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four years of severe spinal pain. Access to medical care denied.

The source of inspiration for The Backbone of Justice Probation Reform Project
is an individual experiencing constant, severe pain due to a degenerating spine condition
which is treatable in the right hands of sufficiently trained medical experts,
but which is deteriorating under the ongoing medical neglect
associated with being denied access to medical care while on probation,
after being denied medical care prior to and during imprisonment for a year.

Between administrative delays, time served, and denials while on probation
more than FOUR YEARS have passed in excruciating, disabling pain.
That is about 20% of his adult life spent in needless agony due to systems refusing care,
violating his 8th Amendment Rights to be Free from "Cruel and Unusual Punishment."

He is still waiting.

As he has continuously explained and documented the pain, and the needs to relieve it,
the probation officer has responded by saying "I don't care" and acting without empathy,

... even going as far as a drop-in house-call on a Sunday morning to
emphasize that a judge would probably deny a request for terminating probation,*
creating a looming sense of threat, because then the question is how much more
painful would life get if the judge defers to the probation officer's judgment to deny
freedom, and then this PO is still exercising corrupted control on medical travel decisions,
and is authorized by the system in his position of power to do so.
What risks are worth taking, to reach for help? And how?

Early Termination of Supervised Release is the best hope, or it will be another year.
Freedom would give him the flexibility necessary to travel in order to access
qualified and capable providers, while also being able to work and provide for his children.

Pro Se Motion to Appoint Counsel has been denied.

How many other people have or are enduring similar pain, neglect, barriers? Unheard?
What can we do to create impact for the individual and systemic change for the whole?

*Note: The Context of the probation officer denying travel for medical treatment in this case is that court documents quote as having "no victims", no fines, no need for restitution,
no program participation requirements, which is all considered low-risk.

This Silver Lining is the opportunity to launch an empathy-based advocacy campaign
centered on PAIN and the need for revising the foundational structures of the
back-breaking so-called "justice" System which allow for such pain.

The plan is to utilize a Pain-Simulation Medical Device,
in order to disrupt the dissociation and depersonalization patterns of prison officials,
probation officers, judges, and all administrators of the legal system

by way of reintroducing THE CAPACITY TO FEEL,

which is a necessary human capacity to have intact at all levels of decision-making
within the social structures that any advanced society could deem as a
high-functioning, well-integrated, humane and competent,
fair and balanced, wise, and truly just, Justice System.

We believe this pain-simulation campaign has tremendous power to bring tangible proof
to The People regarding just how broken and abusive the current system is,
and therefore, why we must take up the civic responsibility to engage change.

IMPACTFUL FACTORS IN THIS CASE FOR BUILDING A NEW Backbone OF Justice:

1) The physical causes for the pain are clearly visible on medical imaging.

2) The pain is treatable, thus senselessly endured, due to the probation officer's decisions.

3) The barriers and denials for accessing medical care are documented, repeatedly.

4) Medical reports show the neglect has progressed to Stage 4 spinal degeneration disease.

5) Once freedom to access medical care is granted, improvements should be possible.

6) When permitted to travel, successful relief began in in just 3 trial treatment sessions.

7) The relief was not due to suppressive medications, rather to structural reparation.

8) Even with that medical evidence, administrative barriers continue to prevent care.

9) This demonstrates continued, knowing withholding from treatments that work, even as the newest medical documentation showed the severity is advancing under neglect.

9) The treating provider is world-class and is an eloquent advocate for his patients.

10) Pain-simulator devices used could be used in this case to promote empathy.

11) This patient has extremely high pain tolerance. Anyone stepping into his shoes will likely be shocked at the degree to which a person in power has been authorized by our so-called justice system to senselessly force another human to endure this kind of pain.

12) Anyone who takes on the pain-simulation would likely empathize with the cruelty endured, thus want to address the legal system issues associated with: delaying access to relief; isolating a person from anyone reasonable to be able to go to or consult with on this suffering; and depriving/delaying a right to legal counsel when the government itself is the main contributor to the drastic pain.

13) The disabling nature of the pain and the impact of the pain in this case also provides grounds for advocating beyond the medical-access issues, into territory of how the probation process paralyzes other aspects of rebuilding life, such as work, finances, living situation, and family.

The support system around this case includes people and organizations with
hearts for Justice reform and ingenuity to disrupt the systemic complacency

- USING pain-simulation devices to build empathy -

and with fortitude for advocating for justice by harnessing that empathy
for change at the levels of law, policy, procedure, and resourcing.

