Parolees and their supervisors. Matter about your family members . I only care about you. You dont care about me. The. Im in charge of your supervision. Then say that, dont say you care about me. Narrator . And the makeorbreak relationships between them. Do you understand what youve done. Seriously, like, im here trying to save your ass, but i dont even know if you understand what youve done. Some people think that being on parole is, youre free. Youre not. I have to believe that she is going to do good. I make a living on second chances. Thats what parole is. Narrator tonight, in collaboration with the new york timelife on parole. Frontlinis made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. And by the corporation for public broadcasting. Major support is provided by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. More information is available at macfound. Org Additional Support is provided by ford foundation, working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide, at fordfoundation. Org the park foundation, dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. The john and Helen Glessner family trust, supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. And by the frontline journalism fund, with major support from jon and jo ann hagler, and Additional Support from chris and lisa kaneb. Life on parole is provided by the w. K. Kellogg foundation and the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. birds chirping narrator for a year and a half, we followed four people in connecticut as they left prison and were put on parole. Ive been incarcerated for a little over eightandahalf years. The judge gave me ten years, i thought it was the end of the world, and here i am, ten days im going to be walking out the door. Starting my life over. Narrator the state is trying to use parole as part of an effort to reduce its prison population. When i get out, you know, hopefully i get out of here and stay out of here. Ive been here before, so its easier said than done. Narrator it is now giving parole to more of its prisoners than ever before. What are you going to do differently to stay out . Is abide by all the rules. laughs always good, all right, good luck. Thank you. Youre welcome. Narrator the challenge is how to keep them from returning to prison. Im proud to be graduating the prison drug program today because i did it with all you gentlemen. applause ive been waiting for this day for the past 21 months. Next stop outside. So, pretty sure ill see you there. woman sighs i just want him home. Ive been waiting for this for too long. Open, open when erroll was coming home, i was more than excited. We were waiting for him to get out on parole and to come home. When you love somebody and you want to make a future with them, you kind of feel like all that is on hold. woman shouts and squeals narrator erroll brantley is being released from prison early, after serving 20 months for drug possession and burglary. Hey oh my god, its been so long since i had a hug. I got a bunch of hugs from everybody. To just be able to put your arms around somebody is a huge thing. I got to go to parole. Do we know where that is . 100 sheldon street, hartford, connecticut. I dont even feel like i woke up in prison this morning. You know . Ive been coming to prison since 1999 now. And ive been in and out of jail 11 times. sirens wailing this time i got out was the first time that i was on parole. Brantley. I was definitely frightened. I didnt know what to expect. Released from carl robinson, correct . Yes. Parole sentence of a little less than four years . Narrator errolls Parole Officer is mark pawlich. Hes been a Parole Officer for 18 years. So what was your crime over there . Burglary. Burglary, is that kind of your thing . No, not at all. I was. For drugs. And drug of choice is . Heroin. Mr. Brantley, you could just read, had a long, long history of opiate addiction. And if youre in this business long enough, you know the chances are at some point it will rear its ugly head. So, now hes on your watch, so you got to make sure youre dotting is and crossing ts, thats for sure. So what were gonna do today is im gonna have you review these conditions now. So what i need you to do is read every one and make sure you understand each condition and then sign at the end. Narrator among the conditions of his release, erroll will have to undergo mandatory drug testing, and hes barred from contact with prior victims, which includes his girlfriend, katherine. And is longterm planning with your mom at that address . No, i want to go back home. I dont live with my mom, i actually live with my girlfriend katherine. Thats why im asking. But there was a problem at the jail. They said that she was a victim and they took her off my visiting list after, like, 17 months. Whos the person . Katherine eaton. Was she a victim or not . No, she wasnt. What are they saying she was a victim of . Burglary. Did you ever burglarize your own house that she lived in . No, yeah, i took my tv to the pawn shop. All right. The department of corrections has a policy. When an offender is released, they can have no contact with previous crime victims or codefendants. She called the police on him, she got him incarcerated and at least got him sober or cleaned up for a while. But she then created a. The situation in the departments eyes that she was a crime victim because he took her tv set. Theres no staying overnight there, theres no nothing. Yes. All right, following you out. Narrator erroll leaves and goes straight home with katherine, violating the terms of his parole on his very first day. I just wanted to stay close to the people that i love and feel protected, and i understand that parole, they have to do what they have