INMATE TRANSITION BRANCH, RELEASE FROM PRISON INFORMATION, PRISON, INMATES, EX-INMATES, DISABILITY. INMATE RESOURCES, RRC, INMATE EMPLOYMENT, VOTING, Ticket to Work Program, Federal inmate release bond, Employment help for inmates. 5/14/13, There are places to go for the newly released inmate and their family to get assistance . . .

For information on inmate release help go to the Employment Information Handbook Inmate Transition Branch:

http://www.kywp.uscourts.gov/inmateemplhandbook.pdf

The Bureau places appropriate inmates in halfway houses prior to release to help them adjust to life in the community and find employment. Some inmates will be eligible for a release gratuity, clothing, or money for transportation to their release destination.

http://www.bop.gov/inmate_programs/release_emp.jsp

State Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies coordinate and provide counseling, evaluation, and job placement services for people with disabilities. Go to the following website to find the agency in your location:

http://wdcrobcolp01.ed.gov/Programs/EROD/org_list.cfm?category_ID=SVR

BOP Offender  Transition Resource Manual

http://www.bop.gov/inmate_programs/docs/mckean_offender_transition_manual.pdf

National Re-entry Resource Center: In many communities, government and nonprofit agencies have developed reentry resource directories that help individuals who have been incarcerated and their families find local reentry service directories. To view a list of any available reentry service directories from your state, click on your state below. Go to the following website for more information (state by state): 

http://www.nationalreentryresourcecenter.org/states

The Federal Bonding Program to provide Fidelity Bonds that guarantee honesty for “at-risk”, hard-to-place job seekers. The bonds cover the first six months of employment. There is no cost to the job applicant or the employer. In most states the bonds are made available through the state agency responsible for workforce matters.

http://bonds4jobs.com/program-background.html

Highlights of the Federal Bonding Program

Fidelity bonding Services Are User-Friendly

• NO bond approval processing–local staff instantly issue bonds to employers
• NO papers for employer to sign to obtain free bond incentive for job hire
• NO follow-up and NO termination actions required for bond issued
• NO deductible in bond insurance amount if employee dishonesty occurs
• NO age requirements for bondee other than legal working age in State
• NO other U.S. program provides Fidelity Bonding services
• NO Federal regulations covering bonds issued
• ANY job at ANY employer in ANY State can be covered by the bond

What Is Fidelity Bonding?

• Insurance to protect employer against employee dishonesty
• Covers any type of stealing: theft, forgery, larceny, and embezzlement
• In effect, a guarantee of worker job honesty
• An incentive to the employer to hire an at-risk job applicant
• A unique tool for marketing applicants to employers
• DOES NOT cover ‘liability” due to poor workmanship, job injuries, work accidents, etc.
• Is NOT a bail bond or court bond needed in adjudication
• Is NOT a bond needed for self-employment (contract bond, license bond or performance bond)

Voting Rights for People with Criminal Records

A patchwork of state felony disfranchisement laws, varying in severity from state to state, prevent approximately 5.3 million Americans with felony (and in several states misdemeanor) convictions from voting. Confusion about and misapplication of these laws de facto disenfranchise countless other Americans.

http://www.aclu.org/maps/map-state-felony-disfranchisement-laws

Hope, Health, and Happiness,

Vickie

LIFE AFTER PRISON, APHASIA, BRAIN INJURY, STROKE, MARCUS ROSENBERGER. Life After Prison: Would You Hire an Ex-Con especially with disabilities?

When Marcus gets out he will be labeled a felon for the rest of his life . . .  regardless of whether he was innocent? Do you know how hard it is to get a job with Marcus’ disabilities and now he’s also a felon?

Life After Prison: Would You Hire an Ex-Con?

For the complete article go to http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/1140-hiring-ex-cons.html

By: Chad Brooks, BusinessNewsDaily Contributor

JUN2011

With an unemployment rate near record levels, finding a job can be difficult.  When you’ve served time in prison, the odds against you increase exponentially.

There are more than 6 million ex-prisoners in the United States, according to a recent study, with 600,000 added to the total every year. Research suggests the best way to keep them from landing behind bars again is to reinvest in them, which includes finding them employment, but most business owners are reluctant to give them a shot.

Some, though, take the chance. Taking a chance

PRISON, FEDERAL PRISON CAMP, Release, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, APHASIA, STROKE, MARCUS ROSENBERGER. 4/28/13, do you know the anguish Marcus has felt being in prison and being in prison camp . . . I do.

