Chapter 13: Life After Prison?
Probation, Sex Offender Registration, and Beyond
This is part of a series. For more please go to the Table of Contents.
I had been thinking about how to confront my future life for some months — since about halfway through my time at Swift Annex in fact — but it was while I was languishing in protective custody at River CI Annex that that these thoughts came together into a clear idea of how I should plan for the future. I felt I should put these ideas into writing now, then come back and look at them later to see if things turned out as I expected.
While I was at Swift Annex I began to hear a steady drumbeat of guys telling me how horrible probation is in my state — how the main mission of every probation office is to find a way to violate you and send you back to prison. This drumbeat included but was by no means limited to every friend I had — Harry and Jerry and even Deno at Swift, Tyrone at Hayes, and Star at River CI. They all said the same thing — man, you have to get out of this state if you are to have any hope of surviving probation without being violated and sent back. And how much worse for a sex offender! As contrite as I was and still am about my past internet addiction, and as determined as I was and still am to never violate probation and never be tempted by child porn again, this led to a gnawing fear about what lay ahead after prison. Guys did occasionally point out that hey, no matter where you go, every states probation system is just as bad. Thanks — now there’s some reassurance for you!
But wait, there’s more! All inmates also agreed that at least in my state, everyone sentenced to probation must return to his home county and serve at least 4–6 months there. Only then, they said, would I be able to apply for a transfer to another, “easier” state. Opinions differed on the likelihood of getting a transfer approved, partly because on top of everything else states have “interstate compacts” which require both the sending and receiving states to approve the transfer, so just like a contestant playing “Double Jeopardy” your chances of getting denied are doubled.
My first reaction to all this talk, while still at Swift Annex, was to write a letter to my attorney asking him to verify if everything I have described above was really true. My contract with my attorney provided me with his services through the end of my probation. The reaction to my writing this letter among all my friends and acquaintances was unanimous — “Oh — good luck with that. Once you’re in prison your attorney will completely blow you off — contract or no contract!” But at least on that occasion my attorney replied promptly and courteously and confirmed that yes it’s all true, but he also reassured me that a person like myself was very unlikely to violate probation and end up back in prison. However, the more inmate talk I heard the less comfort I took in my attorney’s reassurance.
Sex Offender Probation and Registration
When I arrived at Hayes CI I met, became friends with, and soon “unfriended” an inmate named Wilbur. During our brief friendship he shared with me a spreadsheet from an organization called the Association for Constitutional Sex Offender Laws. This spreadsheet summarizes not sex offender probation requirements but sex offender registration requirements for all 50 U.S. states. This spreadsheet was of enormous interest to me and I resolved to obtain my own copy — which I did. It will be helpful to explain the difference between these two things — probation vs. registration. In all 50 states, convicts may or may not be sentenced to probation following their prison terms. And in all 50 states, sex offenders are subject to special restrictive requirements over and above those of all others on probation. These requirements vary widely by state and may include restrictions on where probationary sex offenders may live (minimum distances from schools, parks, child care centers, playgrounds, etc.), where they may go (same list), people they may associate with (their own children and grandchildren, etc.), use of computer equipment, etc. In my state I will not even be allowed to drive a car during my probation.
Unlike every other type of ex-convict, the special restrictive requirements for sex offenders do not end with probation. All 50 states also require all sex offenders to become “registered” which continues many of the same special restrictive requirements of probation, either for some specified period of time or, as in my state and in many others, for the rest of the sex offender’s life. Again, these restrictions vary widely by state and usually include having ones name and charges posted on the internet, restrictions on location of residence, etc., and in addition every state has its own requirements for registered sex offenders who visit their state which usually include having to check in at the local sheriff’s department or police station within a certain period of time after arrival in the state and checking in regularly thereafter. It was these sex offender requirements that were summarized in the ACSOL spreadsheet.
How Sex Offender Registration Varies by State
As I looked at the ACSOL Spreadsheet I found that my state has some of the harshest sex offender registration requirements in the U.S. — but that it is only one of a large group (15–20) states that share these very harsh, lifetime requirements, that make few distinctions between a person like me who possessed 10 photos vs. a serial child rapist.
However, there is a smaller group of states that do make such distinctions and do treat sex offenders less harshly than others. Most of these states divide sex offenders into three “levels” or “tiers”, where my type of offense falls within “Level 1.” And in most of these states having a 3-level system, “Level 1” offenders are not subject to lifetime registration — the “duration of service” can be “as short as” 10 years. There are a couple of states with even shorter periods but they are problematic for other reasons.