With sufficient support to stand tall in this as a transformational movement for Justice,
we believe significant strides can be made in altering the structures for how the prison and probation systems function.

Our focus is on strategies for decentralizing who is in positions of authority to make decisions - which can cause such harm - by replacing individual power with
advisory-board power, as well as adding in empathy-building procedures and rehabilitative structures to improve outcomes for individuals and for society, which can be empirically tested and refined, based on social science, medical, public health, and criminal justice research.


IN ORDER TO DO SO, WE MUST FACE THE PAIN.

Pain-Simulation Device as an Empathy-Building Tool

The empathy-building plan for the Backbone of Justice Project is to utilize a medical
Pain-Simulation Device, in a manner similar to how it is used in medical settings to increase empathy in doctors and medical students, by helping them experience simulated levels of pain that their patients endure. Research has shown that using these tools to increase empathy improves provider competency and patient well-being outcomes.

In the case, of empathy-building for re-imagining Justice System Design, we hope that a
Pain-Simulation Device can open the minds of people in positions of power within the courts, the prisons and probation systems, public health, psychological and medical and child development and family social science fields, as well as the general public that votes to elect officials into governmental positions who then can effect change in and law and policy.

Given the horrible degree of pain which this man has been forced to endure, while the probation officer inhumanely denies him ready access to medical treatments, we suspect that other people who have opportunity to physically experience a simulated glimpse of this pain would quickly agree that dramatic Reform is necessary...

... IF our society wants to consider itself humane and just.

We are ready to take this on, not just as a small-scale study or legal case, rather as a TRANSFORMATIONAL MOVEMENT, based on upright determination and compassionate responding:

To build a New Backbone of Justice in America.

This means an entire restructuring is needed for the future of a Justice System that can stand tall. A Justice System that has a supporting capacity - rather than a crippling impact - of The People in moving forward, as they rebuild their lives after involvement with the legal system.

We hope this massive degree of pain can instill a massive degree of empathy, which can lead to massive action to improve the conditions faced by those under mass-incarceration and then are left with the massive task of attempting to rebuild their lives in the aftermath of the massive oppression of such a massively cruel system.

To pain going unheeded, untended, unseen, unheard, untouched, we say: "No más!"

The Medical Condition

The severe pain in the lower back is affirmed by MRI images and exam to be caused by degeneration of the lumbar spine as well as the misalignment of those vertebrae, which is leading to the deterioration of function and health in the bones and discs. The medical classification is "severe" due to the degree of displacement, pain/numbing radiating all the way down to the toes, and intermittent total collapse and inability to get off the floor for hours or to walk without assistance for days .

The degree of degeneration revealed on a series of MRI imaging studies evidences an overall pattern of mild to moderate degeneration when he entered prison which has worsened to advanced/severe (Stage 4) degeneration after these years of traumatic medical neglect.

One vertebra in particular is severely displaced, pressing sharply into the spinal nerves, causing the excruciating feeling like there is a knife constantly stabbing him in the back. Disc herniation and narrowing of the space surrounding the spinal cord is contributing to the pain.

The pattern of the body over-compensating to avoid the pain of the bones pressing into the nerve column has led to a loss of the natural, healthy curvature of the spine. These changes which were visible by comparing MRIs before imprisonment and a year ago and more recently, show signs of decline due to the lack of the needed care.

New neck pain and pain/numbing radiating down the arms and hands has begun over the last year. New images affirm degeneration in the cervical spine (neck) consistent with the pain symptoms. This has been assessed by the medical team as a side effect of the body's compensation from the lower back misalignment and pain. In other words, degeneration and disabling pain is spreading to new areas of the spine, due to the ongoing denial of medical care.

All of this has been a real pain in the neck!

As painful as it is, laughter is good medicine!

The Needed Medical Care

A clinic has been found with a unique approach to spine care and rehabilitation, which would allow for non-surgical options for integrative orthopedic care. This clinic also consults with surgical specialists in the event that collaborative care can offer the best all around options, carefully sequencing various approaches.

The patient was able to try this approach to spine care for one week (on a travel pass, which was then revoked for no good reason!) and began to experience immediate relief, bringing hope for life-changing improvements. This suggests that tremendous progress is very likely, with doctors estimating that it is entirely possible to eventually experience minimal to no pain.