4/28/13, do you know the anguish Marcus has felt being in prison and being in prison camp . . . I do. 

Last week, Marcus was sick, but he’s finally feeling better. I hear the heaviness in his heart. He worries about his future. He’s afraid he will never get out. He’s afraid someone once again will hurt him and keep him there in prison. He is afraid to hope for the day he will be released. He said his days are passing by so slowly.

His life has been changed forever? Will he ever the happy go-lucky guy he used to be? His daughters are almost 2 years older than they were before he went to prison. He has missed their birthdays.

His oldest daughter is having her first Prom this month and he was tearful that he wouldn’t be there for her or for him. He called because he was worried; he thought he had to buy her a corsage. We reassured him that he didn’t have to, but he still cried for what he has lost and what in his daughters lives he couldn’t participate in.

Will he ever be able to forgive the people who did this to him, to his family? I pray so.

Someday he will start a new life, but it will be in Florida, not in Texas.

I hope to get him into speech therapy as he has lost some of the speech and the words that he had worked so hard to retain previous to this incarceration. The University of Florida has a wonderful Aphasia program, which teaches Aphasics, as well as helping the students who are becoming Speech Therapists. The Therapists learn  what it is like to be an aphasic. They teach what the aphasic needs to do to be able to achieve better understanding of their use of their communication language skills, which have damaged/impaired.

Marcus is an Aphasic. Aphasics need special speech and or aphasic centered classes. They cannot take English classes and understand. Regular classes alienate the aphasic because it doesn’t allow them to understand or achieve their own goals in communication and understanding. Their brains learn differently because of the brain damage/impairment incurred. Each aphasic is different. A brain injury occurs in many ways and affects many different areas of the brain. No brain injury/damage is exactly the same.

If you don’t say words daily you forget them. At least a brain injured person does. Marcus has had no one to help him practice his words daily in prison. He did have a few inmates in the Texas prison who read his paperwork for him and explained it to him. They read his cards I sent to him. They made sure he knew when something new was posted on the bulletin board and what it said. I thank them for that kindness.

Marcus worries about what kind of job he’ll get with his disabilities and now being considered a felon. It was difficult to find work with just his disabilities.

Marcus will need all the help he can get when he gets transferred to a halfway house/RRC. I will have to take him around to apply for jobs as he cannot fill out an application. Marcus is a great worker, a thorough worker. He takes pride in his work. Someone just has to give him the chance. His step-dad, Bob, is writing him up a resume and making him business cards so when he gets out he’ll have the proper tools to find a job.

There are tax breaks for hiring a person with a disability and a felon to their name.

Even with all of these extra things attached to Marcus’ new life, we are hopeful everyday for the best. Without hope and prayer, we would have been lost.

In Florida, the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation helps the disabled get a job, with evaluations, resumes, and resources. They have a great “Ticket to Work” that helps the employer hire a disabled person that fits their job requirements, while offering tax deductions. They also allow the disabled person to keep their Social Security, SSI, and or Medicaid while working for a period of time to make sure the job fits for both them and their employer.

The BOP (Bureau of Prisons) also offers job assistance, tax deductions for the employer, and offers to pay a $5,000 security bond to reassure the employer of  recovery of any loss should they hire the person with a felony.

$$$$$$$$

The problem is making sure the released inmate knows of all the help that is available to them. This is what the RRC (Residential Re-entry Center) formerly known as a halfway house is there for, to help the released inmate have access to assistance, resources, and time to re-enter the work place, find a job, a place to stay, and reunite with their families in a slower more efficient way that prevents them from going back to prison when thrown back into the community without the proper tools and support to prevent failure.

Even with a brain injury Marcus has succeeded. He has always had the support of family and friends.

Imagine all your rights had been taken away for years and suddenly you are put back out into the community with no fall back. No one wants to hire you to even give you a chance. Your own fear overcomes you. You have nowhere to sleep. No money to buy food. No one is there to help you. You do not have the support of family and friends that Marcus has.

The RRC is there to make sure you do not return to your old ways just to return back to the safe world of a prison where you don’t have to make choices/decisions. Some inmates do consider prison a better option than the outside life of continued need and failure. Marcus is not one of them.

I have talked to a Pastor Rodriguez. He says Marcus will be ok. Just to give him time. He, himself, had a rough life growing up and had been in prison, but he turned his life around and became a wonderful Pastor, has two children, and is very happy and satisfied with his life because someone believed in him. We believe in Marcus.