to do. But i was happy, i was home. Thats all i have up here, thats all i need. Yeah, welcome home, absolutely. Its a good place to be. Ive been trying to get here for a long time. Narrator for the past several years, connecticut has been giving offenders like erroll more opportunities to earn early release, and there are now almost 5,000 people supervised by parole here. But about a third of all parolees end up violating the terms of their release and are reincarcerated. Sentenced to prison, and theres fewer people being released from prison. If youre on parole, youre still sort of in the department of correction. Youre being monitored in the community by a Parole Officer but in any day, for any type of violation, they can take you directly back into prison because youre still technically serving your sentence, right . Narrator mike lawlor is one of the officials trying to turn this around and give parolees more chances once theyre out. It is not unusual for parolees to come back once or twice once theyre out, right . They didnt commit a new crime, but theyre violating the rules of their supervision. Narrator one change has been the creation of a special unit devoted exclusively to the needs of women parolees. Officer Katherine Montoya helped start the unit. Women are a different population, they have different needs, their supervision needs to be different. My ladies oftentimes are the primary caretakers of their children. If theyre not doing good, if i remove them from the situation, whos going to take care of those kids . So, you know, its. Do a lot of thinking after hours whether the decisions that i am making are correct or not, so its hard. So, jessica. I havent met her yet, but i read her case. She came in when she was 18 years old. Shes going to be doing five years of parole with me. This is a pivotal time for her. She needs to make a decision right now whether this was just a onetime deal that happened in her life and shes going to move on from this, or whether she is going to be a returning customer someone who keeps coming in and out of the system. I did ten years. I was young, i was 18 years old. I dont think i should be on nobody elses supervision. Ive been getting watched for ten years, okay . People stripping me, all that. Ive been through it. Like, i dont think that i need to be on nobodys parole. Narrator Jessica Proctor went to prison for slashing another girls face with a razor blade. I didnt kill nobody, but you would have thought i did kill somebody, though. Ten years . Five years parole . I think that was a little bit excessive. So i do hold some type of resentment. Narrator she got out of prison six days ago. This is her first meeting with officer montoya. So hi, jessica. Im officer montoya, your Parole Officer. Hows everything . So when you come here you have to clear the metal detector. A lot of people think that being on parole is like youre free. Theyre not free, but theres going to be a measure of freedom that is going to be afforded to you. Were going to be together for a while, its going to be five years. We might not see eyetoeye every single time. But the point is that we have to work together, and the better you and i get along, the chances are your supervision is going to be successful. Lets go pull a urine. Jessica was young, got in trouble, went to jail for a substantial amount of time, came back out. She really wants to reconnect with her son. Thats one of her biggest goals in her life, to get her son back into her life, to be a mother to her son. So this is dontes bio mom, jessica, my cousin. This is when she first went into prison. Narrator jessica gave up custody of her son, donte, and for now they are not living together. I think for a long time he thought that i was his bio mom, until my sister got pregnant. And he said, i was in your stomach like that, and i was like, no, papa, you werent in my stomach, you were in mommy jessicas stomach. And then from then on i would just tell him, youre different than most kids, because most people only have one mom, and you have three moms. When i was growing up the only thing i really knew was, like, shes locked up, and im like, shes locked up, so, when is she coming out . When can i see her . Reconnecting with family is so difficult. Reunification with their kids, i always advocate for family counseling, for. Not only for the offender but as a family, everyone together, because theres a lot of hurt feelings, theres a lot of anger. And people dont have a lot of skills to be able to maintain a situation like that, so theyll go back to their behaviors, you know, which is like drinking or drug use. Hi, daddy hi, peanut. What did you do today . My math quiz that i have. And i got 100 . Wow proud of you. And picture day is tomorro. Yeah, i know, you gonna send me some pictures when they get developed. Yeah. Narrator rob sullivan is undergoing a monthlong program at this treatment facility. For many parolees, connecticut requires intensive drug and alcohol treatment as a condition of their release. Daddys discharge date moved to may 7 now. Daddy wont be in the Halfway House. Hell be home, home. Yay well, ill call you at 8 00, and say goodnight. Okay, i love you. Love you, chewey. Bye, daddy. Bye, baby. Daddy drew me this recently. And then, oops, he also drew me this one. He even put his teardrops in there, which hes going to get taken off. But thats what makes daddy daddy. Yeah, no, daddys daddy without the stupid teardrops on his face. So it still makes daddy daddy. Hes more handsome with the teardrops off of his face. She gets used to seeing him, talking to him, and then not. Its just, its been, unfortunately its been such a part of her life for her ten years that shes been here, that its routine for her. But