Full rehabilitation, restoration, stabilization, and detoxification of the spine and body will likely take several months, and strengthening and regaining mobility will be an ongoing journey, but healing is possible.

Up to this point, the only strategy he has really been given (despite trying to see dozens of medical providers in search for healthcare coverage and expertise capable of yielding relief) has been pain medications.

The problem with pain medications is two-fold:

1) Pain medicines only masks the pain, but does not treat the root cause.

The pain is a signal from the body that something is wrong.
In this case, it is something that is fixable, in the right hands.
Shutting down pain signals to neglect the root cause only furthers the degeneration.

2) The pain medication cocktails have terrible, unwanted side effects.

At this point, he has been prescribed years of high doses of NSAIDs, nerve-targeting medications, muscle relaxants, and corticosteroids. The pain breaks through all of that. So, the next route has been injections of anti-inflammatories, numbing agents, and corticosteroids. Epidurals and nerve blocks have even failed to provide full enough relief to conduct normal activities without significant pain, likely due to the degree of compression into the nerve bundles.

Naproxen, Gabapentin, Cyclobenzaprine
Methocarbamol, Toradol, and Prednisone.
Lidocaine, Dexamethasone
..............................................................................................

And, when nothing else is working,
they are throwing opioids at him.
..............................................................................................

Hydrocodone-Acetaminophe.
Morphine.


why is the legal system allowed to force someone into ...
...no choice but to take the same drugs that put people in prison?


....... is this broken justice system ready for a TRUTH BOMB? .......

Prison Neglect & Probation Interference with Medical Care

In prison, imaging determined that the degeneration was "not bad enough" for medical care. But, it is not appropriate to tell someone with a bone out of place pressing sharply into the spinal nerves that the determination of medical need is based on the lack of a progressive disease and because that doesn't exist yet he does not deserve medical care. There was severe pain and they neglected it and had the patient on a thin mattress doing physical labor which made the pain worse and degenerated the spine.

A year out of prison he had a new MRI showing severe degeneration, and the probation office continued to deny that there was significant enough need that would merit traveling out of district due to the lack of effective medical care to be found within one of the poorest states in terms of medical ratings. Also, one of the very lowest states in medical spending for prison. No surprise.

Another year later, and an additional MRI shows even worse degeneration. Bone Marrow Edema, possibility of bone marrow infection (with risk factors present, due to spinal injections), risk of bone tissue death if the neglect continues.

Attitude of the Judge & Authority of the Probation Officer

All of the information, on the progression of the degenerative spinal disease due to medical neglect, need to monitor for signs of infection due to bone marrow edema in context of spinal injections which come with risk of infection, and possible progression to bone tissue death, was conveyed to the judge.

Motion to Appoint Counsel: Denied.

Motion for Early Termination of Probation
to attend freely to medical needs: Denied.

On the basis of oversight of paperwork during medical crisis.

The response of the judge was not to hold a hearing, not to approve appointment of legal counsel so that this matter could be given representation by even a public defender. Rather, the judgment which came in response to the judge being sought, as a higher authority than the probation officer - was to defer to the probation officer. He told the patient that he told the judge that he had offered an (unworkable) plan for medical care but the person on probation declined (due to the unworkable logistics and therefore asking for additional options), and therefore his opinion and the judge's conclusion was "nothing more needed to be done" because the individual in this case was already given an (impossible) option.

When the probation officer was then asked (by us) whether he understands that this is a violation of the 8th Amendment, he stated that he did not believe there was any law relevant to this case. And, then he stated to the person in such agonizing pain that opioids do not even control it:

"Other people on probation are in pain too, and they deal with it"
"It's only one more year to wait".

Why is a probation officer, with no medical knowledge,
no medical ethics training matching the degree of power/control
that he has to call the shots on medical care for another human being
given this position of authority in society?

How can any judge take themselves seriously in wearing the (supposed)
"robes of justice" and deny humane treatment?
Especially in a case deemed as low risk to society.

Nobody should be left to suffer this way for years when medical help could provide relief. The fact that our systems are designed in such a manner that this could go on serves as a huge wake up call.

Many Americans on probation are facing circumstances which would probably be managed much differently if empathy and consideration of their actual life circumstances were taken into account by someone other than a probation officer with an adversarial orientation.

We hope this inspirational case will serve as a springboard for completely reimagining the justice system, particularly the process and procedures related to probation.

