it. We take our families, our loved ones for granted, until we can't have them with us anymore. I remember how my father would always complain to me and my brothers about how we don't spend enough time with him and we never understood what he meant, until now. If there is one thing I have gotten out from this whole experience is to appriciate my family, to appriciate them while i have them, to realized that they truely are my friends.
Anyways, how did some of you guys spend the first holiday without your loved one? How did you ignore the anxiety of what they might be going through that day? Knowing the world is going on just like it always was, but they are not there to experience it?

Good luck Mel

I spoke with Mel tonight. She is on her way to M'town to pick up Chance in the morning. She is having some anxiety and exciement. She said she hasn't slept in a week. She said she could not wait to get to the hotel to sleep...she won't be doing much sleeping tonight. Keep them in your thoughts.

Corrlinks

You will get an email anytime from now to 10/09/09 which looks something like below, which will ask you to sign up. The website link is below as well you can check it out. I have also added some pictures, it is just like an email inbox.

This is a system generated message informing you that the above-named person is a federal prisoner who seeks to add you to his/her contact list for exchanging electronic messages. There is no message from the prisoner at this time.You can ACCEPT this prisoner's request or BLOCK this individual or all federal prisoners from contacting you via electronic messaging at http://www.corrlinks.com/.

To register with CorrLinks you must enter the email address that received this notice along with the following identification code: Q2RTV***This identification code will expire in 10 days.By approving electronic correspondence with federal prisoners, you consent to have the Bureau of Prisons staff monitor the content of all electronic messages exchanged.Once you have registered with CorrLinks and approved the prisoner for correspondence, the prisoner will be notified electronically.For additional information related to this program, please visit the http://www.bop.gov/inmate_programs/trulincs_faq.jsp FAQ page.

This is what it looks like when you sign in:

This is what mailbox looks like:

And this is how a new message looks like:

Mikes first pass home

I drove to Raleigh Friday night and picked Mike up to bring him home for the weekend. I left right after I got off work at 4 and we pulled in the driveway at 8:30. He had to be here by 9. He called and told him he had arrived. At 10 they called to verify he was here, and then at 12, 2, and 4. Yes that is in the a.m. Then they did not call again until 10 satuday night. They called again at 12 and then let us sleep until about 9:30 sunday morning. They did not call again for the rest of the day. It was a great weekend! He and the boys worked on the yard all weekend. They played cards last night with dad. Dad and I got to watch the race together. His PO approved him to be released to HC, so we are hoping that sometime this week we will get that notification.

LET's GOooooo Mountaineers!!!!!!!!

Ok all you East Carolina fans........I have to say its a great day to be a Mountaineer!!!!!!!!!!!
LOL!!!!!!!

Other facilities than Morgantown

Thank you Crystal for your information on Bennettsville! Does anyone else have any experience or knowledge about Beckley in WV or Bennettsville, Williamsburg or Edgefiled in SC? Just curious. You can email me off site if you would prefer.

PS>>>>Fall is almost here!!! Yippee!!! almost another year down....

Lesson learned!

I have been telling Mike that everyone before us suggested that we contact his PO when he arrived at HWH. He did not want me to do that. He did not want me to aggrivate him. As I tend to put a chip on my shoulder, and tell them how to do their jobs in my opinion. So Wednesday when we he was told that his release plan had not been approved by his case manager at the HWH, he decided we needed to contact his PO, as he had been at the house last spring for that. So Mike called him yesterday and he had his pass home for the weekend by 5 p.m. yesterday and the paperwork is being processed for his release to HC. He will be home sometime after noon today until 7 p.m. on Sunday. Had we followed everyone's advice on here this would have happened at least a week ago. His PO was just waiting for a phone call.

So my advice to all of you, when someone in this group gives you advice on something that they have already gone through, listen to it, follow it. Even if common sense tells you that normal people will do their jobs, file the paperwork, make the phone calls, I have not met anyone invloved with BoP that uses common sense.

On a lighter side

For those of you that are going to visitation this next weekend, I suggest wearing Purple and Gold. As those are the colors of East Carolina University and they are going to CRUSH the mountianeers on Saturday! You will not be alone in wearing these colors as the purple nation will be well represented in Morgantown this weekend. GO PIRATES!

HWH update

Well we have jumped through each hoop they have given us. Mike not only got a job in Raleigh he also has one here waiting for him. I got the dedicated phone put in. He went to a mental health appointment, he got a paycheck and gave them their cut. Now they said that they have not approved his release plan to live here. They said that will take another 21 days. We only have 37 left. He still has not gotten a pass home for a social visit. The kids have only seen him once since he has been back. We both are wishing that he had stayed in M'town.

Thank You

Thank you to all of you who offerred their support lasr week. We went to visit on Saturday. Hubby was real sick. He said about 150 inmaes have some kind of virus. I was quite upset because they locked the play room and because of that we had to cut our visit short. I just couldn't keep running after the boys.
Deb it was nice to put a face to a name.
This week hasn't gotten much better...I've had so many problems with our autistic son...he's been wreaking havoc at school. I've had to go every day to the school or at least got a phone call. And I had a bit of a fender bender with my car. (It's not THAT bad)
The week got better when I heard from Gary tonight. He hasn't been able to call because he has such a bad cold and his voice doesn't match when he tries to call. I'm trying to keep my head up, and I decided to get some help with my situations here at home. I have an appointment tomorrow and someone is coming to my house on Friday.
I wish you all pleasant dreams and better tomorrows.

sue :)

Thank you

I just wanted to thank everyone for their support on here.I went to visit my friend yesterday after 17 years.Wow it was awkward at first because it had been so long.We have both changed alot on the outside.Inside we are the same kids that we were long ago.I was very worried and nervous at first.I had no idea what to expect and at least with this blog I knew I was not alone.I feel horrible now because I waited so long I dont know why,our relationship was kinda strange.We were the best of friends at times.He never hestitated to tell me when I was wrong or what he thought and I never took what he said personal.I never worried about telling him what I thought.He helped me through my divorce and it was a horrible time.He showed me that not all men were like the one I was divorcing.He was there when I needed him and I feel like I let him down for 17 years.Anyway sorry to use this as a sounding board I guess I just needed to say that.Anyway thank you everyone for the support and help.I hope someday I can do the same for another.
Crystal

Visitation this weekend

So, who is going this weekend to visit. You guys have a drink for me. I kind of miss making the trip up there for the holiday weekend. Have great visits and drive safe.