Learn to Think Ahead—To Avoid Police Contact: Thinking Ahead Is Your First Line of Defense

By E. V. Landrum III

The subjects discussed in this book will focus on a parolee and other released prisoners living out here on these streets twenty-four hours a day. My attempt is to help a parolee and other released prisoners survive out here. Every sentence, phrase, and paragraph underlined in this book is why a parolee’s parole was either violated or revoked. And it is why other released prisoners end up back in jail or prison. I think future parolees and other prisoners who will be released from prison should know the mistakes past parolees and released prisoners made. I also shared the personal experiences of other parolees and released prisoners with future parolees and released prisoners. Every parolee and released prisoner in this country lives different lifestyles in different communities with different circumstances and situations. I hope this book will plant in their minds what to consider and what to think about that will be the cause of them encountering direct or indirect police contact.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Mar 9, 2019
• ISBN: 9781728301198

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© 2019 E. V. Landrum III. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 04/25/2019

ISBN: 978-1-7283-0120-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-0119-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019902010

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Introduction

Overview

Paroling

Parole Home Placement Address

Do Not Leave Your State

Report Your Arrest

Do Not Move from Your Parole Home Placement Address

Prisoner’s Grievance Forms

Mentally Ill Parolees

High-Crime Areas

Associations with felons and ex-felons

Special Conditions

Stay Out of other People’s Vehicles

Hanging Out in People’s Cars

Watch and Listen to the Local News

Clean and Vacuum Your Car Inside and Out

Keep People Out of Your Car

Other People’s CCW

Traffic Traps and Violations

Keep People Out of Your Parole Home Placement

Stay out of People’s Homes and Buildings

Don’t Visit

Report Your Loss of Employment

Whistleblowers

Employment Information Handbook

The Interview

Other Financial Sources

Social Security Benefits

The Americans with Disabilities Act

A Parolee’s State of Mind and Attitude

You Are Not Free

Sentencing Traps

Recognizing Hard-Core Criminals

Five Groups of Parolees

Hard-Core Career Criminals and nonviolent career criminals

Things some women will say or do

Associations with old friends

Wild and Untamed Street People

Marijuana Smokers with a Weed Budget

Name-Dropping

Do Not Look Up People from Your Past

Gossipers

Never Try to Force Yourself on Anyone

Ideas That Could Help the Parolee and Ex-Felon

Do Not Communicate with Prisoners and Prison Employees

Stay Well Groomed

Loud Gestures and Behaviors

Don’t Wear All-Black Clothes

Loitering

The Chief of Police Town Hall Meeting

Trespassing and Invading Personal Property

Bouncing a Check

Transportation

Modern Technology and Surveillance

Alibis

Mistaken Identity

Debit Cards

Build Credibility and a Good Reputation

Closet Homosexual Predators

Touching and Rubbing

Gifts

Clever and Slick Schemes

The Court Doesn’t Work for Parolees and Ex-Felons

Layman’s English

Legalese

Legal Latin

Critical Thinking and Reasoning

Police Contact and Arrest

Police Report

Vigilantism

Trash and Garbage

Buying Things off the Streets

Fishing License

Gifts

Dumb and Ignorant People

Strangers Approaching You on the Street

Pocketknives

Horseplay

Runaway Children

Recreation, Parties, and Occasional Drug Use

Strength Plays and Principles

Penitentiary Language

Imposters

After-the-Fact Thoughts

The Written Police Report

The Police Report

Conclusion

• When You Are on Parole

• After You Are Released on Probation

• When You Are Placed in a Community Residential Program

• When You Are Living in a Corrections Center

• When You Have Successfully Completed Parole

• When You Are Discharged from a State Department of Corrections

INTRODUCTION

This text will focus on a prisoner after he is released from prison, and what he should be aware of to help him avoid any direct or indirect police contact on the streets.