We would like to see if the judge and the probation officer would
change their mind regarding the urgency of the pain
and the only appropriate response to be action towards proper pain relief
if it was them feeling the pain...

Thus, the plan for a Pain Simulation Device
to enter the picture of reshaping
a New Backbone of Justice.

We don't expect that this particular judge nor probation officer
would volunteer themselves for the Pain-Simulation Empathy Exercise,
in order to gain data first hand for themselves
regarding their own abusive conduct towards humanity.

(Because any person with their humanity sufficiently intact to take on
an exercise to gain empathic awareness of their own impact on others
would probably already have been sufficiently aware of the fact that severe pain is present
based on this individual crying out to them for help in their position of authority.
They've already chosen to act in a cruel manner. To a psychopathic degree.
A person with that psychological composition is unlikely to want to increase empathy.)

However, we think that establishing this as a tool for a
Transformational Movement for Probation Reform
has potential to get through to more reasonable minds
than these sick and twisted ones,

ONE FEMALE JUDGE AND ONE MALE PROBATION OFFICER,
USING THEIR POSITIONS OF AUTHORITY TO ALLOW INHUMANE

levels of pain to be pressed upon someone because of their decisions interfere
with rights set out by the Constitution - of the country that employs them -
for medical attention to prevent
cruel and unusual punishment from being inflicted upon anyone.

We are holding to our faith in humanity that if enough people are reached
to understand these corrupted inner workings of a twisted and broken legal system
that perhaps the power of empathy and awareness can bring change.

No society should allow practices to happen to other people
that one would not condone to be applied to themselves in the same circumstance.

The Disabling and Financial Impact of Probation Restrictions

The severity level of the pain is sufficient to significantly disable this patient. He can still try to muscle through some work, but it is slower and then causes many bad days where pain levels are so unbearable that just getting through the basics of the day while trying to care for a young child is all that is manageable.

This kind of unpredictability makes him unreliable as a job candidate, which has interfered with his ability to obtain gainful employment.

Further adding to the discouragement, is he has been told by some companies that he is not hirable, due to being a workman's compensation risk because of his pre-existing condition and likelihood that he could get injured on the job.

This has had a devastating impact on earning. The probation officer does not seem to understand nor care that this puts the individual struggling with the medical needs in an impossible position where he is not able to provide fully for his family, which is a condition of probation. But, probation is interfering with the medical care, which then leaves him disabled.

This is a vicious cycle for the entire time he has been on probation, for two years now.

The one time he was allowed to to travel for work, he had a medical emergency and was delayed in returning to his district. Therefore greater restrictions have been placed upon him, leading to the denial of requests to travel for medical care.

The Current Needs for empowered advocacy to become possible:

The first need is for effective medical care to realign his spine in order to reduce his pain levels.

Once pain levels are reduced enough that he can get off all pain medications, he would be at the neutral baseline with other people not taking medications which alter pain perception. Then, we could calibrate a pain-simulator device to his degree of pain tolerance and ability to perform Activities of Daily Living (ADL's, or the fundamental tasks measured to assess whether a person can function independently) as well as work-related tasks.

This would be a calibration to the pain level the probation officer and judge expect him to endure on the days when functioning was difficult, but possible.

The pain-simulator could also be calibrated to the degree of painful sensation which crosses his threshold for ability to function. This would be indicative of the disabling level of incapacitating pain which would put him back in the ER (8 times in the last 14 months).

...And with all of that documented, the judge still has not ruled in favor of him having advocacy nor of him being heard in a hearing so he can explain the medical situation, the logistical needs related to family and finances and medical care.

The "Back Story" of His Experience with the system

In 2020, he was convicted of a legal offense which is categorized as having "no victims"
in the court documents, for choices he made during the lock-down phase of the pandemic
as his industrious blue collar business income came crashing down.
For a decade, this robust business was the source of support for him and his family,
along with a group of his guys and their families, which he considered extended family.

The behavior which resulted in a year in prison sentence is seen as pro-social
by some political views, but unfavorable by others,
on issues over which there is heated civic debate and real impacts on real people.
In his heart of hearts, he knows that he acted based on intentions to help others,
but recognizes that getting caught up in legal problems has devastated himself and family.

