And It’s Not Against The Rules
If you’re fresh out of federal prison and on your term of supervised release, don’t forget that probation officers are allowed to lie to you.
For example, Kyle Sandler’s probation officer told his mother that he wouldn’t be going back to prison following an incident that got him in some trouble.
When that probation officer contacted Kyle to come to her office and fill out a “form,” he was immediately apprehended and sent to prison for the next 13 months.
Here’s another one: one of our clients was home on CARES Act placement for the past three years, and then was granted clemency back in January. At that time, he began his term of supervised release.
He had one simple question. He called his probation officer and asked, “can I get off probation early?” His probation officer told him that his specific judge never grants motions for early termination of probation.
Turns out, we checked the facts, and the client’s judge granted eight early termination motions last year, one of which was for a defendant who was also placed on home confinement due to the CARES Act.
This same story repeated six months ago by a now-employee of Federal Prison Tips, whose probation officer told him that his judge never grants early terminations, especially since the defendant’s sentence was reduced via a granted compassionate release motion. Further, he was told that no court passes early termination motions before the 18th month of supervised release.
Imagine that – he filed his motion anyway, 13 months into his term of probation, and within a few weeks he received notification that his motion was, in fact, granted.
All this to remind you that no probation officer has to tell you the truth, and also doesn’t necessarily know or care about what’s best for your situation. Follow every rule precisely, don’t get on their bad sides, but it’s rare to see them actively advocate for your interests.