The released prisoner could be any of the following:

• on probation

• on parole

• sentenced to do time in a corrections center

• issued a court order to stay in a group home or community placement

• discharged off his sentence and released from prison

• completed parole, but the parole officer and parole board have not signed and date-stamped his release from parole papers or documents yet

• completed parole the parole officer and parole board did sign and date stamped his release papers, but he never got his parole papers

• an ex-felon who has been off parole for less than a year

• an ex-felon who has been off parole for less than two years

• an ex-felon who has been off parole between three and five years

• an ex-felon who has been off parole between six and seven years, but not more than seven years

• an ex-felon who has been off parole at least eight years or more

• a prisoner or parolee waiting to be released on parole within the next twelve months

Each of the groups of released prisoners mentioned above will be treated differently whenever they encounter direct or indirect police contact. The first thing that will be considered is how long he has been out of prison, his age, his cooperation with the police, and what he did time for.

If a prisoner is on parole or if he discharged from prison, and he encounters police contact within thirty days of his release. When the police discover he did time for a violent crime and is back out on the street, alarms will go off. The police will call for backup, and the released prisoner will be locked up again. Depending on his status, his parole officer or the prosecutor will be notified.

While he is still on parole, any direct or indirect police contact will put his parole in jeopardy.

I want to avoid discussing any state rules, regulations, policies, and civil and felony laws because the prisoner should have thought about those things prior to being released from prison. This text is for the released prisoner who really wants to complete his parole. The parolee must honor the trust granted to him when he is on parole and abide by all the conditions listed on his parole release document.

Wherever a prisoner is released in this country, his environment, associations, circumstances, language, and communication will be different from other released prisoners. If a released prisoner can maintain an open mind when he is reading this text, he could start to see how different things on the street can lead to police contact.

Everything discussed in this text came directly from the spoken words of other prisoners, parole violators, probationers, and convicted felons. Those prisoners weren’t planning to commit any crimes and had no intentions of going back to prison. I did not get any of this information from other books.

The information provided in this text can help expand a parolee’s imagination and vision to a place in his mind where he can begin to understand, learn, and accept ideas how to avoid direct and indirect police contact. And the reason he should avoid police contact will help him actually see himself completing his parole.

Overview

When a prisoner is released from a prison, he has to go back into society. Whenever there is a discussion about prison reform on the local, state, and national news, activists are always arguing or fighting for prison reform. Elected representatives, governors, attorney generals, police commissioners, police chiefs, prosecutors, and presidents make almost the exact same statement to address prison reform and their concerns about prisoners being released from prison. They say that two-thirds of prisoners who are released from prison return to prison very soon after they are released. They recommend better education, better job training, and better jobs for prisoners who are released back into society. I agree with both of those statements because released prisoners will need all those things.

Direct contact and indirect contact with the police are the main reasons two-thirds of the released prisoners return to prison shortly after their release. A prisoner should have at least one year of training before he is released from prison to learn how to avoid police contact.

A newly released prisoner who is out on the street will not immediately be thinking about avoiding police contact. Any progress he makes will be slow and hard. It will take lots of time to rebuild a life for himself.

It will be so difficult that he will become impatient and discouraged. Potential employers will say, No, Maybe, I’ll call you, Our policy is, We do not hire convicted felons or We cannot hire convicted felons.

The released prisoner will still be hanging out on the streets. He will be moving around and socializing with people he knows and people he doesn’t know. He is just waiting for a break!

That is why a prisoner should be trained to avoid police contact at least one year prior to being released. That way, he can get that break everybody is recommending: better education, job training, and a job.

Paroling

Whenever a prisoner is released from prison, it is his decision and choice to honor the conditions of parole. Written rules state that it is the prisoner’s responsibility to honor the conditions of his parole. This text’s focus is on the prisoner who has decided to honor his parole prior to paroling.

All released prisoners should have supporters, support groups, and assistance whenever they are released back into society. That support should continue for at least seven years. The length of time depends on the parolee’s age, abilities, understanding, mental development, mental status, maturity, and progress to a point when there is enough evidence to show he can make it on his own.

