These are questions best answered by your gf's parole officer. The best encouragement you can give her is your full support and love. If she faced and conquered her prison sentence, living in a hwh will be okay. Good luck.

I don't have a lot of answers but my nephew went to a half way house straight from prison and he said it can be difficult to stay clean. She will need to stay clear of all temptation. They did help him find a job and get back on his feet. Then he was able to transition to his own place.

My son went to one in Minneapolis for a few weeks. It was an old mansion. But he didn't really like it there. Only because it was OLD, it wasn't homey, and the people there, he didn't get along with. But on the upside of it, he got to have a car, but they kept the keys until 6 am in the morning. Then he could leave, go to work, then be home at a certain set time. I think they gave him 40 minutes to get home, which was tough sometimes in rush hour traffic.

He did get to visit us, after a few weeks, for a few hours on a weekend day. We could go see him I think 3 times a week, in a hallway, sitting on old couches.I believe his last couple weekends he did get to stay overnight. It's been 5 years, I can't remember everything. Especially with having a son and a fiance in and out of prison a lot. UGH!

It was some sort of supervision, not sending him out into the world right away. Let him get used to life again, and responsibilities. Then he got out, and started his life.

He survived it. I think the worst thing for him was that there he was out in the world, but he couldn't be a part of the life he wanted right away. After being in 4 years, he wanted freedom.

I believe they could go for walks, for short periods of time, and his friends would meet him on some corner. That could present problems if they had drugs. Not sure if they did, or didn't. He didn't tell me that.

I think it's ok to send them to those for awhile.

I do believe where my fiance is now, is a much better thing. He is in a transitional housing type minimum, BARE minimum security place. It looks like a retreat, or resort, sort of. No bars, fences, barbed wire, no guards out watching their every move.

Every morning, early, they get up, eat, then stand in line and listen if their name is called to do some sort of chores. He has had to shovel, rake, put out picnic tables for visit, and the other day he volunteered to strip the floors and wax them in the middle of the night.

Some get to go out into the community to a couple businesses that hire them. The DOC takes 77% of their pay, but they do get something. For some reason he won't get to do it.

Today he chopped wood with a bunch of guys. He can also fish there. There is a river running through the property.

I asked how I could get reservations to stay there. HAHA

They had a few classes about issues that will arise once out, regarding their past, such as drinking or drugs.

The guards do nothing, just sit around.

We can go outside, if he had a son or daughter or grandson, they can play ball, etc. There are baseball fields, and they play daily.

I think the concept is to show them what life can be like alcohol or drug free. That you can enjoy yourself. It's also to promote responsibility, and have them learn to take pride in their work and what they do.

I think this is better than a halfway house, except they can't go off driving to work. INMATES actually drive them to work, if they work at those companies. With no guards!

Throwing them out into the world cold turkey without these places definitely is not a good thing. Mine has come home, promised me and himself he would not be the same as before, that he had changed. But when freedom hit him in the face, he went wild.

So the halfway house may be good too.

I don't think they get out early for any reason. Their time sentenced, is what they must do. At the end point, when a date has been set, it is rarely lessened. I'm sorry.

My daughter is still serving time but two ladies she became friendly with emailed me when they were released to half-way houses. Neither liked the half-way house. They did help them find jobs. Both ladies were allowed to visit their families on the weekend. They had to be back at the half-way house by bedtime.

It's one step closer to being home. I think it's just a matter of trying to be happy this will soon be behind her.

I think they don't like them because they are not like being home. Not comfortable, nice places. There are still rules, still someone like guards, but they are usually called counselors. Same thing though. Yes, they do have to be in at certain times and abide by all rules, so it is just a different kind of prison.

They feel so close to being free, but they aren't. They can go out into the real world, but only to work, and only to visit for a few hours. By this time they just want OUT, and back to life again. They see life happening all around them. They are sort of in that life, but then they have to go back to their reality.
It's important at this point, that they do just as they have been told to do, or they might get revoked if still on probation or parole. So they are still living in a fish bowl, and it sucks.
Imagine if you were out there, driving a car for the first time in ages, going to a job, but that's it, back to being watched and locked in a place again, staying with people you may never associate with out in your real life.
You are getting a taste of what you will have, but you can't have it yet. Like waving a ice cream cone in front of a little kid, then throwing it in the trash. How would that little kid react??
But usually they aren't in that halfway house long, so they just have to do what they have to do, to make sure they can leave for good.

The biggest problem with halfway houses----also called work release in some states----is that there are so many rules and many inmates cannot handle the freedom they will have.

With all the rules, unless an inmate is very disciplined, it is easy to mess up, break a silly infraction, and trick your time off. Halfway houses or work releases have many more rules than prison.

I saw many inmates go from a minimum to a halfway house or work release, get into trouble, lose some good time credits, and wind up back in prison worse off than they were before they went to the halfway house.

The two culprits are alcohol and drugs. With the newfound freedom from the structured environment of an actual prison, an inmate may begin to dabble in alcohol or marijuana.
In my opinion anyone with a drug or substance abuse problem only needs that extra freedom when they are being "supervised" and supported on a regular basis by a family member or loved one. They will not get that at a halfway house.

Personally, I was never eligible for a halfway house or any form of security below a minimum security prison. But if I had been, I would have refused to go. I just saw those as places where trouble was just waiting to happen. I could have disciplined myself fine, but a lot of inmates at a halfway house are very young first timers. I don't do well with ignorance or the foolishness with some of the "kids" in prison.

Maybe she can handle it, but maybe she should just stay where he is at and finish her sentence in prison. She may not have a choice, as the DOC have certain rules about the placement of inmates. When I was at the medium, they wanted to send me down to a minimum. I did not want to go there, as I had all my friends at the medium, but the case manager said I had to.

Many inmates cannot handle the extra freedom all at once. They really need the support of a family member on a 24/7 basis.

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