For three years now, Danny has been trying to re-integrate into society after serving time for a burglary conviction. He started parole March 2015. Here he describes his experience with trying to get his life back together, and how that was derailed, ending with a stay in MSDF:
First year of parole went great, got a new job after the work release and started building my life back up. Went half on a condo with girlfriend and half on a new car also. Parole switched me to a different agent and she switched me from [visiting P.O.] once a month to once a week for no reason, after I already earned once a month for staying out of trouble. She was after me for some reason, still don’t know why to this day.
One day I told her I couldn’t make it in to the office because I was sick with a cold or flu really bad. She still ordered me in and I wound up going to the doctor and getting an excuse and she still ordered me in. So I went in with my girlfriend for witness. The agent had sent out a man agent to take a drug test from me. I saw the test come back negative and the agent told me it was positive. I said no, it’s negative I can see the lines on it and I know how to read it and so does my girlfriend. He started getting real loud about it.
My girlfriend and I decided to walk out because I was really sick and they seemed like they were trying to set me up somehow, I don’t know because I was doing great out there, I have a CDL class ABCD and make $22 an hour at my job.
So the story goes, I wound up running from the warrant she put on me. … I just kept working and avoiding the cops for seven months and I also started using because I was all distraught over all of it. I wound up checking into an outpatient treatment that I continued to go to for five months before a guy at our condo community wound up turning me in for my warrant….
I got an addiction and recovery (A&R) placement, but my agent forgot to submit it until I had my girlfriend call three weeks later. So now I’m way behind and just sitting here not knowing when I’m going to get into the program….The program is 90 days long, but you have to wait like two or three months to get in it. You wind up doing like six months to do a three month program in the worst possible place, MSDF.
closemsdf.org 