A parolee’s support group could include any of the following:

• a state employment agency or employment commission and other private/public employment agencies

• a state Department of social services and a state’s Division for Social and Community Aid for people in need

• a county, city, township, or village office of temporary services and agency that lists part-time jobs, drug counseling, shelters for the homeless, soup kitchens, or food banks

• a church, a local business that is willing to hire parolees, or a mentoring group for young boys and men

• a local judge, if the parolee is younger than twenty-one (sometimes a judge will work with an older parolee)

• a doctor, a registered nurse, or both

• a psychologist, a psychiatrist, or both

• Alcoholics Anonymous or other twelve-step groups

• college and trade school counselors and tutors

The people listed below should never be members of a parolee’s support group.

• a prosecutor/district attorney

• a lawyer

• a police officer, police detective, or undercover police officer

• a parole or probation officer

• an employee of a state’s Department of Corrections

• an employee of city or county jails

• other parolees, ex-felons, prisoners who are still locked up, or strangers

• local, state, or national news reporters

• local, state, or national politicians (a parolee can always write his elected representatives for help)

Parolees should avoid all activists and protestors. Their intention is to approach and encounter a lot of police officers. Activists gets themselves arrested and jailed. After a few days in jail, they will be released, but the parolee who is arrested with the activists will not be released from jail. Any parolee deliberately encountering the police and getting himself arrested with an activist will violate his parole.

Juveniles seventeen years old and younger will need direct supervision. Prisoners eighteen to twenty-nine years old will need assistance and support too. Special attention should be directed toward immature prisoners who are between eighteen and twenty-nine. Prisoners who are older than thirty will need support, but their support should be designed to fit the needs of a responsible adult.

Supporters should never call a released prisoner kid or Young man or by any nicknames or tag names. The supporters should use the parolee’s last name. Never become overly familiar and personally involved with a released prisoner.

All support and assistance should be set up and designed to fit the released prisoner’s age, race, height, appearance, education, weight, gender, and mental and physical disabilities. The support and assistance should fit the environment he will live in. In no way should that support and assistance belittle, degrade, embarrass, humiliate, or mistreat the released prisoner. Never approach or talk to the paroled prisoner as if he is slow at learning or understanding things.

And never throw it in a parolee’s face that he is a convicted criminal on parole. Acting, talking and behaving like that will push away the parolee and the ex-felon.

Let’s face the facts. Some prisoners—maybe a lot of them—are employable, and some are hard-core unemployable. There are some prisoners who couldn’t work even if they wanted to. And there are parolees who will refuse to work period! Those parolees and ex-felons will have to be identified. Some released prisoners will never get or find a job! That is another problem that needs addressing. Those prisoners will need assistance! If genuine support is not shown to these parolees and ex-felons, they will drift toward police contact, violate their parole, or engage in criminal activity.

There are prisoners who just cannot do parole, probation, or a corrections center. These prisoners have to discharge from prison? Maybe not.

Some people were born to be criminals. A habitual criminal will always break a law. When that is the case, he may have to stay in prison for life or until he is too old to do anything but go somewhere and sit down.

Career and habitual criminals’ behaviors and actions have a direct influence on how parolees and ex-felons will be treated. That includes prisoners who are waiting to be paroled. Their paroles will be delayed if a career or habitual criminal committed a horrific, terrifying crime. The habitual criminal crimes will determine how other released prisoners will be treated if they encounter the police. That is another reason a released prisoner should avoid police contact.

A parolee must complete his parole to attain the mobility needed to make the next step toward improving the quality of his life. If a parolee decides to successfully complete his parole, he will need support and assistance with a support group. The support group will provide help, aid, and guidance. All this will not be easy!

Police contact will cause problems for released prisoners. Prisoners, ex-felons, and their support groups do not know everything they need to know to avoid direct and indirect police contact. That is the main problem they’ll need help with. A released prisoner should never be left alone to think his parole through to its end. Other released prisoners thought they never did anything that would involve the police, and then out of the clear, blue sky, they encountered police for something, someone, or some reason from the past. Now they are parole violators!

The purpose of this book is to assist parolees, ex-felons, and support groups in avoiding any and all police officers. That is not a storybook, and it is certainly not set up to help parolees, ex-felons, and support groups outsmart the police. This is not one of those after-the-fact books! This is a reference/information book that is designed to give released prisoners ideas and help broaden the scope of their thinking to avoid police contact.

