An employee's nightmare

The whole time I was in work release I worked at telemarketing jobs. It’s not that I wanted to [work at telemarketing], but I did it because I thought it was a way to save money and also it would keep me from going back to prison. Well as it turns out all it did was keep me from going back to prison.

The telemarketing place I was working for (Discount Energy in Dunedin) kept giving me bad checks. Every time I turned in a check from there it would bounce. Sure for the most part I always ended up getting paid even though it was never the right amount. Somehow even though I worked eight hours a day, five – sometimes six – days a week, I rarely ever saw a weekly paycheck over $200. It was always closer to $150 – much less than minimum wage. Now that’s while I was in work release, but now that I’m out I still haven’t gotten paid. I figured out that with everything they owe me for the last couple weeks and including one past check that bounced - they owe me $782.

Now get this – the owner of Discount Energy, Doug, told me he won’t give me my last two checks he owes me because another check he gave me bounced at Amscot. LIKE THAT’S MY FAULT!!!!!! I’m not the only person he’s done this to. It’s just that everybody who works there is from a work release program and nobody will say anything because they need the job or they’ll go back to prison.

Currently I’m taking all necessary legal actions to get what I’m owed and also that the guy who runs this crooked place pays for what he is doing.

The Largo Residential Reentry Center is fully aware that the residents’ paychecks keep bouncing. The financial person at the Center was supposed to get back to Ted a week and a half ago to let him know the total number of his paychecks that have bounced, but has not yet returned the call. Another released inmate (from the female Center) also has not received the pay owed her. Yet Goodwill continues to have their work release residents work at this place. Ted has hired a private investigator to investigate the owners and will be pursuing further action with the state.

Say No to Drugs

Since I’ve been released from prison, all I’ve been doing is working and sitting at the house. It seems like there’s too much at risk if I go out and do anything else. So this whole week I’ve been waking up at 6 a.m., going straight to work, then coming straight home.

A few of my old friends have tried to get a hold of me on MySpace, but I just ignore them. They’ll soon figure out that I just want to be left alone.

Actually one thing I have been looking into since I got out is taking classes to become a drug and alcohol counselor. That would be perfect for me, because it’ll give me a great opportunity to help other people and also I can relate with drug addicts real well, because I too am a drug addict and I’ve been in some real bad situations myself.

I would possibly like to travel around the country and talk to kids about the dangers of drugs and my whole experience in prison – maybe speaking on behalf of an anti-drug organization.

Other than that I’m doing real well. I haven’t picked up a single drug or drink and I don’t even feel that I need to. I couldn’t ask for more.

Ted's release day

Ted was released at a little after 10 a.m. on Friday the 13th. He immediately went to the local sheriff’s office to register as a convicted felon. Afterward, Ted celebrated at a local restaurant with his mother, stepfather, father, and father’s girlfriend.

Ted’s mom did finally manage to clean out his room (which had been piled high with boxes and used for storage for the last two years). He received a welcome home present of an inflatable video-gaming chair which also converted to a recliner, lounger and bed.

Ted next went to the mall with his father on his first day out and bought some sunglasses and a new ballcap with part of his paycheck. He spent the Friday and Saturday at a new friend’s house that he met on the bus going to and from his job.

Photos (click to enlarge): Finally released from the Largo Residential Reentry Center, registering at the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, Ted smiling while eating lunch with his family, Ted's cleaned-out room, Ted's dog Cocoa watches for him out the window, welcome-home balloons, three photos of the LoungAir.

My last few days

I’m finally down to my last 17 days in this place. It doesn’t seem like that’s any time at all, but it’s dragging by so slowly.

I try just to focus on work, but it’s hard knowing that soon when I leave my job each day, I won’t be going back to the prison release center after work. I can go back to my house.

I won’t have to be around a bunch of people I don’t want to be around. I won’t have to stand in line everyday to get a meal. I won’t have to wake up at 5:30 a.m. every morning surrounded by a bunch of other people who are just as grumpy as you because they have to get up so early.