At the time of sentencing, he reported to the judge that he had a severely painful back
condition and provided evidence of MRI images and reports showing degeneration.
He was denied time to receive medical care prior to incarceration.
Further, he was told by prison officials that he "would not be in prison long enough
for it to matter", because the wait time for extensive medical care
would be longer than the time he would be locked up."
For a year, he endured incredible pain while sleeping on a very thin mattress,
which exacerbated his levels of pain which were not responding to medications.

Upon exiting prison on supervised release, he did not have sufficient medical coverage
to access competent spinal specialists to provide assessment or updated MRI.
About a year later, he was in another state on a work-related travel permit and
bent down to pick up a photograph, fell to the floor, could not walk, and ended up
in a medical emergency requiring visits to the ER and aftercare specialists.
Fortunately, that resulting in a new MRI and better medical assessment.

New MRI images revealed further degeneration, evidencing harm of the neglect.

The total justice-system delays and denials of medical care for a severe pain condition
have amounted to over FOUR YEARS of enduring violations of his

8TH AMENDMENT RIGHTS TO BE FREE OF CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT,

For days, as pain levels increased from severe to completely incapacitating,
he was unable to even get in and out of bed or a vehicle without assistance.
Significant inability to function with the compromised mobility ensued for weeks.
He focused his attention solely on survival for himself and recruiting help to care for
his young child, given this single-father-son-duo was traveling a thousand miles away
from where they had known anybody prior to arriving.

Fortunately, a couple of weeks into his travel pass, prior to the pain flare-up,
he had met a woman who was an AirBnB host through the administrator
for his sales job looking to secure short-term housing for crew members.
She invited the two of them in. Long story short, they fell in love
and she stayed at home with them, in order to help him with the child, day and night.
Miraculously, she was a trauma and child-development and relationship attachment
expert, who understood the needs of this toddler who had been abandoned by his
mother and separated from his father during the year of incarceration,
during his first year to two years of life.

So, as he was recovering from the flare-up, all the support needed was perfectly in place.
He even found out that she had worked in wellness for over a decade and had
a vast network of some of the best orthopedic-care providers in the world.
Her favorite doctor, for the unmatched skill of accomplishing tremendous healing
for complex cases that other providers found recalcitrant, by using a
unique integrative non-surgical orthopedic approach he had personally
developed over decades of practice, was within a 30 minute drive.
And the clinic accepted the medical insurance he had obtained.
But it would be several weeks until an appointment would be available.
And he would have to return to his district at the orders of his probation officer sooner.
Praying for better. But, that dreaded phone call came...

"Pack up your things and report to my office - not just for a check in."
(He attempts to explain all that was lining up for good, for no use.)

"You won't be going back."

... and with the news of his need to return to his district, came the harsh reality that
he had no real choice other than to abandon the tens of thousands of dollars
in sales commissions for work that was just about to complete as soon as the
contractors were available in one or two more weeks.
This also meant that he had to abandon the medical care which was likely to be effective
after years of searching, waiting, ineffective treatments, no answers, and denials.

Everything fell apart just as quickly as it all had started to come together...
income opportunity and work that could flex around his disability,
daily stability in a peace-filled and loving environment for him and his child,
trauma-informed childcare and learning enrichment and play for the little one,
falling in love, hope, dreams of a brighter future ahead and within reach.
Welcome anticipation of relieving, life-changing medical care after waiting for years...

The devastation was not just in being ordered away from all the good transpiring,
it was that the medical crisis and timing and unintended gaps in paperwork details led to
being cited with an Administrative Violation of Supervised Release.
Just 6 weeks after passing the eligibility timeline and waiting to file the paperwork
until the money from the sales work was in the bank as part of
fulfilling the financial stability conditions of release from probation.

As he had heard in so many stories from others, he was in a position where
rather than supervised release supporting his ability to return to thriving,
the very process and procedures of probation were keeping him stuck on probation
because the demands of probation itself limited his ability to meet the conditions for
full release from the system, so that he and his family could thrive in a manner
like he had before involvement in the justice system.

That previous wholesome life he had built for decades was
fading further in the rearview mirror.
Fear loomed ahead.

Being cited with an Administrative Violation means a person doesn't know if
they will walk out of the probation office ... or return into a prison cell.
on a technicality.

he did not know what was next.
It was a hope for the best, plan for the worst moment.

Fortunately, the worst case scenario did not play out.
He was not re-incarcerated.
However, the restrictions for travel were then placed in such a manner that he was told he would in no circumstances be approved to return to the location where he had found the high quality, hopeful medical care for at least several months.