This book is not suggesting that you, the parolee, hide out, never talk on the phone, never go outside, and refuse to have any contact with other human beings! That would be overly cautious, paranoid, and ridiculous.

This book is a list of things, thoughts, communication, language, places, environments, attitudes, appearances, and behaviors that supporters and released prisoners should be aware of to help them avoid police contact.

Whenever there is a discussion about avoiding police, most people will say, Oh, that’s easy. Some prisoner’s think just staying out of the sight of a police is avoiding police contact. Some prisoners think avoiding the police means avoiding the police after they have broken the law, committed a rule violation, or violated their parole. Wrong! That is what I would call after the fact. Your parole officer having you picked up and placed in jail is one of the police contacts you the parolee want to avoid.

Avoiding direct and indirect police contact is not as simple as a lot of people think! People can be trained and taught to think ahead to avoid police—if they are willing to learn. There are numerous things the released prisoner and his support group should know and consider to avoid the police. Just keep in mind that we can’t think of everything.

Most parolees and ex-felons have decided they can’t be sent back to prison for the things discussed in this book. A lot of prisoners say, They can’t do anything to me for that. They can’t snatch my parole for that. They are talking about a rule violation, a petty crime, a petty civil infraction, or simple police contact. They think the parole board and prosecutor can’t send them back to prison for something they think is small or nothing. Those kinds of thought are fixed in their minds.

After they are back in prison, they have said, I didn’t do anything or What I did or said was nothing! Most parolees and ex-felons do not know those little things and the smallest incident reported can be the cause of a police encounter. I have included a list of small things that can get a parolee’s parole snatched. Most parolees and ex-felons take those for granted or overlook them.

Police contact is the number one reason a parole is revoked. Avoiding the police is one of the conditions for getting probation. That is often why an ex-felon who completed his parole or was discharged from his sentence—within the past seven years—was sent back to prison. A released prisoner will never know how things might turn out when he encounters the police.

My intent in this book is to stress that any direct or indirect contact with the police could start a process that could force a parolee or ex-felon off the streets and back into jail or prison. That includes anyone on probation, in a corrections center, in a group home, or in community placement.

A lot of prisoners get so excited and happy about being on parole. They get careless, fail to consider the things that could result in police contact, and violate their parole.

A lot of parolees and ex-felons take too many things for granted? Why? We don’t know? It is difficult know what’s going on in a released prisoner’s mind. A lot of parolees think what they did was nothing—and there was no reason for the parole office to revoke their parole.

A lot of discharge prisoners do not believe they should have been treated as parolees, arrested, charged, convicted, and sent back to prison—just like that!

Recently discharged prisoners fail to understand what and how the arresting officer, the prosecutor, and the judge think about him being out on the streets. The arresting officer, the prosecutor, and the judge think all released prisoners should be under the supervision of parole officer.

Prisoners who want to avoid direct or indirect contact with the police should read this book with an open mind! A lot of prisoners don’t have a clue about what to look out for. They have no idea about what not to do, what not to say, how not to act, where not to be, and how not to dress to avoid police contact.

That section includes:

• things parolees and ex-felons shouldn’t do

• the types of language and communication they shouldn’t use

• lifestyle changes parolees and ex-felons should make

• associations parolees and ex-felons have to stop or prevent

• locations, places, and environments parolees and ex-felons should avoid when traveling

• people parolees and ex-felons should avoid

• illustrations needed to help parolees, ex-felons, and their support groups get a clear picture of what not to do and where not to go

• common traffic violations released prisoners should avoid committing

• a list of misdemeanors released prisoners should avoid committing

• a list of standard parole rules and explanations.

• short narrative(s) of actual events other parolees and ex-felons have experienced.

• Reason(s) released prisoners should stay out of people’s vehicles.

