Confidential Business

Hello Universe! Welcome to another Frida Friday, I'm glad to see that you have decided to tune back in to my blog!

First things first, I don't know if I mentioned this in a previous blogpost, but the reason most of my time at my internship has been spent observing revocation hearings is because parole hearings have been suspended until the middle of march. The reason for this is that there are only two active board members on the Board of Executive Clemency and the two new members are currently training for their new position. Now that that has been cleared up, lets get into what I did this week.

I'm sure you can guess what I did this week, more revocation hearings! Only one inmate did not get revoked this week. Honestly, I found this quite shocking especially since there was another inmate who absconded because he was in a coma, and he still got revoked... In my opinion, I feel like the inmate did not get revoked because his  father  who happened to be well versed was there in the courtroom to vouch for  his son... His father definitely made a good case for him, as the inmate barely spoke on his own behalf. I was a bit conflicted because this was not the inmate's first offense, in fact, it was his fourth time completing a sentence with the Department of Corrections. I honestly do not know what I would have done because, as someone who makes mistakes, I believe in 2nd chances, but do I believe in a fifth chance? That is yet to be determined...

Do not fret, that was not the only eventful moment this week. The very next day, a victim called with a question about counseling, but after speaking with the advocate for a few minutes, the victim brought up some concerning information... As of right now, I am unable to fully disclose what is going on because the Victim Services is currently working to help this victim. As soon as this passes over, I will tell you all more about the case. Sorry for the secrecy.

I have one more update to go over. After conducting the poll last week, I only had 3 individuals participate and because of such, I feel like it might have not been a popular idea so I will not be vlogging...

Thank you all for reading my blog, I hope to see you back next week!

-Frida

Deja Two

Hello Everybody! Welcome back to another Frida Friday on my blog!

During week 2 of my SRP journey, I came to my internship site twice for 9hrs each. Personally, I feel like coming for these 2 full days instead of three short days will let have a complete look on how the office runs throughout the day.

Now that I've cleared up my new schedule, lets get into what my week has consisted of research wise. 

Although this week had felt a little like last week in terms of what I did, the unique aspects of the different revocation hearings and the phone calls I witnessed were what made the week more intriguing.  From all the revocations that I've witnessed and watched, this week I saw two inmates not get revoked. This was extremely shocking to me since the inmates are usually revoked because they violated their parole frequently enough. So you must be thinking to yourself (or not), what made these cases different, well I'm not quite sure but lets dive in:

The first inmate to not get revoked (since I've been there) received violations for having negative UA (drug tests), and the drug of choice was HEROIN. I am not going to lie, it shocked me that the board gave him a second opportunity to go on parole despite the dirty UAs, especially since I had previously seen revocation hearings with a similar case that obviously got revoked. From what I observed, I feel as though the board's decision was based on the fact that he would not have been released from prison until 2019 and that he seemed very regretful and willing to change his life (I was kind of rooting for him), thus he was granted another chance.

As for the second inmate, he was violated for drug paraphernalia, specifically marijuana. According to the inmate, the marijuana did not belong to him. He said that he had given a friend a ride and that he left the drugs in the inmate's car. How was this found about? He was pulled over and his car was searched which led to the discovery of the marijuana. This was only his first time in the system and he had had no prior history with drugs...

Personally, I feel like the intensity of these two cases are very different. How does one with multiple negative UAs for heroin get the same punishment as someone who unknowingly possessed marijuana? Is possessing worse than using? Does race have any play in the situation?

I know that my main focus is on the victims, but I can't help but to speculate on such peculiar scenarios, if that makes any sense..

In regards to victim support, I witnessed a few phone calls between the advocates and a parole officer as well as another victim. These phone calls forced me to see how misinformed victims are as to what they can do to protect themselves, and receive help... Sometimes, victims are unaware that the Arizona Victim Services even exists. It is things like this that prove why my research is important in today's day and age.


Anyways, thanks for reading, and I hope I catch you next week.

-Frida

P.S. I got a few requests to make vlogs, if you are interested in that, please indicate so in the poll.

My First Take from the Inside

Hello Everybody, I hope you all had a great week (especially Frida Friday) so far.

Thank you for those who are tuning back to my blog! It's nice to know I have somewhat of an audience...

As some of you might know, this was my first official week interning at the Arizona Victim Services, and let me tell you, there already is a lot more that goes on than what people expect. For instance, coming into this research project, I had no idea what the difference between parole and probation was or the difference between prison and jail (or that there was even a distinction to be noted).

For those of you who don't know (it's okay if that's you, that was literally me last week), one would be sentenced a period of probation instead of prison or jail time while one would go on parole upon his/her release from prison, and jail is typically in a local law enforcement/ government facility where someone would be held in anticipation to a trial or sentencing where as prison is where you will complete your sentenced time...

(I hope that made sense, if you have more questions or didn't understand it, please comment them below).

During the past few days that I have been at my internship, I have had the opportunity to  be an active observer. Now I know what you may be thinking, 'Frida, where are you going with this, what do you even mean?', well, let me explain.

In the mornings, I sit in and watch the revocation hearings.

So, what are these hearings?

Basically, if someone violates the terms of his/her parole, s/he is put back in prison, and then must face a hearing in which the Board of Executive Clemency will determine whether s/he should have another chance at parole or finish his/her sentence in prison.

How do the revocation hearings work?

The revocation hearings are held in a small court room where either supervised video-chats or phone calls are utilized in order for the Board of Executive Clemency to directly speak to the inmate and hear the reasoning that s/he have for violating the terms of his/her parole. These inmates can also have an attorney or have character witness advocate for them in person in the courtroom, but from what I have seen this is rare because I have yet to see an inmate have a lawyer represent them, and only two inmates of the many that I have seen in their revocation hearings have had family members act as character witnesses.

Once the revocation hearings are over,  I would get a chance to learn more about different cases that are currently happening or read on different reports or even listen in on my on-site mentor speak to victims either over the phone or in person. Listening to these conversations allowed me to see certain things that go on with victims. For starters, once the inmate is released, if the victims sign up to be notified, they will get a notification on the inmates release. But the victims are only allowed to know the general area of the inmates whereabouts. Along with that, they can file an order of protection. But from what I know so far (which is probably not enough to come to any conclusions), I feel like this is not enough to ensure the safety and mental sanity of the victims.

So far this has been my experience, make sure to tune in every Frida Friday (and don't worry I'll try harder to post earlier in the day)

Thanks for joining me

-Frida