Hi, my name is Eric, Im 25 and I live in Connecticut with my recently married wife. My wife and I are looking to start a family, among other things, but we are being held back in lots of ways about lots of things because of my probation.
Here's my story;
When I was 15-16 I committed a sexual assault against 2 people I knew around the age of 10. It was not forced, there was no rape. It was consensual as far as a 10 year old can consent. They did not mind, whatsoever. Regardless, I know it was wrong now but at the time I didn't realize how serious my actions were.
It came out and I ended up getting arrested and spent about 2 years going to court back and forth. They didn't know where to put me because Connecticut has (or had) no place to put a 16-17 year old with a sexual offense. I was too old for juvenile corrections and too young for adult prison. Anyways, just before I turned 18 I was sentenced to 10 years suspended after 26 months served, followed by 10 years probation. I was originally looking at just probation or possibly 6 months served, but the judges swapped 2 months before my sentencing and the new judge did not like me or my crime, and now I was nearly an adult.
Regardless, I served 26 months in jail and was released late 2004. I registered as a sex offender and was assigned a probation officer. I also had to immediately begin sex offender treatment classes which were once a week for $20-$100 depending on how much you made working. After about 2 years, never missing a class, I successfully completed treatment and was discharged. Initially, my current probation officer at the time was awesome and reduced some of the restrictions I had, like keeping a driving log of EVERYWHERE I went, being able to go certain places, etc.
Now, about 6 months ago, my fiance at the time and me bought a house in another county and moved in, thus changing my probation officer. My current probation officer is nice but extremely thorough and strict. She follows everything to the code and since she doesn't know me, she doesn't trust me whatsoever. My wife and me would like to start a family, so we told my PO, and she told me of all of the hurdles I would have to go through to be able to live in the same house as my own child. These hurdles included polygraph examinations (Ive already successfully passed 3 or 4 inside and out of treatment), court hearings, and needing a judge's permission to live with my child. This is outrageous! I understand the need to be cautious but there has to be a line drawn somewhere. Another thing she just told me today, after 4 years of unmonitored internet access, is that she will be coming out to my house to install an internet monitoring system on my computer that will track EVERYTHING I do on the internet. And the kicker is I have to pay for it. ($25). It then clicked in her head and she asked me about my phone, I have a BlackBerry and have had it or a similar smart-phone with internet for 5+ years. She told me I need to be able to call Verizon and have them print me a detailed paper of all of the internet access on my phone so I can give it to her. If I cannot get Verizon to do this, I must get rid of my Blackberry and use a phone that does not get internet access(if there is such a phone).
I was always told as long as I do what I'm supposed to, probation gets more and more lenient. This is not the case and I feel like I'm being suffocated by new rules that are not even part of my official probation documents signed by the judge. Are probation officers this godly powerful to implement anything they want, when they want? If she asks me to strip down nude in front of her, must I? Or violate some law that says, "do what your probation officer says or you will be in violation?"
I'm sorry for making such a long and detailed post, but I really need some direction and appreciate you reading everything. I would like to make an appeal or something to court to ask a judge to either dismiss my probation, or at least make it so my wife and I can live our lives.
All posts are welcome,
Thank you very much for reading!
Here's my story;
When I was 15-16 I committed a sexual assault against 2 people I knew around the age of 10. It was not forced, there was no rape. It was consensual as far as a 10 year old can consent. They did not mind, whatsoever. Regardless, I know it was wrong now but at the time I didn't realize how serious my actions were.
It came out and I ended up getting arrested and spent about 2 years going to court back and forth. They didn't know where to put me because Connecticut has (or had) no place to put a 16-17 year old with a sexual offense. I was too old for juvenile corrections and too young for adult prison. Anyways, just before I turned 18 I was sentenced to 10 years suspended after 26 months served, followed by 10 years probation. I was originally looking at just probation or possibly 6 months served, but the judges swapped 2 months before my sentencing and the new judge did not like me or my crime, and now I was nearly an adult.
Regardless, I served 26 months in jail and was released late 2004. I registered as a sex offender and was assigned a probation officer. I also had to immediately begin sex offender treatment classes which were once a week for $20-$100 depending on how much you made working. After about 2 years, never missing a class, I successfully completed treatment and was discharged. Initially, my current probation officer at the time was awesome and reduced some of the restrictions I had, like keeping a driving log of EVERYWHERE I went, being able to go certain places, etc.
Now, about 6 months ago, my fiance at the time and me bought a house in another county and moved in, thus changing my probation officer. My current probation officer is nice but extremely thorough and strict. She follows everything to the code and since she doesn't know me, she doesn't trust me whatsoever. My wife and me would like to start a family, so we told my PO, and she told me of all of the hurdles I would have to go through to be able to live in the same house as my own child. These hurdles included polygraph examinations (Ive already successfully passed 3 or 4 inside and out of treatment), court hearings, and needing a judge's permission to live with my child. This is outrageous! I understand the need to be cautious but there has to be a line drawn somewhere. Another thing she just told me today, after 4 years of unmonitored internet access, is that she will be coming out to my house to install an internet monitoring system on my computer that will track EVERYTHING I do on the internet. And the kicker is I have to pay for it. ($25). It then clicked in her head and she asked me about my phone, I have a BlackBerry and have had it or a similar smart-phone with internet for 5+ years. She told me I need to be able to call Verizon and have them print me a detailed paper of all of the internet access on my phone so I can give it to her. If I cannot get Verizon to do this, I must get rid of my Blackberry and use a phone that does not get internet access(if there is such a phone).
I was always told as long as I do what I'm supposed to, probation gets more and more lenient. This is not the case and I feel like I'm being suffocated by new rules that are not even part of my official probation documents signed by the judge. Are probation officers this godly powerful to implement anything they want, when they want? If she asks me to strip down nude in front of her, must I? Or violate some law that says, "do what your probation officer says or you will be in violation?"
I'm sorry for making such a long and detailed post, but I really need some direction and appreciate you reading everything. I would like to make an appeal or something to court to ask a judge to either dismiss my probation, or at least make it so my wife and I can live our lives.
All posts are welcome,
Thank you very much for reading!
