Source: ACSOL The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has agreed in writing to stop their unwritten policy that required all registrants on parole to undergo treatment the entire time they are on parole. The agreement is the result of a lawsuit filed on behalf of registrants earlier this year. “This agreement is significant because it will help almost 7,000 registrants currently on parole,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “This agreement will lead to early discharge for many of those registrants.” In the settlement agreement, CDCR agreed that…
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CA Court Denies Government’s Demurrer
Source: ACSOL A judge in Los Angeles Superior Court today denied a demurrer filed by the government in a case that challenges CDCR’s blanket policy that requires all registrants on parole to continue treatment the entire time they are on parole. Treatment includes group counseling, individual counseling and/or polygraph examinations. According to the lawsuit, CDCR’s policy is in violation of state law because that law requires CDCR to assess on a case-by-case basis whether a registrant requires more than one year of treatment. The state law also allows superior court…
Read MoreOn Resilience: In the criminal system, having your life constrained and restricted, even after your sentence is over, has become a fact of life
Source: inquest.org 10/26/23 Often people will say that when you leave prison you should try to forget it, walk away, and never look back. Fair enough: Anyone would wish to forget the horrors they had endured while in prison. But that’s simply not possible. People walking out the door of prison into the free world are resilient, remarkable beings who have survived the dehumanizing drama of life behind bars and managed to walk out alive. A testimony to the human spirit. But though they are resilient, they never forget the…
Read MoreA Place to Be Free
Source: inquest.org 10/12/23 Life in prison is hard. Coming back home shouldn’t be harder. More than 600,000 people are released from prison every year, which means that many people will be transitioning home from a place where trauma, stress, and other hardships are commonplace. Reentry, as this transitional period is called, comes with huge barriers to housing, employment, and our well-being. We know this because we’ve experienced these hardships ourselves—include the anxiety of knowing that any misstep during this period could have landed us back in prison. Of the more…
Read MoreACSOL Challenges Treatment Requirements for CA Parolees
The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) filed a lawsuit today challenging treatment requirements for registrants on parole. Specifically, the lawsuit claims that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) requires all registrants on parole to undergo treatment the entire time they are on parole and that this requirement violates state law. The lawsuit was filed today in Los Angeles Superior Court and includes five individual plaintiffs as well as ACSOL. The lawsuit could bring relief to more than 6,800 registrants who are currently on parole. According to…
Read MoreMI: Plan for sex offender to live and work in Oakland County during parole is too close to Macomb Co. victim, prosecutor says
Source: theoaklandpress.com 5/19/23 An assistant Macomb County prosecutor has asked the state Supreme Court last week to set 100 miles as the standard of a released prisoner to reside away from their victim. … The current parole plan is for McBrayer to live 16 miles away in Auburn Hills and work in landscaping in Waterford Township, both in Oakland County, and be restricted from entering Macomb County. “What irresistibly and keenly grabs our attention is because the Parole Board is proposing to place him 16 miles away when Michigan has…
Read MoreJohn Legend knows the obstacles of life after prison. He wants you to know them too
Source: npr.org 5/4/23 When incarcerated people leave prison, are they actually free? Turns out, the singer/songwriter John Legend is one of 113 million American adults who has had a family member incarcerated. He tells his family’s story in this 30-minute documentary that asserts people can’t be free unless they have the necessary resources when they leave prison. From the get-go HOME/FREE lists the problems with re-entry into their community. “I have the ability to go where I want. I do. But at what cost?” says Anthony Ray Hinton, one of…
Read MoreHow Parole Conditions Trapped Me in Homelessness
Source: theappeal.org 5/9/23 The severe restrictions I face while on supervision effectively serve as a ban on stable housing. The terms of this arrangement have left me technically homeless, forced to live in a motel. … The terms of this arrangement have left me homeless—at least technically. I currently live in a Super 8 motel. It is a nuisance, but also a comfort. I get the comfort of a mattress, a room of my own, and a hot shower. It’s better than the alternatives of living on the street,…
Read MoreCA Court Halts Treatment Requirements for Registrant on Parole
Source: ACSOL A Superior Court judge in San Mateo county ruled this week that a registrant on parole is no longer required to participate in an additional treatment program. This ruling was made after a hearing in which a CA Department of Corrections (CDCR) representative testified that “a sex offender cannot successfully ‘complete’ a sex offender management treatment program” while on parole. “This court’s ruling clarifies that many registrants on parole are required to complete only one treatment program,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “No longer can CDCR require…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: But It’s Not Punishment
As Executive Director of ACSOL, I communicate with registrants and their families almost daily on a variety of topics. One of the saddest types of calls I receive are from registrants who were recently released from custody for an offense that is not a sex offense. These calls are sad because they are about the fact that a person is being required to comply with the same parole conditions required of a person just released from custody after a sex offense conviction. These calls are also sad because there are…
Read MoreFourth Circuit Strikes Bans on Internet, Legal Pornography For Sex Offender
[fd.org – 1/10/21] The Fourth Circuit held (link is external) that conditions of supervised release banning legal pornography and internet access are too restrictive and cannot be sustained as “reasonably related” under 18 U.S.C. 3583(d)(1) and are overbroad under 18 U.S.C. 3583(d)(2). The court explained that the district court abused its discretion in imposing an outright ban on defendant possessing legal pornography or entering any location where it may be accessed. … The circuit stated that pornography use was not the basis of any violation. Further, when defendant lied about…
Read MoreCA: Sacramento Judge Rules Some of CDCR’s Prop. 57 Regulations Are Void
CA Proposition 57 tentative Ruling – 8 Feb 2018 (PDF) [ACSOL] A Superior Court Judge in Sacramento has ruled that provisions in emergency regulations issued by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) regarding registrants are void and therefore cannot be enforced. The regulation provisions at issue deny anyone convicted of a sex offense eligibility for parole consideration under Proposition 57. The judge’s preliminary decision was issued in a tentative ruling dated February 8, 2018, and was the subject of a hearing conducted in Sacramento Superior Court this morning.…
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