Friday, April 8, 2011

Release Date Changes

On February 20, 2011, I received the tweet below from @madisonghope 

@ will you share some more? What is a typical visit like with your fiance? When is his "out" date?
Well, @madisonghope, I would like to start by saying that prison visits are very rarely typical. One of the main goals of the CDCR is to make visiting as frustrating and time consuming as possible. This is to discourage us from visiting. As for myself, that will never happen. They can transfer him to an underground prison in Zimbabwe and I would still be there every Sunday, faithfully.

As far as his release date, well, that's a subject he and I just do not discuss much anymore. Officially, the latest release is January, 2014. But, due to the prison overcrowding conditions in California, many changes have taken place in 2011. The California Prison Reform policies have opened up new categories that will allow many inmates to be released earlier than originally expected.

The following are some of the categories that he has fallen under that have and may cut his time short:
  • He has never been written up, which caused them to recalculate his "good time." (Yes, "good-time" is back!)
  • He's a Level 1 prisoner, who actually works off the grounds. As time goes on, more L1 prisoners may be released early, as these prisoners are not considered to be "threats to society."
  • He has already completed 70% of his maximum sentence. If overcrowding persists, the percentage of time serve may have to be lowered.
So far, in 2011 alone, my baby has received two notices informing him of new expected release dates, totaling about 15 months off of his time. He is also due to see his counselor for his annual review in the upcoming weeks. According to guards whose opinions he trusts, his counselor will probably give him even more time off and/or "good-time credits" due to his Level 1 status and good behavior.

So, with all that said, I will just say that he will be home sooner that we both anticipated. We have both agreed not to actual start calculating until he speaks to his counselor later this month. Our idea is that if the counselor deducts even more time, not that would be very exciting to calculate!

Fertility Issues - Having His Children

Every once in a while, I get a letter from my mom which contains a newspaper clipping or other information related to fertility. My mom has wanted to be a grandmother most of my adult life. Now that I am 40, she's going through a panic about me starting menopause recently. (See my blog "The Prisoner's Daughter" for more on my mother.)

I have always wanted children, all my life. I just never made it a priority in my life, mostly due to the fact that I was seeking a spiritually fulfilling relationship first. Now, things are complicated even more by the fact that I am in love with a man prison.

I am more in love with this man than I have ever been in my life. He is where my future lies. I plan to marry him as soon as possible. There is no other man that I would even consider having a child with. But, he still has a couple of years to go, while I continue to go through menopause.



We talked about this in depth a couple of weeks ago on a visit. It was almost cute for him to ask if there was a way that he could give me his sperm while still in prison. I felt so honored that he would even consider doing something like that. The ironic part is that I had already researched the subject and found that the Supreme Court has already ruled against. So, I have to figure out what I can do now, while he's still incarcerated to ensure that we at least have a chance to have children when he comes home.


I've started researching the different fertility options that we may have. I am still researching and going through consultations, but it looks like I've pretty much made a decision. I plan to have my eggs frozen. That way, if all of my eggs are useless by the time my boo gets released, we will still have the option of using my frozen eggs to make our family.

Because he has been my best friend for two decades, he always knew there were some type of fertility issues for me. Now that we're in love, he is more than happy to go through whatever procedures we need to in order to have children together. I feel so blessed and honored to be his fiance. The day I become his wife will be the best day of my life.I can't wait to be his wife and the mother of his children.

Life sure would be much easier if they would just let him give me his sperm. I could see it now. Frozen packages of sperm being shipped via FedEx to various prison wives across the country. That would be hilarious! LMBO!