The family of Oscar Mark Delgado, Sr. from Johnson, Vermont are looking for someone to provide a home for their adult son, Oscar Delgado, Jr. In the State of Vermont, people are held in prison after their sentences are completed if they can not find a qualified home that the probation officer approves. This results in a high rate of prison over-population in Vermont and it results in sending people to out-of-state prisons because too many people who have already completed their sentences are forced to stay in Vermont prisons because their probation officer will not “qualify” the new residence of the person to be released.
Oscar Delgado, Jr. can not go to his father’s home because his father is disabled and has a Vermont medical marijuana card. This is the information his father provided:
His probation officer comes from Barre, and can you please go SEE Oscar Jr. or visit him, he’s in the Windsor jail.
I am worried that when Oscar’s Jr’s release date MAY 10th, 2015 comes, how can he get out of jail, he needs a place to stay that the probation officer will approve of.
I know he told me that the state of Vermont is willing to PAY someone for letting him stay with you.
You can SEND him a note to Southeast State Correctional facility, Oscar Delgado, Jr, 546 State Farm Road, Windsor, Vermont 05089. I know he would write to you right back and HE should know who his probation officer is.
Oscar Delgado, Jr. is interested in art and religion, and he draws portraits.
This drawing is a self-portrait of him.
Why would they have a
Why would they have a probation officer if their sentence was completed- as in having served the full amount of their sentence? My understanding is that prisoners who are released for good behavior, etc.are being released in a shorter among of time than their original sentence called for and they are still on probation and so need to have a qualified home to go to. If someone’s served the full length of their sentence they are just released with no follow up services. If everyone who had served their full sentence needed to have an approved home to go to few people would ever be released. Much of the issue that newly released offenders face is that they often don’t have a home to go to so end up back in the system for lack of support services.
unfortunately
It is true that people who have completed their sentences are being held — so they won’t get into bad situations that will land them back in jail. Seems to me this should be illegal, despite the supposed good intention, but apparently, it is allowed. Our “justice system” is severely flawed. For what it costs to keep someone in jail, a lot of acceptable housing could be developed. I’m sure many taxpayers would not approve of that, however.
I'm very surprised to hear
I’m very surprised to hear this. It would seem that holding a person once there decreed sentence has been fulfilled is illegal imprisonment – even if it’s done with “good intentions”. This certainly isn’t the case across the United States. More often than not inmates – even some who have committed violent crimes- are released long before their sentences are finished due to prison overcrowding. We are talking about people who have been incarcerated for the entire time of the sentence that the court gave? Not people who have served a portion of their original sentence and are being released on probation? Is there an actual written judicial policy that can be accessed publicly stating how and why this policy is active?
In Massachusetts once a person has served their full term they are released with not so much as a bus ride to a new life. They certainly aren’t being held until they find a suitable home. Restrictions are put on pedophiles who must register as a sex offender and not live within a certain distance from schools but I don’t think any restrictions apply to those who have committed other crimes. I really find this hard to believe and would love to be able to have more information on this policy.
me too
I don’t have time in the next couple of weeks to investigate, though this is a big concern for me. I will be “legislature watching” in person — in Montpelier in mid May, and perhaps can see what I can find out then. Also will have access to a sympathetic lawyer then who is a friend (i.e., free conversation). In the meantime, if anyone else wants to call/email any state officials to politely inquire, or perhaps the Brattleboro Community Justice Center 251-8142, who are more likely to give info helpful to this point of view, I would be very interested to hear what you find out.
""Our "justice system" is severely flawed""
Yes, and it has been for far too long. Criminal justice courses in college curriculum are one of the most popular courses. I guess there’s current and future work to have and money to be made with job security.
Prayers for the family of Patrick Fennessey April 28, 2015
Another inmate dead Tuesday, April 28, 2015 7:43 PM
From: “Suzi Wizowaty – Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform”
vcjrcoordinator@gmail.com To: Cris Ericson crisericson@yahoo.com
Another prisoner has killed himself. Patrick Fennessey, 32, an inmate at
Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield, attempted to hang himself Thursday.
He was taken to Dartmouth Hitchcock, still alive. But he died today in the hospital.
In August, 2013, another inmate, Robert Mossey, hanged himself in a broom closet
at Northwest State Correctional Facility in Newport.
His family is suing the Dept. of Corrections,
alleging that DOC drove Mossey to suicide by keeping him
in custody weeks after he could have been released,
and by failing to monitor him
after prescribing medication with psychological side effects.
Mossey hanged himself three months after he began serving his sentence for retail theft.
Fennessey, too, was being held past his time of potential release.
He was serving a two-to-10-year sentence for burglary and unlawful trespass.
His minimum, or early release date, passed in 2011.
These stories fill us with anguish. What will it take for enough of us to recognize that
prisons by their nature are not places to “rehabilitate” people
or “correct” behavior,
but brutal, dehumanizing institutions,
despite the best efforts of many decent, well-intentioned staff?
A criminal justice system that depends so heavily on incarceration
as a tool is profoundly, perhaps irredeemably, flawed.
Punishment doesn’t work. Inflicting suffering doesn’t help anyone.
And now we have another death.
Our hearts go out to the family of Patrick Fennessey.
Suzi Wizowaty, Director
Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform
“Nothing short of a major social movement
can end mass incarceration in this country.” –Michelle Alexander
Family First
It’s ridiculous that the DOC won’t allow this individual to reside with his family but it happens all the time, and has been happening for years. The Reformer had reported on this individual, approximately 3 years ago, concerning charges of sex crimes (along with another individual) involving girls ranging in age from 15 to 17.) At the time this information was published, Oscar Delgato was 26. I don’t know the outcome of the charges he faced, whether he was prosecuted and found guilty of a sex crime or not. Either way, It’s going to be next to impossible to place him in any home other than family, I would assume; and if the only reason for not allowing him with his father is a medical marijuana card and a disability ~ all the more ridiculous.
If he cannot be released without approvals, it would be because his full sentence has not been served ( FYI, “good time” in Vermont has been off the books for years now so this would be a situation of releasing him for supervision in the community, or, there’s a law perhaps, concerning the release of sexual offenders whether they’ve maxed out or not?). I would hope that if the DOC won’t allow him to live with family, the reasons have little to do with medical marijuana or a disability and more to do with the nature of the underlying crime. Does the dad live near a school? Are there underage girls living in home?
Corrections does nothing to actually “rehabilitate” anyone, and I feel the entire system is jaded in that while they claim that families play an important role in outcomes, they generally have no trust or faith in families, have no interest in whether a person rehabilitates or not, and could care less about anything other than keeping their industry alive and well.
It’s sad to me that so many people have no clue about our prisons (and I don’t call them “jails” for a reason.. they are full fledged prisons in the very sense of the word; and there IS suffering and there IS far more than the loss of freedom in the way of punishments.. it’s not the “three hots and a cot”, free TV, free medical or mental health care or a free education for any inmate who belongs to Vermont. Far, far from it. And it will never change until enough people stand up to this major and utter waste of resources, the inhumane treatment of people, the ridiculously lengthy sentences that are handed out (given there’s NO rehabilitation) and demand that it end!
If this problem with finding a home for this inmate involves sex crimes, the person to fear is not the one on already on the registry who’s likely being closely watched (as are many people on parole or furlough), but the one who has not yet been detected.