yet he sees how old shes getting and hes tired of not being there and breaking her heart. So itll be like may 6 when hell be home. It means daddys going to be home sooner than we expected. And for what . For my birthday. What a birthday present thats gonna be, huh . He wasnt there for my tenth, but my 11th is still important, so all my birthdays are important, so hell actually be here for my 11th. And thats special to me. Its hard, especially on a young kid, young girl that, you know, is going into her teenage life. You know, a lot of children want both parents, you know . Right now im trying to make it up to her, and thats by changing. All this is stuff that i brang from jail. My criminal record. Its a mess. I went in in 92. I didnt come back in until 1998, and then i didnt get out till 2001. I came back in in 2002, got out in 2003, came back in 2005. The list goes on and on and on of how many times ive been in and out of jail. With all these convictions and charges, its going to make it almost impossible for me to find a job, you know . And pay child support, which i havent done in years. I know im a scumbag in that aspect. 53,277. 26,156 and 25,935 for a total of over 100,000. Where the hell am i supposed to get 100,000 . Win the lotto . I have a real bad drug and alcohol problem, but its cheaper for me to buy a beer some nights for two bucks and get drunk and forget about all my problems, and thats when i end up committing another crime. Sometimes i do it just to go back to jail, because its easier to live. Im 25. And the first time i was arrested, i wanna say 16. First time i ever been to prison though, went the full extent, was 18. I grew up seeing people getting robbed, stealing, selling drugs, shootings, stabbings, fights. When you grow up a certain type of way, its a way of life. Narrator Vaughn Gresham is doing seven years on parole part of his sentence for an armed robbery. That wasnt my first time doing the robbery. It was quick, fast and easy. Nobody ever really got hurt. But if it got a little rough, we had bats, you know . Yeah, we had bats. Narrator hes being released to a Halfway House, where he must complete a 90day program. The rules are strict and the residents are closely supervised. Halfway houses purpose is for guys to find employment, save money, and then return back to society hopefully in a successful manner. Some make it and some dont, but the reality of the situation is, if its not what they really want to do, theyre just not gonna succeed and theyre gonna go back through the cycle. Narrator since being put on parole a year ago, hes been sent back to prison three times. This is his fourth Halfway House. You know, i dont want to go back. It sucks, its boring, im fed up with it. And my best chances of getting past this stage is keeping on the right path. So you got seven years parole, huh . Narrator connecticut is now trying to give parolees like vaughn more chances after relatively minor violations. Before, if you were a parole violator and got returned to prison, typically once you got back to prison youd be serving sort of an arbitrary time sentence, like a year. Now the amount of time youre sent back to prison for is a relatively short period of time while we sort of reboot them and get them back out the door again. The default mode in the criminal justice system, at least in the united states, is one of control and punishment. The big change in connecticut is that the leadership is trying to make parole more about reintegration and less about punishment. Narrator Fiona Doherty runs a criminal justice clinic at Yale Law School and has recommended additional changes to the way parole works in connecticut. The conditions that are put on people who are coming out of prison to avoid going back to prison are very broad. If we could all be sent to prison for being late, or occasionally having a glass of wine, or the other expectations and standards that are laid on parolees, we would all violate the conditions of parole. Narrator for vaughn, those conditions will be enforced by his Parole Officer, lisa brayfield. Shes been on the job for a year, and her first assignment is supervising over a hundred men at two Halfway Houses in hartford. All right, gresham . Most of the offenders say, i dont want to be here, i dont know why im here, this isnt right for me, i cant be here. Maybe they see the structure and all the rules, and it may not be what they thought it was. The main priority is going to be getting a job, because you wont be able to complete the program unless youre working. The rules and regulations that are given to parolees are straightforward and theyre all spelled out even before an offender is released from prison. Maybe its challenging for different people. But i dont think its hard. If they want to make it work, they can. You have any questions, concerns, issues . Comments . No, no, no. Nice meeting you. All right, have a good one. And no drug use. All right. The key to reforming the parole system in connecticut is changing the dynamics of the invisible meetings that happen all over the state between parolees and their Parole Officers. If the atmosphere in those rooms is reflective of the reform vision at the top, then change in connecticut will happen. And if its not, it will be very hard to make change stick. Narrator today, erroll has been called in to an unscheduled meeting with officer pawlich. This is my Parole Office 300 sheldon st. I always get nervous every time i go through this door, man. All right, so, brantley. Why are we seeing each other today . Im not sure. Yeah, you are. I hold in my hand a lab report with your name on it. Is that starting to drag you into remembrance . No, its. