HW House

My son was recently released from MT to a HW house. As usual the BOP threw us a curve ball and sent him to the next state over from us instead of MA where we live, but it is only 1/2 hr drive. The HW house is extremely restrictive. They are basically not allowed to leave except to look for work or go to their counseling sessions. They are assigned chores, but for instance when his chore was to take out the trash, he had to wait for a staff member to watch him walk out to the trash can. They are not allowed cell phones or internet access. They are required to look for a job, but the only way to do that is through the "help wanted" ads in the paper, or go through the yellow pages in the phone book and call to see if a place is hiring. They have to use the house payphone to make their calls. They have to take the bus to the interview. The HW house first calls to verify that the place is hiring, and then calls again to see if the inmate went to the interview. If you do get a job, you cannot leave the job site and the HW house calls twice a day to see if you are there. Prior to going to M'town, my son was working at the family business which has been in business for over 50 years, but the BOP said he could not work for family, so he could not go back to that job. Once you do get a job, 25% of your pay goes to the HW house, even if you are released to home confinement. The visiting hours are 2 hrs on Sat and 2 hrs on Sun with only 5 approved visitors allowed on your list. The list cannot be amended for 90 days, and every visitor is contacted by the HW house to verify their address, phone number and relationship. There is virtually nothing to do there except watch TV or read. They are allowed one hour of "recreation" from 7-8PM at which time they can go outside and stand in the driveway or shoot hoops through a basket that has no net. They are "counted" every TWO hours during the day, and have to go to their rooms and stand in the doorway until they are counted. During the night, a staff member comes into their rooms with a flashlight every hour to make sure they are in bed. There is an intercom system for announcements, and the staff can also tune into the rooms to eavesdrop on the inmates. We were so anticipating his release to the HW house, but this part of his sentence seems to be the worst. Well, as usual we are living "one day at a time" and trying to concentrate on the good instead of dwelling on the bad, since we are that much closer to the end of this life trial. As more news becomes available, I will post.