When this polygraph was conducted, Mr. Westerfield had not been arrested but was considered the prime suspect in Danielle's abduction and murder.

Westerfield unwisely agreed to the polygraph, but he even more stupidly began talking too much to the examiner.

rewdiazepam

of all the shit that SO's and their families to add in the polys is added punishment.

considering that polys are not allowed in court and the capacity for screw ups, why hasn't one of the bigger advocacy groups taken this on?

While in prison a guy was serving a 20 year sentence. He had served time already and while on Supervised release he had to take polys. During 1 of these exams, he was told that he failed and asked if he was being dishonest. He admitted to committing new crimes while on supervised release.
He was charged with new crimes and in Federal Criminal History 2, he received 20 years. When he was given a Public defender for this crime, the lawyer noticed that his client PASSED the poly, that he was told he had failed...the US attorney said, sometimes we have to bluff, to get these guys to be honest.

I took a POLY and even though I basically passed I showed deception on two or three questions, Poly's are just a form of crap that allows those to commit into a false confession

Agreed. Never say more than is necessary, and as Rew mentioned before, just stick to the "I don't know why it spiked on that question", and leave it at that!! My guy was told that he failed one question, and it was understood that the whole Poly was failed. The PO and therapist were vague and he was asked to take two classes until he passes? My guy asked the PO if he actually failed the Poly or just the one question, and the PO did not say he failed, but did not say he passed either. So, it IS only for one purpose, to intimidate and get some sort of confession. Pretty silly games if you ask me. I know he did not fail, but nobody really says it. Just a reason to collect more money.

Telling you that you failed is a standard trick to get you to talk! Just brush it off and they'll not know what to do with you! I'd just say "Okay" and leave.

Drove them nuts!

These are terribly petty people you have to deal with----some of the COs, POs, etc

Mtbfan, it sounds as if your guy is dealing with a petty, childish PO.

It always helps to just laugh at them under your breath and realize that you are better than they will ever be, that they are working at a two bit job dealing with some really trashy inmates and you will be free soon.

Over the years I became so disgusted with the system. Finally that disgust was released in a confrontation I had with the CO in charge of the laundry on the morning of my release.

Most of the time I just let the stupidity of the staff just run off my back, but not this morning.

On the morning of my release from prison, I had to take all my property and my clothes over to the laundry. Now you have to know that the state gave us rags to wear; it was really pitiful.

The DOC staff member that was in charge of the laundry was one of those jerks who always treated inmates like crap. I never did like him. He was about five foot four and weighed about 140 pounds, but he used his power to treat inmates badly. He was a redneck hillbilly and always had that stupid smirk on his face when he was screwing around inmates.

He was not that much different than a lot of your POs.

I go over there and get ready to walk to central control to process out to be released.

He tells me, "Take that DOC shirt off before you go." He just did that to piss me off.

The cocky manner in which he said it did indeed piss me off.

So I ripped the shirt off, tearing a couple of buttons in the process. I threw the shirt at him and said, "Here you cocky little man. You can have your fifty cent shirt, but guess what? I am going home today. I will leave and get me a decent job and you will still be here washing out inmates underwear."

The staff member just looked at me as he was speechless. I knew he could do nothing or even give me a misconduct, as it takes 48 hours to process a misconduct and I was getting ready to leave the compound in less than an hour. ha ha ha

Good memories.

rewdiazepam

No matter how much you hate the system. "Rocking the Boat" is never a good idea no matter how much you feel the need. Rew's example was different. You should never do anything like that with a PO!

There is only so much they can do under the law so don't give them an opportunity to get under your skin. I would never speak unless spoken to and volunteered nothing. Being quiet with no reaction will drive them nuts! Don't give them the opportunity to get you.

This is why my hubby is a level 3! On his poly for release they could not determine if he failed it or not because he kept moving. He has anxiety issues that were documented. The first question where they ask you if your name is......it said he was lying... How is that!? Now on the other hand the ones he has to take every 6 months for the po is not that bad. They are actually going to work in our favor with our custody case over our son. His po is going to court for us with those saying he has passed every one since release. I know everyone says don't trust the po but we really got blessed with a great one. We have talked about moving but I won't do it of we have to move to another county.

alexsmommy912: Not all PO's are bad, you appear to have a good one. I have had a few good ones, but more of the less than helpful sort.

The fact that he was lying on his name is completely ridiculous. Unless a polygrapher built the test to verify identiy (as in someone pretending to be somebody else), the name question isn't scored.

Polygraphs have irrelevant questions, and asking about your name is an irrelevant question. This means the question is not scored. They don't tell you it is irrelevant, however because he failed the question, they hammered him in the post test interrogation phase. It isn't that he failed his name, but because his test results were so skewed.