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so why didnt you just tell us, say that off the rip, then . How much did you use . Um. Three bags. Just one time . Yeah. So youre going to piss clean today . No, im not. No, i did it on friday. Okay, then lets slow down here because the 14th, which was a week ago, you were dirty for opiates. So youve been using consistently again . No, i havent. No, not yet. So, but youve used more than five total bags, though, in the eight days, correct . Six bags, yeah, yeah. But not more than, not a bundle. Its hard, its a hard balance. I mean, you know, a lot goes into determining the levels of supervision. You know, years ago, my god, if you had a dirty urine youd go back to jail. Guys are not going back to jail even for a dirty heroin right now, i mean, theyre not going back the first time. Its treatment, treatment, treatment. If you dont let me know whats going on, then were just going to be chasing our tail again. Narrator though he could send erroll to jail, he decides instead to enroll him in a drug counseling program. So reincarcerate instead of treatment on a dirty urine, its not gonna help that person move forward. And with brantley, hes probably been through rehab, you know, i dont know how many times. And the unfortunate thing is you just keep trying until one of them works. Okay, so, iop is intensive outpatient treatment. Three days a week. All right, thank you. Youre welcome. Appreciate it. I do need more structure. You know . Its just. And i need the help. I need. And theyre willing to offer it to me, which is amazing. To have somebody on your side, it went better than i planned. Narrator but erroll doesnt end up going to the outpatient treatment. He continues to use heroin and eventually checks himself into a detox center. So here i am, im at adrc, im waiting to get into the 30day program. I wish i could have been the success story. I wish i could have shown you guys how amazing my life is, but its going to take a little while longer. Narrator he doesnt tell officer pawlich, and misses his next appointment, another violation of parole. All right, so heres our update on mr. Brantley. Narrator it takes pawlich almost a week to figure out where erroll is. On the 31st he was due in to report to me, and he didnt show up. Unbeknownst to us, the day he came in here he had rendered a urine dirty for cocaine and opiates, so, he left part of the story out. Phones going straight to voicemail. Hes using. He checked himself into a detox program. I give the guy credit for going to detox and going into a program, but the way he handled it was completely wrong. So basically his violations are the dirty urines, not reporting to me that hes no longer living at his residence. Hes really hanging by a thread right now. When we think about what we ask Parole Officers to do, we ask them to be social workers who help reintegrate people into society. Theyre also supposed to be the police officers, theyre supposed to be the people who catch parolees in any rule violation and then reporting it out. The question is, should the person whos the Parole Officer be focused on helping somebody or should they be focused on catching them for any rule violation . Gresham staff office. Narrator vaughn has been at the Halfway House for ten weeks now. Hes going to a meeting with his Parole Officer with the hope of moving into an apartment. They informed me, like, hey, all you need is an apartment and a job. I got a job as soon as they told me that. And the apartment was already ready. She was just waiting on me to get out. Narrator officer brayfield has to approve his request. We submitted his address, right . Yeah, i mean, thats not going to go through. I have another address. Im sorry . I have another address. Okay, well, were not going to submit it yet. No . No. Why . cause i just wrote you a misconduct youre not in compliance with the program. You need to be in compliance with the program and working in order to be eligible to leave. And how longs that going to take . I dont give a time frame. Narrator days earlier, vaughn was late coming back from a job training program. So what did you do when you left school . I went to the house. What house . My house. Okay, and were you authorized to do that . No. So Public Safety is our numberone priority. Because if theyre. Have a history of using drugs and going out and burglarizing people or being violent, we need to make sure that we dont allow that to happen again. So i have a misconduct for you. You are going to have limited Community Access for two weeks and youll have to complete ten hours of extra duty in the house. You seem really irritated right now. I am. All right, so youre still working, right . Mmhmm. Any drug or alcohol use . No. All right, so any other issues, questions, concerns . Lot of issues, no questions, a lot of concerns. Okay, do you want to elaborate . No. Okay, so two weeks starting today. Im all set if you are. Swear to bleep god, yo. bleep this bleep look like, man . The bleep what . Man, i got a life to mother bleep live too, im not about to stay in this mother bleep every bleep all day, what . Go back to work, come back here. Man, what the bleep is that . Thats not even real life. bleep is going on, man . He was disrespectful. It seemed like he had a little bit of an anger problem when i was meeting with him. All right, let me see your phone. Which is initially the reason really why i took the phone. Is there anything in here . Not really. What do you mean, not really . Just texting. Texting . Yeah. Okay, im going to look through this, ill give it to you in a little while. Hmm . Ill give it to you in a little while do you have any other passwords on here . Yeah. I cant see what youre doing here. Taking it off right now. All right, ill see you in a minute. Phones