I pray that Marcus will someday put this nightmare in his past and look to a wonderful future.

Hope, Health, and Happiness,

Vickie

Compassion Fatigue, STROKE, APHASIA, CAREGIVING, CAREGIVER, TBI, ABI, TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY, BRAIN INJURY, MARCUS ROSENBERGER. Part 1, Can exhaustion result from caregiving? Is caregiver fatigue a sign of failure . . . ?

4/21/13, I spoke with Marcus, he has a fever and has been ill. There’s nothing I can do to comfort him or help him feel better . . .

Traumatic Brain Injury or Acquired Brain Injury

Can exhaustion result from caregiving?

Is caregiver fatigue a sign of failure . . . ?

Compassion Fatigue: When Caring Hurts Too Much

Go to the Lap Publishing Website for more articles: http://www.lapublishing.com/blog/2012/brain-injury-compassion-fatigue/

MARCH 29TH, 2012  |

Brain Injury Blog by Janet Cromer, RN, MA, LMHC

March 29, 2012

Part One — What is Compassion Fatigue?

In Part One of this post I’ll give you some information about compassion fatigue. In Part Two (next week), I’ll explains some good strategies to prevent or treat compassion fatigue.

What is Compassion?Compassion is a form of deep caring for someone you love or feel close to. When this person is sick or injured you might feel sympathy and sorrow. Compassion goes beyond sympathy to a feeling of sharing their pain and trauma in some way, and wanting to ease their suffering. Perhaps you’ve heard about burnout. Burnout happens when the physical and emotional demands of caregiving outweigh your energy and resources. Burnout is a response to the circumstances. Compassion fatigue (CF) goes a step beyond burnout. CF is a response to being exposed to, or involved in the suffering of another.Caregiving for someone who has severe injuries or medical problems can be very stressful. Learning ways to manage the stress and emotional demands can protect your health and help you be a better caregiver.

LINGRAPHICA, FREE APHASIA APP, APHASIA, STROKE, BRAIN DAMAGE, MARCUS ROSENBERGER. 4/19/13, these Aphasia applications are great . . .

4/19/13, these Aphasia applications are great . . .

Free Apps for People with Aphasia: The SmallTalk™ Apps are Updated and Ready for Download
SmallTalk™ . . . BIG Update New updates to all 13 of the SmallTalk apps are now available on the App Store. By updating your SmallTalk apps (or downloading them for the first time), you can expect to see: A new elegant, sleek design A better experience for iPad users Easier navigation within the apps The SmallTalk Family of Free Apps offers extreme portability when practicing your speech and communicating on the go. SmallTalk apps use the same icons, voices, and videos found in our speech-generating devices.

For more information go to the aphasia.com: http://www.aphasia.com/products/apps/smalltalk?

Hope, Health, and Happiness,

Vickie

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE: COLOR, HD Fiber tracking MRI, APHASIA, BRAIN DAMAGE, BRAIN INJURY, STROKE, MARCUS ROSENBERGER. 4/6/13, brain mapping . . .

4/6/13, Weekly Photo Challenge: Color

Colors define the functions of brain fiber tracking when a high-definition fiber tracking MRI is used.

When brain mapping, beautiful colors define the millions of fiber tracts and their individual functions in the brain . . .

Brain injury in high-def with fiber tracking

U. PITTSBURGH (US) — New imaging technology will allow doctors to clearly see for the first time neural connections broken by traumatic brain injury.

Photo: Brain fibers that control right-sided limb movement were not damaged when the patient was hurt in an ATV accident. (Credit: Walt Schneider Laboratory)

Photo: High definition fiber-tracking map of a million brain fibers. (Credit: Walt Schneider Laboratory)

Photo: High definition fiber tracking reveals loss of fibers, or connections, on the injured right side (yellow) and the intact, undamaged left side (green). The patient was injured in an ATV accident and lost function in his left leg, arm, and hand. (Credit: Walt Schneider Laboratory)

Go to website for more information: http://www.futurity.org/top-stories/brain-injury-in-high-def-with-fiber-tracking/

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Brain Mapping in Adolescents with Very Early Onset Schizophrenia

Article written by Paul M. Thompson

Photos: Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, Division of Brain Mapping,
UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA

For more information go to http://www.loni.ucla.edu/~thompson/PT2003.html

Hope, Health, and Happiness,

Vickie