WHAT A DAY!

Today began as any other day.
Getting up.
Letting the dog out.
Coffee.
School.
Taking a friend to his Parole appointment.
Sitting with friend.
Meeting his parole officer.
Watching him be arrested for a parole violation.......

I came home.
Acted as if nothing was wrong.
I cleaned house.
Avoided people.
Did senseless chores. (i.e. cleaning out silverware drawers, dusting ceiling fans)
Avoided phone calls.
Scrubbed the toilet and bathtub.

It was then that the reality of it all hit me.

Pictured above is where my friend will spend a minimum of 90 days. It will take 90 days for the system to even process him, and then the judge will decide what to do with my friend.

Shall I tell you why he was violated? $120.00 in back intervention fees. You see, it is a little known tidbit of information within the Missouri Department of Corrections. Every prisoner, upon his/her release has to PAY to be on parole. These men/women, myself included, are told upon entering the parole system -ON THE SAME DAY THEY ARE RELEASED FROM PRISON- that they have to pay $30.00 a month to be on parole.
Ironic?
Stupid?
Criminals returning to crime?
TO PAY TO STAY OUT OF PRISON?

Granted, my friend, was/is in college at the same place I go. I got re-acquainted with him three weeks ago. He is a "youngster". He is approximately 27 years old and is trying to rebuild his life. He has been out of prison for 13 months. He had no one when he got out. Lived in a shelter for 5.5 months. Got a shitty job.

Picked himself up.....but along the way he missed 4 months of intervention fees.

This "youngster" would not take money from me.
He would not take any kind of a hand out.
He is bound and determined to make his life better, on his own merits and work.

I admire him for that.
I accompanied him to his parole appointment, as a fellow human to human, gave a friend a ride so he could save $2.25 on a bus pass.
He wanted me to meet his parole officer.
I met his parole officer.
His parole officer told me I was now in violation for "malingering and associating with a felon"....

I called my parole officer.
She told me to sit and wait. (My parole is out of another district in the city, not the same as my friends.)
I did.
It was the longest 45 minutes of my life.

Tears.
Confusion.
Worry.
Fear.

COMPLETE loss of reality for 45 minutes straight.

My parole officer came.
I was cleared.
My friend was arrested.
All his hard work, down the drain, over $120.00.

Someone please explain the justification and the sanity of all of this?
It will cost, easily 10 times that to house him for 90 days.
WHAT THE FUCK???

I am sorry for the bluntness and stark reality of this posting.
I am still flush faced sitting here just typing this out.

I do apologize to everyone I shut out today.

This just shores up for me how precious time and decisions that you are forced to make never work out.

peace.
rodney