are a big tool for us. Its actually pretty common that the offenders will like to show off their drinking or their drug use. And they post these things to social media. So once i took the phone, it was kind of the final straw where i saw pictures of him drinking in the house. Thats an automatic remand because theyre creating a scene in the house, theyre making it a lot harder for the other offenders. All right. Why are you so upset right now . I was told i was gonna leave after i got a job. I got a job. Yup, if you were compliant with the program. Yeah, i didnt think that was going to be a problem. You know, there are so many different ways one can violate a parole condition, if someones just looking hard enough, theyre going to find something. Widen your stance. Widen your stance we know predictably from the evidence that the closer the oversight, the more violations youre going to find. It can get a lot worse. Get in the car. Theres going to be failures, theres people are going to make mistakes, and for some people its going to be impossible, right . No matter what you say or do, theyre not going to get their act together and theyre not gonna stop committing crimes. Our number one goal is to reduce crime, not just to hold people accountable but to. You know, to do something to prevent crime. After all, you know, they call it the department of correction for a reason, right . Narrator narrator rob has now finished his treatment program. Hes living in a Halfway House and gotten a job an hours walk away. But hes frustrated because the money he earns is controlled by the Halfway House. If i work 40 hours im allowed to have 40. You get a dollar per hour of what you work to hold on you. Ive got to go back and fill out a budget sheet and show them my check, they copy it. You know, most of it goes into savings. But i cant touch none of it. Sometimes i feel its almost not worth it to work. Like, my daughter sent me a picture. She wants a pair of sneakers for basketball. And i cant buy them. I told her i cant buy them, im not allowed to touch my money. Whenever raeann has needed something, if i had the money, she always got it, no matter what it was, you know . And it made me feel good. At that point in time being on parole they were dictating to me what i could do with my money that i earned. It was totally embarrassing. Narrator rob also needs approval from the Halfway House to go anywhere other than his job. Like right now, even going in this store i could end up back to jail, just for going into a store to get something. And im only getting a coffee. You cant do anything without permission. I would have to fill out a pass. If i got caught in the building thats a stipulation, its a violation of parole. I could have went back to jail for that. You know, last week i got to the point where i told the director, you know what . Im better off sometimes in jail. I dont gotta deal with all this bull bleep . You know, when i was at the Halfway House i couldnt see raeann, at all, you know, my daughter, and it hurt, you know, it was hard. I went to work and kelly actually brang her to my job to see me, you know, for my birthday and to surprise me. Hi, baby. Dont cry. Its like you have to be secretive, you have to be sneaky. You know, even though you dont want to be, its like you have to be. I love you. All right, lets drive down the street, okay . Narrator as the weeks go by, rob is increasingly angry. You guys wanna know how i feel sometimes . Well, right now im pissed the bleep off. I gotta please the Halfway House so i can bleep go home. I had to go to 7 11 and get me a coffee. Even though im not supposed to. cause i really dont give a bleep right now. Narrator after two months on parole, rob has had enough. He flees his Halfway House and is declared a fugitive. Friday, in the Halfway House, i went to work, they told me they didnt need me anymore. I got kind of fed up, and i wasnt gonna give them my last check and not be able to buy her Christmas Gifts or nothing so i said, bleep it, and i ran. So tonight, decided to come get her some sneakers and take her out to dinner. Because thursday i plan on turning myself in. And i told her, daddy messed up. You know, when you do wrong youve got to pay up, right . Right . Yeah. You know it doesnt mean i dont love you i know. Come on, baby. All right, ready . Yeah. And i wont be around for christmas again. All right, lets find them. I want the silver ones. Do you have em . We got em. I kind of got fed up with the rules and having freedom dangled in front of me and then being told what i can do and what i cant do. I actually went out and bought a couple bundles of dope, thinking id. Thinking id die. But it didnt happen. I love you. I love you, too. Dont cry come here. Why are you crying . You know you can tell me anything, right . Hey. You can always tell me anything. I know. I will see you soon. I know. No matter where i go. I know. You can come see me. I know. I love you. I love you too. Narrator a week later, rob turned himself in. His parole was revoked. The business of living is very hard, and so when treatment ends and then its time for them to start to try to get a job and do what they need to do, we often see sometimes they get in trouble then because they just. They dont know anything else. [bleep] christ, whats in here . All the books for school. Narrator jessica has been taking classes to become a nursing assistant and working on her relationship with her son. But shes just tested positive for marijuana, and officer montoya could send her to jail. So you understand what youve done . Seriously, like, im here trying to save your ass. But i dont know if you understand what youve done. No, i do, i understood right after the situation happened. I dont know, i