6 months passed.

Multiple requests through conversations to consider allowing such travel. He continued to be told that because of the "violation of probation".

Sadly, what the probation officer saw as a misstep was actually life events and responsible action unfolding in very positive directions by any standards which ought to be the measure of how well someone is putting their life back together.

He was focused on entirely wholesome and positive directions, related to medical needs, while he was also doing other great things such as caring for his family and meeting a woman with whom he was cultivating a beautiful, loving, supportive relationship.

This good progress was not seen as a worthy focus. Punishment maintained.

A whole year passed.

Finally, he was granted a permit to return to the area where he had begun medical care.
He set up a job, lined up housing, searched for daycare and had a spot reserved.

He began a week of medical care which provided instant and progressive
relief in the first 3 treatments.

HOPE!

The travel pass was for several weeks, with potential for extension,
under the condition of returning to the probation office
to report in person prior to the end date of the issued pass.

He returned on the earlier side, while the doctor was out of clinic on vacation,
to request the extension in order to allow for uninterrupted medical care
for up to the 60 days he had been previously told "should be possible".

He hoped that finally the probation officer would understand how life-changing
and positive this effective medical care could be and grant the extension.
At the very least, he assumed he would be able to return for one month of medical care.

During that meeting, the probation officer revoked the travel pass,

This deemed the travel pass invalid for his return for the doctor visits.
For no reason other than the probation officer declaring that
"longer term plans were needed at this point"
rather than allowing him 60 days to evaluate the medical progress,
then make longer term plans according to how much he was able to improve
in his physical capacity to work, earn, save money, and then plan for long-term housing.

Due to the revoked pass and administrative delay,
he lost the job, the housing, and childcare he had lined up.
Everything he had just taken 6 months to arrange so that obtaining the medical care
was financially and logistically feasible - dissolved.

The probation officer then says:
"you're shooting yourself in the foot when I just offered you a way to travel.
If you don't want to do that, the pain must not be that bad."

But, how is it possible to accept a plan to relocate for medical care
when you have just lost the income, childcare, and housing you had lined up,
and now you are in a position where you have
no money for travel, no money for deposit on renting a place,
no place lined up for housing, no money for nor leads on good child care,
no money for emergency purposes - while your car is on its last leg.
And you would have over a thousand miles to travel.
And you have no savings to prepare for a return if things don't work out.

That meeting was over 2 months ago.

----

He was told that in order to obtain the medical care, he would need to entirely
relocate out of district and stay for the remainder of the probation sentence
in the state of the medical care, which would part him from his children.
One on the cusp of adulthood, one on the cusp of adolescence.
He knows the pain of being away from them for a year.
While imprisoned.

Sure, he would be un-incarcerated. But unable to have enough freedom for family time.
So, he has to choose - more pain for a year, or not seeing his kids for a year.
Either way, that hurts. Almost unbearably.

-----

Despite appealing to the judge - No feasible plan has been made since.

---------------------------------
Imagine this happened to you.
---------------------------------

6 MONTHS OF WAITING.
6 MONTHS OF PLANNING.
1 WEEK OF HOPE.

Then, in one hour in the probation office.

Your hope boils down to nothing.

And you've gone completely by the book for a year.
Obeyed all requirements.
Submitted to all restrictions - despite the physical harm to your body.

Your body continues to degenerate
due to the medical neglect
caused by the restrictions of probation.

Submitted to all restrictions - Despite the financial devastation.
Despite how this has put life on hold for you and your children and family.

Collapsing your ability to move forward rather than facilitating it.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Expected to endure severe to extremely severe to incapacitating pain,
depending on if it's a bad day
or a worse day
of bone pressing into your spinal nerves.

----------------
Stuck again.
----------------

How confident would you be to relocate to another state
where you know only one person,
the woman who has been by your side for a year of all of these
restrictions and pain. and it has caused losses to her as well.

???

How confident would you be to relocate to another state
When you have a young child who counts on you
and that other person - especially when you are medically incapacitated -
to care for his every need.

How confident would you be to relocate to another state
when support of extended family on both sides of this equation
has been strained by all of the stress.
So, you don't exactly know what support you have if you take the leap
to go get the medical care and establish a new life for a year.
And you don't know what the support you are leaving would
even look like if you go away and then need to return.

Is it worth the risk to even go get the medical care?


???


How comfortable would you be to relocate to another state if
Once you move there, you will be bound legally to stay there
No matter if things go great or terribly...

