My Pen Pal and I had planned to get together in June for a couple of days in Florida. It's about an 8000 mile trip each way for me and the cost would have been up around $2000 -$2500 by the time it was all in. Now, the money isn't the problem...I would normally spend that and more on a good holiday...the problem is that my Pen Pal is eligible for some form of early release. She has done seven years on an eight year stretch. Florida did away with parole in 1983 but replaced it...kind of...with a couple of other ways to get out early. And thats where the problem arises.

Florida politicians run on election planks that come down hard on crime and those that commit them...even those who don't. Like they want to pass a law to hang jay-walkers!
So when it comes to early release mechanisms they keep them well hidden from public view, as complicated as they can for inmates to apply for and keep the success rate for applications as low as possible. In short, it is an incredibly complex process.

I have been researching the issue on the Net for a month now and am no closer to findng a workable plan that will see her released early than when I started. Half the stuff I can't even find! I know it exists...they just have it so well hidden...I can't find it!

So I talked with my Pen Pal yesterday and through a lot of disappointment and tears we decide to spend the "visiting money" on lawyers and legal research to see if we can secure her early release. At the end of the day it may be a terrible waste of money...but we have to try!

But money alone isn't going to get the job done. We need a good dose of WAP POWER!!!

From coming here for a while I know that some of you are super-sleuths on the Internet when it comes to digging up prison and inmate related information. So I am asking that, if you have the time, could you please see what you can find on any of the following:

1. Clemency applications and rate of success in Florida.

2. Commutation of sentence in Florida.

3. Interstate Compact agreement on the movement of inmates between Florida and Kentucky.

There is an old saying used by lawyers, "If you don't know the answer, don't ask the question". We want to be a position where we have enough information to go to the lawyers with a plan(s) and then pay them to tell us whether or not they will work, and what changes we need to make. Throwing money at lawyers to do research is akin to trying to fill a bottomless pit. We want to be in a position where all we need the lawyers to do is prepare briefs, documents, etc. and present them.

For what it is worth...my Pen Pal entered prison seven years ago a brutal, violent, drug addicted prostitute. In seven years she has taken every self-help and therapy program available to her; she got her GED so she could get into an 'apprenticeship like' program in the optical lab, where she has been very successful. She has worked very hard to get her real life back and has earned the right to prove herself on the outside.

Anything you can do in the way of research and information will be greatly appreciated by both of us.

Thanks.

Tom

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An eye for an eye and soon the whole world is blind!