Families of Prisoners Support Group
This community is dedicated to families that have been disrupted by prison. Having a loved one incarcerated or having been incarcerated comes with its own unique challenges that require support and understanding. Join the group to find others who know what you're going through, and to seek advice or share your experience.
My daughter just called and she is terrified! to say the least. A girl from county has been sentenced and will be in state prison in a few weeks. This girl has heroin in county and my daughter and 2 other girls mentioned that she was the one that brought it in. She was promised her name would not be used. Here we go again another lie from county personnel!! grrrr now my daughter is being told from a girl that is still in county with the heroin girl. She says that the heroin girl got her discovery packet and my daughters name is all over it. My daughter is very scared that she is going to get hurt bad for being a snitch. I dont know what to tell her. She is in a Crohn's flare cuz of course they wont get her meds and now I am no longer on her approved list so no one can put money on her books and now this. What can I tell her? How can she handle this? How should she handle this? Ok there was extra stuff in there but the biggest thing right now is how scared she is.
Are you telling me that your daughter and two other girls actually told the authorities who brought the heroin in? As in snitched on this girl???
What is done is done, but let me give your daughter some advice. Never snitch or tell on another inmate!!!!!! NO MATTER WHAT. If something goes down in there and your daughter noticed what happened, if the staff or a CO comes around and asks, your daughter needs to tell them, "I didn't see anything at all. I don't know anything about it."
If anyone from prison asks your daughter to give them some infomation about an incident or about another inmate and they tell her it is confidential-----DO NOT EVER BELIEVE THEM.
COs lie, prison staff lie, inmates lie, hell everyone lies in prison.
First, nobody has any real friends in prison; the best you can ask for is to have a few acquaintances. Secondly, there are NO secrets in prison. Everything comes out after a while.
She must keep a low profile, keep out of everyone else's business, and mind her own business.
If I understand this correctly, your daughter is now in state prison, but the girl she told on is still in the country jail headed for prison. I don't know what state your daughter is in, but are there more than one women's prison in that state? If so, there is a possibility that the girl from the county jail will not be sent to the same prison your daughter is at.
From your narrative, the girl with the heroin is being charged and in that investigation, her attorney and the DA swapped discovery evidence. Then girl then saw the prosecutor's discovery and your daughter's name was listed as an informant.
WOW. That is not very good at all. That is the same thing as putting a target on your daughter's back.
But let's see what we can do to minimize the problem.
Your daughter is serving a very short sentence if I remember correctly. In fact, she got 26 months. Is that correct? With a 26 month sentence, she will be at a very low security facility. It is possible that the other girl will receive a longer sentence and be shipped to a higher security prison. If that is the case, then most of your problem is solved.
But there is also a good chance that the young lady with the heroin will show up at the same prison your daughter is currently at.
If your daughter's name had not been on the discovery in black and white, I would have advised your daughter to deny, deny, deny. But that won't work now.
Women's prisons do not have near the violence that men's prison have, but there is some. I don't want to scare you, but a lot of the violence in a women's prison is sexual violence.
Of course, women cannot fight as well as men, so that even if there is some violence, the injuries would be much more minimal than violence between two male inmates. I know that is not much of a consolation, but it is true.
Your daughter will have the "snitch" label put on her as you can bet the new girl will tell all the inmates. So at a minimum she will be shunned by the others.
The good thing is that she has a very short sentence, BUT BUT, her saving grace may be this----if she can get into that boot camp program, she will NOT be housed in the same area the other girl is. So there will be little threat if she can get into that program as they will most likely be separated.
The new girl can still spread it around that your daughter told on her, but I would be very surprised if another inmate took it upon herself to harm your daughter. Inmates don't usually stick their necks out like that for other inmates unless something is in it for them.
And even if the inmates at the boot camp style arrangement do find out about your daughter telling on the other girl, they will not risk getting kicked out, since that would delay their release. Trust me, at these boot camp programs the only thing on the inmate's mind is going home and they are not about to assault another inmate to delay their release.
If she does NOT get into the boot camp program, then if the girl with the heroin comes to her prison, then they will cross paths.
At this point, your daughter has a couple of choices------1) just stay away from this other girl, stay out of the showers, and stay in areas where the COs can see everything. I doubt that the other girl will risk a physical attack on your daughter if she is out in the open or 2) your daughter can go to Protective Custody, called PC. PC is usually a lousy place to serve time as it is a 23 hour a day lockdown with no contact with the other inmates. They have to do that to ensure the PC inmate's safety. She will get a couple of hours out a day for exercise and a shower about three times a week, but the rest of the time she will be locked up in a 5'X9' cell.