...Regardless of how the medical care goes,
...regardless of your ability to work,
...regardless of the uncertainty of earnings,
...regardless of your two older children being in another state,
...Regardless of anything that comes up for your children while away,
...regardless of whether your relationship with
this one person you know out of state from the rest of your family
succeeds or fails under all this pressure.

???

How realistic is it to relocate to another state ...

When you don't have a plan for how you would have enough money to
feed yourself and your child, pay rent, car payment, auto insurance, phone?

When you have lost the medical insurance you set up while you were to
planning to live and work in a state with great medical resources,
but you then got pulled away for administrative reasons.
And this meant you needed to re-establish medical care
in your home district and you cannot be on medical insurance in two states,
so you are now uninsured in the place you would be headed.
you know from experience that you won't be able to obtain medical care
out-of-network. So, you cannot have a gap in insurance...

...especially because you are prone to have flare ups of incapacitation from activities as basic and unavoidable as walking, stepping on an uneven surface,
minor bending, minor twisting, reaching for something, or moving in your sleep.
You land in the ER every several weeks as it is, and after travel.

???

Would you be ready to pack up your bags and scoop up your toddler
and move a thousand miles away from the support you do have...

When your child now has special needs
due to the trauma of separation imposed by the system
during his most tender years,

And you have learned by experience that the probation system can
jerk you around, with no regard to the wellbeing or stability of
this young child?

Would you be comfortable relocating a thousand miles away
from your child's grandfather who has been one of his primary care givers
as he, you, and your child have lived together for 18 months,
when your life has been dictated by a probation officer
who specifically has stated, in response to
your concerns over restrictions on your ability to provide stability
and non-abandonment to this child:
"I don't care about him. I care about protecting society"

while your court report declares the crime you were convicted of as having:
"no victims."

???

or might you decide you are better off to just endure the pain
for one more year
and then try to get medical care
when you could manage a relocation without the conditions of probation
causing restrictions and barriers to navigating housing, work, etc.

not to mention the fear that with all of these challenges...

... what if you again stumbled into a medical crisis and a technical violation...

------------------------------------------
And you could be sent back to prison?
------------------------------------------

After you're already served one year, months in a halfway house, two years of probation, and by this point you have only 10 months remaining.

What would you do?

???

Given that it would be feasible to set up housing and an income source through
his small network only IF he is off probation (due to probation status limiting options),

A motion was filed with the court to appoint counsel for advice on working through
this situation and possibly to file for a motion for early termination of probation.

That motion was denied, and the recommendation was to simply file a
Pro Se Motion for Early Termination of Probation.
The order from the judge actually sounded as if there could be hope.
The probation officer said he would support it, but expressed the "judge is tough".
So, this individual submitted the Pro Se Motion and crossed his fingers.

In the meantime, he had his 8th visit to the ER during this timespan of lacking medical care,
thus filed the motion stating that he was in medical duress at the time, thus was also
filing a motion for expedited review due to the heightened medical needs, hoping
for speed of responsiveness that could set him free to deal with life unencumbered.

No go.

Despite having indicated he would support the motion, unopposed, the probation officer
told the judge that he thought the technical violation from a year ago was a problem,
and that he did not think the medical needs were urgent enough to merit working outside
of the current circumstances and offered plans (which were impossible to execute
based on financial, housing, logistical, and parenting reasons).

The judge denied the Motion. Held no hearing. Made no comment on the medical needs.

So now, he waits.

He is trying to figure out how to earn enough money with a disabling condition,
in a home state with such terrible social services that disability was denied administratively,
despite his doctors telling him they fully believe he should qualify.
The waitlists for low income housing is said to be three years.
Likewise, assistance with child care is waitlisted.
So, while disabled and trying to work, he also has full-time care responsibilities
of a young child who is not getting the socialization and structure he would benefit from.

The goal now is try to fund legal support and/or transferring to a new district,
which would necessitate funds to be able to financially and logistically do so.

Another story of Struggle in the system.

What does this tell us about the face of so-called "justice" in our society?

* Context of this case:
Court documents quote "no victims", no fines, no need for restitution,
no program participation requirements, which is all considered "low-risk".

Please consider supporting these efforts to help us make certain that the
current punitive orientation of the probation system becomes a thing of the past,
paving an emerging future for rehabilitative, regenerative, restorative modes of justice.

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