Do you know the location of his parole office? It wouldn't hurt to make contact with them a little closer to his release and start to build some rapport with them. Not too much, just be courteous and respectful even if they're jerks. Not to scare you, some POs are very fair people, and some are not. At any rate they should be able to give you most of the particulars you're asking about. It was helpful in my case in terms of transition that my PO knew I had some family support (my elder Brother and Sister).A lot of SOs do not. In Kansas the very first order of business is to report to your PO. The prison system will likely give your husband some pre-release counseling/instructions on these matters closer to his release. All the best. Be strong. - Marty

I don't know anything about half way houses but I was on probation for a long time so I can talk a little bit about that.

Like Marty said the first thing is reporting to your PO. Some PO's are fair, most are not. Especially in the very beginning, they are testing people to make sure they will follow the rules. The first thing to realize is that POs for all intents and purposes are basically god. Challenging them on almost anything basically leads to them being a bigger a-hole than they already are. Make sure it is worth it before going down that path. POs, even the nice ones will assume your guy is going to break the law again until proven otherwise. So to stay on your POs good side you need to do several things.

1. Complete therapy (or be on track to complete it in a reasonable amount of time).

2. Get and keep a job (if it takes him awhile to find a job have him keep a log of everywhere he has gone and everyone he has talked to so he can show his PO that he is trying to get a job.

3. Follow all conditions of probation/parole and any and all sex offender laws in your state. This means registering his address and work with the police right away.

4. Pass polygraphs. Now polys are not a lie detector test, there is a lot of information on this board you can read about polys how they aren't even close to 100% accurate, how they have false positives etc. But I can tell you if you do things you aren't supposed to you are going to be more nervous on the poly test and may end up failing. So the rule of thumb is do not do anything against your probation/parole order and don't violate the law as far as where you can be, don't look at porn, just do not do anything you will have to lie about on the poly.

One other note on the poly, the examiner may tell him he did not pass even when he did to try and get him to make an incriminating admission. First of all, revert back to the rule never do anything you would need to lie about, but definitely never EVER admit to the polygraph examiner anything. They are not your friend. When they ask why you failed just say that's weird and leave it at that.

If he can do those four things probation/parole is bearable but tough. If you get on your POs bad side, they will look for a way to violate him and even if you follow the rules to the T they will find one mistake and violate him. So stay on the POs good side. As his wife you should let his PO know you will do all you can to help support him integrating back into the community but you will leave the communication between him and your husband.

Another note for you, you should really play dumb with his PO. If his PO starts asking you questions about things that could possibly get your husband in trouble it's best to just play dumb. It is not your job to help him violate your husband, God knows PO's do not need help to do that.

If you can help/motivate/support him to complete therapy, get and keep a job, follow the straight and narrow for RSO laws and pass his polys you guys will be in good shape.

Take it one day at a time and you guys can get through it. He is lucky to have someone who cares so much about him.

-independent