think i was just stressed out and going through it. This could be a small bleep up or it could be your descent into madness, and i need to understand if youre just gonna give this chance a try or youre just going to, like, keep bleep up . No, im not going to keep bleep up. Okay. I dont want you to quit school, but if you find the school to be too stressful for you, if you need to take a break from school to kind of regroup, do that. I am the one that holds the power to send her back. And i have to believe in her. I have to believe that she is going to do good, because i make a living on second chances. Thats what parole is. They have to start over again. Its hard for them. If i was to lock up everyone thats run into jessicas situation, i wouldnt have a caseload. Im going through the same thing with my son. Okay, with your son. Its a whole different animal. My whole incarceration, hes been a second honors student. And now hes messing up. You have to understand, okay, you are the mother, but for the past ten years, you have not been his mother. So for you to come into the picture and start calling the shots might be hard. I know. Sorry, jessica. Concentrate on the now, concentrate on the future. What is happening with her is pretty common of women that come out. They really put a lot of pressure on themselves. Theres always this, like, pressure to try to make up for lost time. Shell do good. Im thinking shes gonna do good. On one for the first down. Six to 18, jesus. Well, when i went to my sons game, i was excited, i was emotional. I was there for the first time and i should have been there his whole life. So that was what was bothering me. Number 24, i cant believe how big he is. Oh, come on, what is yall doing . I think thats the driving force in jessica. She really wants to be a good mother. Don, donte, donte, you good . She wants to fix the mistakes of the past. And i feel bad because she went in so young. And she was denied the opportunity to raise her son. I love you. Call me later, okay . He is not happy. Hes not happy about this game. Ill just give him his space because hes just like me, so, you know. When we angry we dont like to talk, we dont like to be bothered, we just need to be left alone for a little while. Narrator katherine has just picked up erroll from the Drug Treatment Center hed checked himself into, and theyre heading to the Parole Office for the first time in over a month. Want me to come in with you . Yeah, i dont know if you can come in but well try. Come on. We didnt know what was going to happen because he just got out of a detox that was not sanctioned by his Parole Officer. And im there for support. Eaton . Yes. Thank you. Brantley, so im clear, is that the person youre trying to get your residence with . Yes. Okay, understand that contact with previous. I have to take this apart. Dont start this bleep again with me. I have to take this off. I dont care about that thing right now, when im telling you something and you. You know what, go have a seat. No, im ready man. Im sorry. No, youre not ready now dont friggin tell me when youre ready. Hes given me every reason to lock him up and im still working with him. Hes not taking any of his supervision seriously. He thinks its all like a joke and he gets to control and manipulate what he does and how he does it, and so, hes going to get a rude awakening in about five minutes. What happened out in the lobby raises my level of concern. What did i do . No contact with previous crime victims. Everybody from your first crime to your current crime is a previous crime victim. You cant see, stay, email. The state. The state has broken us up. Shes my support network, officer pawlich. I got guys that cant see their kids because the kids live with their crime victims. They sure as hell have never walked them up in my lobby. So today youre going to a Halfway House. Youre due back in the house at a certain time every single night. I just dont understand that it doesnt bother you that i dont have people in my life that i love. Im going to warn you one more time dont tell me how i think or how i feel. Understood . Its got nothing to do with this. What im doing right now is managing somebody with about four or five misconducts right now that would land them in jail, and then to put the icing on the cake, walk their victim into my office lobby. All right . And put it right out there in front of everybody like, i get to get supervised differently. Well, you dont get to get supervised differently. I really didnt know it was that serious. Its extremely serious. Nothing youve done so far, youve taken seriously. Youre also going on gps today. If you charge it every day like i instructed you to for two hours, youll be fine. So youre going to walk up and down the street, so were trying to get a read on the gps unit. He put me on the bracelet and hes putting me in a Halfway House. And i cant see you because youre a victim. Im sorry. This is not our fault. I got, you know, 65 cases and one flaming ass bleep . Its just aggravating. Shes a crime victim. There is no contact with previous crime victims. So some guys go straight to jail for that, right off the rip. Never mind all the other nonsense that hes had. Why would you do this to somebody . I got one thing left in the bleep world that im close to and the dude bleep wont let me be there because he bleep hes got something to prove. I seriously, i wish he would just violate me, i just wanted to keep talking and go back to jail. So my life is pretty much ruined for the next bleep three years. In the past, Parole Officers felt that their main responsibility was to keep on top of the offender and if and when they violate the rules of parole or commit new crimes return them to prison, and that is