As a separate matter, there are some states that do not have locational and/or distance separation requirements for where Level 1 offenders may live or go. These are not necessarily the same states that have 10 year duration requirements, so it all becomes very confusing. Still, I couldn’t help asking myself, is there a subset of U.S. states that have both no locational/ distance separation requirements and 10-year duration for Level 1 offenders? Where I could live with at least some degree of freedom and see the light of day at the end of the long tunnel — a second chance in life?
The answer to that question turned out to be yes. It’s not a long list — about 12 states — and I am not going to list them because as we know state laws change all the time and I do not want this article to become hopelessly outdated within just a few years. If you are part of my target audience and find yourself in my position you will have to do your own research.
What I will say is that the states on this list turn out to be an eclectic mixture of what you might view as “liberal” northeastern states — together with some otherwise conservative “strong on personal liberties” western and Rocky Mountain States.
Within this subset of U.S. states there is one more distinction to consider. Most of the “10/year/no locational requirement states” give discretion to their correctional authorities to to set the duration of individual sex offender registration within a range — so that 10 years is the minimum for a Level 1 offender but the correctional authority is free to make it longer. Although I may say to myself, “My charges are so minimal how could they possibly give me more than 10 years?”, they may see things quite differently.
However, there are a small number of “10-year/no locational requirement states” where, at least according to the ACSOL spreadsheet, 10 years really means 10 years for Level 1 offenders. There are a very small number of states where a Level 1 offender may petition to be removed from registration after as little as 5 years.
Should I move to another state?
As you can imagine, I found myself very interested in learning more about these few states and whether the information of the ACSOL spreadsheet was accurate. I decided to ask my attorney these questions and unfortunately, this was when all my fellow inmates’ predictions that my attorney would blow me off turned out to be true. I sent him two separate letters asking for information about sex offender registration requirements in a couple of states other than my own, and both times I got short, curt letters describing the sex offender probation requirements of my own state. I became very frustrated and decided to turn to the prison law library for help, but it turned out my timing could not have been worse. Before I could schedule law library time at Hayes CI I got transferred to River CI Annex, and before I could schedule time at River Annex I was forced to check in to protective custody where you cannot have a law library call-out.
This, however, became one of the occasions when my protective custody roommate Star Extreme was able to help me. The most pressing question about sex offender registration was this: Suppose I endure my probation in my home state. This seemed to be my only alternative. At the end of probation, suppose I move to a “10-year/no locational requirement” state registration state. When I establish my residency in that state, will I automatically take on the registration requirements of that state (including the 10 years and no locational requirements) OR will my state’s very harsh lifetime requirements travel with me despite my best efforts to escape from them? This is a very important question that my attorney was unwilling to answer.
However, it turned out that Star had a brother who was a sex offender so she knew (or thought she knew) that the answer to my question was yes, I will take on the sex offender requirements of my state of residence. I took her word for it, was greatly relieved by that answer, and decided that all other questions about individual state’s registration requirements will have to be re-researched anyway as I approach the end of my probation since as I say, state laws change frequently. For now I could put my mind at ease, at least on that point.
Protecting myself from false allegations
How do I protect myself from false allegations and unfair treatment, both during my probation and afterward as a registered sex offender? This discussion is predicated on the assumption that potential sources of such allegations and unfair treatment would be two-fold: first, my probation officer’s attempts to get me violated and sent back to prison, and second, my fellow citizen’s efforts to have all sex offenders removed from their community.
Again, it was while languishing in protective custody at River CI Annex and talking these problems over with Star Extreme that I developed m own self-protection strategy. I needed to make sure that my whereabouts and activities were thoroughly documented at all times, and I would be required to give my probation officer advanced notice as two my whereabouts and activities. I needed to do this without any internet or cell phone apps since I would be prohibited or severely restricted from the internet during my probation and even as a registered sex offender — a restriction which, as I have said elsewhere, I am happy to comply with. I may not be able to do anything about my mental defect, but I was and am determined to be free of child porn addiction.
To achieve my goals came up with a 3-part strategy: First, any time I left my home I would wear some kind of body camera or bring a video recorder with me to document my every move. I’d also need GPS monitoring, whether or not that required a separate device. My attorney told me I would not be required to wear a police issued GPS device during my probation. I was glad of it because this way I could have control of my own monitoring. Whatever devices I used I’d want to have control over my own permanent record of my movements in the event that I was ever accused of having done something, no matter how long after-the-fact. The technology of these devices has been changing rapidly in recent years, so I knew I’d have to see what was available at a reasonable price at the time of my release from prison.
However, there was one other consideration. I’d need to make sure the camera was pointed at me, not at other people. Suppose I’m in a shopping mall or theme park and the camera just happens to be pointing at a family with children. I could be accused of stalking and videotaping them!