Since she has such a short time to serve, the PC would not be a bad idea if she cannot take care of herself. She can serve her entire sentence in PC if needed. The problem is that if she goes to PC, she probably will not be eligible for the boot program. She should be street wise, but with her health problems she might be even more vulnerable.
She could hope that some friends might help her, but very few inmates will ever help a person who has snitched, as they themselves would be targets.
These are your options. The best scenario would be to get into the boot camp type program, finish it, and get the hell out of there. That is what I would strongly advise.
If you have any more questions, message me.
rewdiazepam
PS I just thought of something as I was rolling this all around in my head. I will get back with you within an hour. I have a plan I think will work for sure.
In all prison systems, DOC and BOP, the system does not want two inmates together at the same prison if one of the inmates has testified against or snitched on the other. That makes sense as the DOC or BOP does not want violence between inmates since it always leaves them under the liability of being sued for not protecting the inmates.
But there is a method that not a lot of people know about unless they have been to prison that will work here. In the case of your daughter, she can file a document known as a "separatise" against this other inmate. It needs to be filed quickly and with the right prison personnel.
Once they receive the information, your daughter will be called in to the case manager's office and asked to sign the separatise. I think it has to be renewed every year, at least it does in Oklahoma. I know this works because I helped another mother about three months ago with the same problem.
After they get this document filed, the girl with the heroin will not show up at the same prison your daughter is at.
The seraratise is merely a document that is kept in both inmate's file----jacket---which insures that the inmates will always be kept separate from each other and never placed on the same yard.
This is what we need to do, as it will fix the problem.
So, do you know this other girl's name? If not, find out her name. Find out as much as you an about her, as we need to give the DOC all the information so they can get this process started. We need to contact the Director of the DOC or the Office in charge of the placement of inmates and get this filed.
You can do this with an email. I will write the email up for you and you can send it.
Message me and we will get started.
rewdiazepam
BTW, what state are we talking about here?
Thank you so much
Your daughter almost made a drastic mistake by snitching on another inmate, but regardless, your daughter and even the young lady in jail with the heroin is the product of an evil and corrupt system, comprised of ruthless prison and LE officials that used your daughter like a pawn in a chess game.
They played on her naivety and coaxed her to give up the girl's name with an implied hope that her name would be kept a secret and it would lessen her sentence. They did neither. Why? Because they had----and still have----no respect for your daughter's welfare.
This is the main reason I tell families to either educate themself about the system or find someone who understands that system. The family HAS to get involved or the prison system will just run roughshod over their loved one in prison. You have to let them know in no uncertain terms that you are her MOTHER and you intend to see that she gets the proper meds while in their custoday and that you will make sure your daughter is treated fairly.
The manner in with the criminal justice system and the prison system treats the families of offenders make me sick. They take a bunch of scared, confused people, who have no knowledge of the system, and throw them to the wolves in an effort to promote their own agenda. Pure evil.
You said, " It stinks when you cant trust anyone. Not something I am used to"
When families-----mothers, wives, and family members of loved ones are thrown into these situations-----they don't know who to turn to or who can be trusted. I can tell you one thing for sure----you can trust the people on this board and on the other boards I post. Some of these people may be poor, uneducated, and come from a lower social class than many others, but they are all bonded by the same circumstances------trying to navigated the criminal justice system. They know how it feels to be the downtrodden, disenfranchised, underdogs. They will not lead your astray.
You said, " All women in ohio go to Marysville for intake then to where ever they are going to go."
I realize that. All the DOCs and even the federal system---the Bureau of Prisons----sent an inmate directly from the country jail after sentencing to one of these assessment/receptions centers. I did not know she was in Ohio or where Ohio had these centers, but I knew that was where she was at.
She is keeping busy which is so important in prison and the faith she will derive from attending church here never hurts. My hope for your daughter is the same hope I have for all the young men and women I try to help: that they can break the cycle of drugs or whatever put them in prison, be released, and live a productive life afterward.
I will check on your problem of getting money on her books. We will see if there is not somethign we can do.
Prison problems are not insurmountable IF you know someone who is familiar with the system and who is willing to help. But most families don't know a thing about the court system or prisons, so they are at an extreme disadvantage. It is so easy to take advantage of someone who is uneducated about the system.
I will contact you this weekend and we will get on this right away.
Hang in there, mama. We WILL get you through this, I promise.
rewdiazepma