changing. The goal is to figure out what we need to do to ensure that this person begins moving in the right direction. This is my new room. Its very small. Home sweet home. The cheyney house was my first time in a Halfway House ever. I was crestfallen, needless to say. I was very, very hurt when i saw the neighborhood that the Halfway House was in. Because it was the neighborhood that i bought heroin in. So this is the neighborhood they put a recovering heroin addict in. Here are some heroin baggies that litter the streets here. This is one of many heroin locations in this end of town. And its not that im tempted, but it would make it a lot easier for me to violate my parole and get this whole thing over with. Because right now, going back to jail and finishing my time seems a lot easier than the prospect of jumping through hoops for people that dont want me to be happy. Putting him in the Halfway House, he is going to always see as punitive. I dont care if he was happy or not, or thought it was punitive or not. Its an opportunity. Structure, supervision, money management, assistance for whatever, you know, they need is kind of all right there. Having that structure and supervision right in his. Kind of in his face every day. So. Some guys respond to it. Theyre never gonna admit it but some respond to it, so at least its not jail. Narrator seven weeks into his stay, another parolee overdoses on heroin inside the Halfway House. I just got home from work, and parole is here, and this is what i come home to. Because of the overdose and the death here today, parole came here and trashed my stuff. Narrator the day after vaughn was sent back to jail, officer brayfield arrives to serve him his papers. So i have your notice of parole violation, so well go over it together . First part is going to be the charges that we have against you, so the condition that you violated is your release direction. On 9716 your phone was searched, which produced a number of pictures of you consuming alcohol in the watkinson house program. Based on your actions you were in violation of your parole condition and your continued supervision in the community is no longer compatible with welfare of society, okay . Unfortunately, vaughn is not a unique case to me, supervising offenders in Halfway Houses. You know, remanding him, he comes back out to a Halfway House, remand again, he comes back out to a Halfway House. Thats common. I love the way youre so nonchalant about it. Like i said. I love it. Like i said, if you did what you were supposed. Its. This has nothing to do with me whatsoever. No, just your attitude. Absolutely. My hands are tied. Its just like its nothing for you to send people to jail or anything like, bleep em, you know . Well, when guys are drinking in the house, right. People drink on the street. I dont. People smoke on the street. Okay, let me say this. I dont care what other people are doing on the street. So you have family members that dont smoke on the street . I only care. It doesnt matter. It dont matter about your family members . I only care about you. You dont care about me. Im in charge of your supervision. Then say that, dont say that you care about me. Okay, so im only concerned about what youre doing in a Halfway House. Okay. So when i see pictures of you drinking with other offenders in a Halfway House, its blatantly clear that youre drinking, i need to do something about it. Mmhmm. Okay, any other questions . Concerns . Comments . No concerns. No comments. Okay, this is your copy. So after this, i ever gotta deal with you again . I dont know, its not up to me. You may be released to another Halfway House. Im not sure. Okay . You know, im fairly easygoing. I do whats asked of me. And one little. You know, i drink. That doesnt even cause any harm to anybody. But basically brings hell upon me. Like, what. I dont understand that. I dont understand that. Narrator after six months on parole, jessica is close to finishing her nursing assistant program. I wanted to go to school because i knew that if i came home, i didnt have no job history. When i was younger i wanted to be a doctor, so the best thing for me to do right now is to do cna. I came home with a plan and i actually stuck to it. I didnt let little minor setbacks throw me all the way off. They docked me off a little bit and i got right back up and kept moving. Jessica walked to school or took the bus almost every day. Its not like she had people giving her rides or, you know, backing for everything. Jessica did everything on her own. Okay, guys, its the last night. Im going to sit with you one at a time. Im going to give you your grades and your packet that has your resume and your physicals and all that information. Jess, ill take you. Okay. Here we go. These are your test grades. Your test average was an 88 . Wow. That is b . Very nice. Thats your grade before clinical. 94. Congratulations. Thank you. Thats a super job. Your resume copies on resume paper. Thank you. All about being a nursing assistant. And your physicals. So you are ready to go get a job. Okay . Do you have any questions for me . You are good. classmates laugh thats a good grade. Okay . The whole point is for the offender to learn to do the right thing on their own. When they first come out, youre like this. You have them. And as the offender starts doing good, and then you just let go. Its hard work, but i think it can be accomplished. unamplified electric bass being slapped narrator erroll spent three months at the Halfway House. I love this bass, dude. Narrator he stayed sober, found a new job, and got an apartment of his own. This became my place from my friend tammy. And she said she had a basement for rent. She only wanted 100 bucks a week, she would do me