• reasons released prisoners should keep people out of their vehicles

• how released prisoners should live at their parole home placement addresses

• information for released prisoners who are experiencing mental illness or mood disorders

• home placement with a female

• where to find job training and get a job

• support groups

• what released prisoners think parole is and their state of mind and feelings about parole

• police reports

Most parolees and ex-felons have no desire to be incarcerated again. The challenge is can the released prisoner adjust. The issues listed above will not be easy to deal with, but they are absolutely essential if parolees, ex-felons, and their support groups want to avoid police contact.

This book will help you learn to think ahead to prevent, duck, or dodge any situation that could lead to police contact. I do not want the reader to be confused, frustrated, or misled about my intent. I know some prisoners, ex-felons, and support groups will struggle, argue, fight, and have problems with topics in this book. I am not telling readers how to live their lives. However, many parolees, ex-felons, and support groups are not aware of what to avoid on a day-to-day basis. That is why I wrote this book. Most people do not know how parole boards and the criminal justice system actually work and what they use against parolees and ex-felons to send them back to prison.

My goal is to provide enough of the little details and other things parolees and ex-felons should be aware of to avoid police contact and prevent the following things from happening:

• a violation

• an arrest

• being caught up in someone else’s crime

• a new crime

• a conviction

Let’s start here. You are in prison and waiting for the parole board’s decision. Your parole board hearing was a few months ago. One day, you receive a notice from the parole board stating your parole has been granted.

Do not tell anyone that you are getting out of prison. Why shouldn’t you tell anyone? That is the one thing you don’t want to do! Protecting your parole will be very difficult while you are in prison, waiting to be released, and after you get out. Never discuss your parole with anyone. Remember, no parole means, no mobility. Never discuss your parole with other prisoners or prison employees because a lot of them will not be too happy to hear you are paroling. That is just the way it is with some people.

I’ve heard a prisoner who wasn’t paroling ask a prisoner who was paroling, Why are you leaving me? That prisoner was dead serious! As if the paroling prisoner supposed to stay in prison and continue to do time with him?

Some prisoners form strong, dependent friendships. Loneliness and resentment occur for some prisoners when their only friends are paroled. Do not be surprised when those feelings develop between two guys who are doing their time together. That’s how some prisoners will feel and think. No, those guys are not homosexuals! They are just friends.

Your parole should be your confidential information.

Some people can be vindictive toward released prisoners. They have a frame of mind to seek revenge and a strong desire to hurt them out of spite. A released prisoner can never know what a person will do or think about him. Some people may even think he does not deserve to be released from prison.

Parole Home Placement Address

You will have to inform the person or people who are providing you with parole home placement, but you don’t want them spreading the news. Be very polite and respectful when you ask your parole home placement sponsor not to tell anyone you are going to stay there. You may not know the people they might tell you are going to stay with them. You cannot trust anyone out here with that information. That may not make sense to you, but let me explain.

You may not know who they are, but there are people who will never be excited about you getting out of prison. They are haters who believe you should stay in prison for the rest of your life for what you did—or what they heard you did. They might think you want something from them if you come around.

True scenario: I know a released prisoner, who got a very good job, making good money, worked eighteen or nineteen years on his job, got married, and purchased a nice house. He was fired because his employer received a letter that said horrible things about him and why he had to do time. The released prisoner asked his employer if he could see the letter, but the employer said it was confidential because the writer feared for his life. The ex-felon said okay and left.

True scenario: Another released prisoner told everybody he was paroling to Texas. He went to Texas and got a good job that paid good money. Someone in his home state found out where he was working and sent a letter to his employer—and the released prisoner was fired. I hope you get the idea.

They could be people you knew, and they don’t believe you should have been paroled. They could be your old friends, family, relatives, old girlfriends, old buddies, old associates, ex-wives, the victim’s family, friends, family, old girlfriends, wives, sons, daughters, or old coworkers. You will never know who they are and what they really think about you until it is too late.

A released prisoner should make every attempt to avoid contact with the people mentioned above because contact with any of them could lead to police contact. Other parolees have experienced these problems in the past, and it resulted in police contact.

A released prisoner can tell if a person was there for him, if that person stayed with him, and stuck by him while he was in prison. That is a big sacrifice for anyone to make. Most people are gone within a year or two. Even though a person stuck by you through all of your time in