You said, “He now has a 18 month old daughter whom he has yet to see.”

I thought your son was in prison serving time on a short sentence. So is he asking to see her on visitation at this prison???

Or is he still in the county jail awaiting transfer to the Department of Corrections??

If he is in prison, he is now under the custody of the DOC---or BOP if it was a federal offense. If the DOC has no problem with him seeing his young daughter, then there is no reason she cannot visit with her mother or a guardian over 18 years of age. You should be able to take her to see him when you visit. If he is in prison, he is not on probation or parole and the PO does not have the authority to either allow a visit or deny a visit. BTW, POs are NOT going to get into the politics or the business of a prison or correctional institution.

Your son is not under the control of the PO at this time. I have no idea why the parole agent is even talking to the prison, as the PO has no authority in a prison setting. I doubt that a PO can convince the DOC to either deny or allow a visit. In all my years of experience, I have never heard a PO wanting to even get involved in a prison matter. Maybe his PO is different, but it surely is not the norm. POs have a lot better things to do than get involved with prison procedures.

A few state statutes do not allow sex offender inmates to have visitation rights to a minor under 18 years old. Some states have DOC policies that prevent a child from visiting an inmate and some don’t. And sometimes it is up to the warden of the prison. If it is not written in statute, the warden can always override and make an exception.

A lot of sex offenders DO visit their minor children. When I was in prison, small children were able to visit inmates with a sex offense with no problem.

There is one exception----if the minor is the victim of the inmate’s crime, the chances of visitation are zero. They would never allow the victim of a sex crime to visit the perpetrator.

You will have to have written permission beforehand from the mother of the child or the legal guardian before she can visit. I don’t know if he is still married to the mother, but you will have to have permission from the custodial parent. Also, the child may have to be placed on his visiting list.

You said, “We were then told in an e-mail that they (social workers etc. at the institution ) said they did not feel he should see her.”

Maybe they don’t feel as if he should see her, but as I said, if it is a prison policy, it is up to the warden.

It seems to me that a lot of people are getting involved in this situation when it is up to the warden.

Probation officers work for the state as DOC employees, which should tell you who their loyalties are with. No, they are not there to necessarily help your son. They will always take the state’s position.

POs are officers of the court and they are there to carry out the sentencing orders signed by the judge at sentencing. Most POs do not want to violate a probationer, but they must abide by the rules and conditions set out by the court.

If they refuse visitation, you can write a plea in the form of a letter to the warden of the institution. Sit down and write a letter to the warden respectfully asking if your granddaughter can visit your son in prison. DO NOT mention that he is innocent. I believe you when you say he is, but nobody in the DOC likes to hear that a guy is innocent; sometimes reminding them of that fact will hurt an offender in the long run.

Tell the warden that your son has never seen his 18 month old daughter. Tell him that he has almost no means of emotional support and that you, as his MOTHER, feel seeing his daughter will help him rehabilitate himself.

Telling him that you are his MOTHER is important as many DOC employees are also mothers and mothers sometimes get breaks that wives or GFs would not. I have seen that happen. Place a LOT of emphasis that your son has never seen his daughter and you feel as if it would give him an emotional lift and better help him serve his prison sentence. You can also mention the rehabilitation part, as the DOC does understand that family support is vital for a successful rehabilitation.

You can also promise that you, his MOTHER, will be there with his small daughter and you will make sure that the daughter is safe at all times.

Hope this gives clarifies the situation for you.

rewdiazepam

Yes, son is still in prison and it is the parole agency who says he can't see his daughter. I agree that the PO should have nothing to say about what he does in prison but that is not true here. He has 2 1/2 years left on his sentence. He has not admitted to the crime and has not taken any classes yet. When he does he plans on having with him his arrest report giving the date and time of the crime, and his statement from his work that he WAS at work at that date and time.

His daughter's mother has written to those at the prison and has spoken to the PO about him seeing his daughter with no results. They plan on getting married after this is over with and has asked them to allow them to be a family now. Their answer is no. So it doesn't seem to matter what his social worker or psychiatrist at the institution think the parole agent gets the final word.

I am waiting to hear back from the head of the parole agency here in town as to why he told me in his e-mail that his social worker and others at the institution did not feel he should see his daughter at this time, when in fact they did not say that. I sent my son a copy of the e-mail and he confronted his social worker. She said what the PO said was not correct.

Got my reply from the PO. Judge does not have authority to tell the PO what they can do. Period.

His PO is not being entirely honest with you. The COURT sets the conditions of parole or probation with the judge speaking for the court. POs do NOT make the conditions of parole.

http://tinyurl.com/7fex8d8

“”CONDITIONS ARE AN INHERENT PART OF PROBATION. JUDGES SET CONDITIONS IN ORDER TO MEET THE GOALS FOR PROBATION STATED ABOVE. A probationer must comply with these conditions or else the court may impose a prison sentence or add more restrictive conditions to their probation.

Courts usually have a great deal of discretion when setting probation conditions, but that doesnt mean that judges can set whatever terms they want. Probation conditions must be reasonable. This means that the conditions cannot be vindictive, vague, overbroad or arbitrary. In addition, the conditions must be related to the protection of the public. Also, if a judge wishes to impose special conditions, those conditions must relate to the nature of the crime that the probationer committed.

JUDGES SET THE CONDITIONS, BUT PROBATION OFFICERS ENFORCE THEM. If a probation officer finds probable cause to believe that the probationer has violated the terms of the probation, the judge may either change the terms of the probation or revoke the probation and impose a prison sentence.””

The conditions of probation usually have a clause which gives a PO a wide latitude in enforcing the orders of the court, but POs only carry out the orders of the court---the judge.

You said, “Judge does not have authority to tell the PO what they can do.”

As long as the PO stays within the scope of the probation conditions as handed down by the court, then no, the judge cannot tell the PO how to enforce those rules. But if the PO goes off on a tangent and orders some condition of probation that is not ordered by the court or is in no way related to the crime, then yes, the judge can step in and stop such a condition.

A PO cannot just willy nilly add conditions of probation. PO like to make people think they are God, but they report to the court and the judge has the final authority.

Also, POs do not revoke probationers who break the rules. The PO may petition the court for a revocation, but as in all matters in this country the judge is the supreme authority, NOT the PO.

But then again, I have no idea why a probation or parole office in his official capacity as working for the court would get involved in DOC policy. Your son is not on probation or parole----he is in prison under the custody of the DOC

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