a favor. She sponsored me and helped me to get out of cheyney house. But its got plenty of space, you know . Like i said, i have the biggest room in the entire house, which is nice. And its private. You know, i can come and go as i want through the back door. I am headed to my first day of work at ruby tuesdays as a manager kitchen. Im not even sure. They want me to become a manager. Hes got a skill set. Hes a smart guy. So theres hope. You just could never say, whoa, look at this case, this guys got no hope put him in your nohope pile. It would be very hard to do this job 40 hours a week, you know, month to month, year to year, decade to decade, if you just really had, like, a nohope pile. I dont have a nohope pile. Narrator because of his turnaround, erroll was finally given permission to have contact with katherine, though they were still not allowed to live together. That was our first summer together. We decided we were definitely going to get married. Just more recently we decided that wed like to have a family. So its all i look forward to. crowd cheering narrator after nearly a year on parole, Jessica Proctor is graduating and spending more time with her son. Jessica proctor. Some kids, theyll never get to see their mom come out and do so well, finish school, and walk across the stage to get their diploma. I pretty much love her, i love her to death. Ill do anything for her. He was proud to see me come home and not go back. That i was actually making a difference in my life and going somewhere. So that meant a lot me. Narrator rob sullivan finished his prison sentence. Today im free. I didnt have parole to look after me anymore. Only i look after myself. Its like a sense of relief. Here she comes. Yeah, i love you, i missed you. I love you too and i missed you too. Narrator hes coming home just in time for his daughters 11th birthday. High. I dont want to go that high. Narrator Vaughn Gresham is being released to his fifth Halfway House, after seven months in jail. Parole is a noose that you tighten yourself. You want to play . That noose is always gonna be there. But as you go farther away from the path, its going to tighten up. We have your conditions, which youve signed a few times already. You stick to the path and you do what you gotta do, you will be able to breathe. Youre not going to kill yourself. And these ones also . Yep. Narrator he has a new Parole Officer. Cmon, gresham, you should know this. Narrator and five years of parole still ahead of him. A little over a year after erroll and katherine were given permission to be together, erroll started using heroin again. They got into a fight about going to rehab. And she called the police. I feel ashamed for you to have to come and see me here because, you know, i was doing so well. And its just. Its an absolute and total regression. I dont know if its apropos, if its bittersweet, if its going to help to tell the story, you know, i dont know. sniffling narrator hes been charged with violating the conditions of his release. And now connecticut must decide whether to keep erroll behind bars. Or give him another chance at life on parole. Narrator next time on frontline. Were in the postantibiotic era. Narrator untreatable infections. They had asked me to sign the papers to let her go, and i did. Narrator drugresistant superbugs. He had some bugs that they had never seen before. Narrator frontline investigates. We are seeing the emergence globally of bacteria that are untreatable. Narrator hunting the nightmare bacteria. Go to pbs. Org frontline for additional reporting from our partners at the new york times. Read every one, and make sure you understand each. Read an interview with Connecticut GovernorDaniel Malloy about the push to reform parole. Give somebody a chance whos been incarcerated, they really appreciate it. Explore frontlines reporting on criminal justice in america, connect to the Frontline Community on facebook and twitter, then sign up for our newsletter at pbs. Org frontline. Frontlinis made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. And by the corporation for public broadcasting. Major support is provided by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. More information is available at macfound. Org Additional Support is provided by ford foundation, working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide, at fordfoundation. Org the park foundation, dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. The john and Helen Glessner family trust, supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. And by the frontline journalism fund, with major support from jon and jo ann hagler, and Additional Support from chris and lisa kaneb. Life on parole is provided by the w. K. Kellogg foundation and the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. For more on this and other frontline programs, visit our website at pbs. Org frontline. Frontlines life on parole is available on dvd. To order, visit shoppbs. Org or call 1800playpbs. Frontline is also available for download on itunes. Youre watching pbs. [helicopter starting] [helicopter thump gets faster and louder] [helicopter thump gets faster and louder] elyse tonight on is this bob dylans . I dont believe it. Im getting goose bumps. Man we heard that the beatles were going to come down here. Are these autographs real . Oh, man man i found it in a thrift store. Was this really made by frank zappa . Thats a big question. Elvis costello watchin the detectives i get so angry when the teardrops start but he cant be wounded cause hes got no heart watchin the detectives its just like watchin the detectives funding for tonights presentation of history detectives was provided by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station