Second, the same principle applied within my home. Even if I was just watching TV or sleeping soundly in the middle of the night I would want all that documented to prevent anyone from accusing me of being somewhere else. I was unsure whether to use the same tracking devices I was planning to use outside the home, or install a home security system that would keep a permanent record. I decided to see what systems might be available at what cost as soon as I was released.
Third, I was going to be required to track my daily activities and report them to my probation officer. I became so obsessed with the idea that he/she would be out to violate me and send me back to prison that I thought I should get an old fashioned fax machine with which to send a daily schedule of my planned activities and movements to him/her. I decided that each morning I’d send a 2–3 day schedule in which the first day’s schedule would have to be strictly adhered to — if any activity or movement was not on that schedule I would not do it — but the following 2–3 days would be “tentative.” I wanted to be “accusation-proof.”
Presumably, when my probation was over I’d no longer need the fax machine, but I decided I’d still need the body camera, home security and GOS as a permanent record as long as I was a registered sex offender, even if that meant the rest of my life. And you may say, wow Z, you’re acting mighty paranoid — to which my response is that old saying, “It’s not paranoia if somebody really is out to get you.” My faith in humanity was at an end.
However, later in my protective custody at River CI I reviewed all my self-tracking plans with Shark — who was a sex offender and had gone through probation and registration — and he insisted I was being way too paranoid about all this. He said the probation officer will leave me alone as long as he/she sees that I’m a stand-up guy who’s not causing problems, and he said life as a registered sex offender is no big deal. He’s also the one who pointed out that I should be careful about where I point the body camera.
I listened carefully to what Shark said but I couldn’t help asking, “Aren’t you the guy who’s back here for two years just because you got kicked out of your girlfriend’s dad’s house and said you didn’t register your new (homeless) address? That doesn’t sound like ‘no big deal’ to me!”
He said, “Yeah but that was the first problem I had in 15 years as a registered sex offender.” I heard that and though, not good enough! If there’s a way to get a second chance in life, I definitely want it. Still, the body camera and daily faxes to my probation officer, while conceptually good, were something I might want to play by ear as my probation actually happened.
My plans for probation and beyond
One reason I got “comfortable” with the idea of doing my entire probation in my home county before attempting to leave my state was that by this time I had a clear idea of what I wanted to accomplish during my probation. I had two primary objectives. First, I wanted to reconcile with my ex-wife. My greatest desire would be to reconcile romantically, but failing that to reconcile as friends. In truth, we were still on friendly terms — she accepted my phone calls and letters, wrote to me occasionally and even told me I’d be able to visit frequently with her in her house “as friends” during my probation. All those were hopeful signs, but I fervently hoped to prove myself to her and win her back, at least at some level. Obviously, if that was my objective it really helps to be living close by.
Second, as I said in Chapter 1 of my story, I owned a small number of rental properties which I had put in the hands of a property manager. They were good investments and I intend to hang on to them — but I was seriously thinking about leaving my state at the end of my probation. I wanted to accomplish all the renovations and improvements I had ever thought of doing during my probation to get them in tip-top shape before I left town. That way they’d rent for top money and I’d only need to return occasionally to look after them and see to routine repairs and maintenance. If I needed to sell one — for example, to buy a place of my own once I settled in my new state of residence — it would also sell for top price.
My ex-wife and I had always talked of traveling in our retirement. During my probation it looked to me like retirement travel would be almost out of the question. I wouldn’t be able to leave my county of residence without my probation officer’s advance approval, which he/she could withhold for any reason at all. My county would in effect be my new prison, complete with an 8-hour curfew every night that sounded suspiciously like “lock-down” to me. Don’t get me wrong — I would be very happy to live in a prison that large. But a prison it still was, and even Shark warned me to stay away from the county lines during my probation for fear of straying over by mistake and getting violated for that. Fortunately all my rental properties were in my home county.
After probation I would be “free to travel” either with my ex-wife or on my own. However, “freedom to travel” is a relative term for any sex offender because as I said earlier every state has requirements for “visiting” registrants which include having to check in at the local sheriff’s department or police station within a certain period of time and checking in every time you change location within a state. I imagined these requirements to be cumbersome and humiliating but there they were and I’d have to live with them. Traveling outside the U.S. seemed to be impossibility.
Assuming that my ex-wife would not give me a compelling reason to stay in my home state (i.e. she would not want to re-marry me and live happily ever after) my intention was to leave my state as soon as my investment renovations and improvements were complete and my probation was over. These two items would probably take about the same amount of time. Then I would establish residency in a “10-year/no locational requirement” state — if possible one were where I could petition to be removed from registration after 5 years. Finally, I would lead a squeaky clean life and prove to the world that I deserved the second chance I was asking for.
That’s the plan, and now I have written it out and posted it for anyone to see. I will come back later to see if thing turn out anything like what I expected.
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