Ah, I can’t wait. 17 days left….

After the brick wall

When I look back on the last two years, I can’t believe so much has happened.

Since before I got arrested, I knew I was headed toward a brick wall. I just didn’t care.

Now two years later, I’d like to think this whole experience made me a little wiser. Now I see the potential in my life. I know how to use my past to better my future.

Sure it’s not going to be easy now that I’m a convicted felon. Plus when I get out of this place, I’ll have to start all over again. As long as I stay focused for the first few months of getting out of prison, I should have some money saved up so I can get my license back. After that, it’ll get a little easier.

Teen in Jail - one year later

Ted began writing the Teen in Jail blog on July 14, 2009 while he was incarcerated in the Pinellas County Jail in Clearwater, Florida. He had been arrested for drug trafficking on October 30, 2008.

Ted was subsequently convicted of drug sales of MDMA (Ecstasy). Ted had gone ahead to see if the coast was clear for a drug dealer when he was apprehended by waiting police. In exchange for him casing the scene, he was to be paid $150. The 50 pills the drug dealer was selling did not contain pure Ecstasy – some were “dummies,” otherwise Ted probably would have received more time – even though he did not have any of the pills in his own possession.

Three prior charges from previous arrests were incorporated into Ted’s sentencing – possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana and criminal mischief. He was facing 25 – 30 years of prison, so he chose to plead guilty in return for a 2-year prison term.

Two months later on December 19, 2008, the drug dealer (that Ted had cased the scene for) was also arrested for the same MDMA trafficking incident on October 30th and posted bail. The dealer was again arrested on October 5, 2009 for multiple charges of possession and sales of Oxycodone and Diazepam. Almost a month later, the dealer was again arrested for trafficking MDMA and is now serving time at RMC Work Camp. The dealer is due to be released on May 30, 2013. He received a 3 years, 9 months sentence for 12 charges, including possession and sales of Methamphetamine, marijuana and other various controlled substances.

The Teen in Jail blog chronicles Ted’s two-year incarceration in jail and various Florida prisons, a work camp and a prison reentry center – Pinellas County Jail in Clearwater, the Reception and Medical Center (RMC) in Lake Butler, the Central Florida Reception Center (CFRC) in Orlando, Brevard Correctional Institution in Cocoa, Lancaster Correctional Institution and Lancaster Work Camp in Trenton, and the Largo Residential Reentry Center in Clearwater. Ted’s current release date is August 13, 2010 – less than a month from now. This release date reflects gain time for good behavior.

Ted started the Teen in Jail blog to let people know what it’s like behind bars and to keep other kids from making the same mistakes.

Ted was not allowed to write about many incidents and people (correctional officers and other inmates) during his two-year incarceration, so he plans on finding a literary agent to possibly publish his full story in a book.

My first two days out

Last night I was thinking of all the good movies I’ve missed that came out. So I decided the first day I get out, I’m going to Hollywood Video to rent like 6 – 8 movies that have come out that I’ve wanted to see, and for the next couple of day, I’ll sit at my mom’s house and watch movies.

I could probably watch them all in one day, but I’m still going to have other things I’ll need to do like register as a convicted felon at the county sheriff’s office and go to work. I’m not going to quit my job just because I got out of prison.

One very important thing that I’ll probably have to do is clean my old room out. My mom sent me pictures of what it looks like now and it looks like she turned it into a storage room.

Hollywood Video closed its doors in December 2009. Some of the movies that Ted wants to see are Slumdog Millionaire, 2012, and Ironman 2. Ted’s mom will clean out his room before he comes home (hopefully).

Photos: Ted's room before he went to jail and prison. (Click to enlarge.)

Close to the end

TWO MONTHS LEFT! It’s so close, but it seems like it’s never going to get here. As long as I get the rest of my gain time, I should get out on August 23, 2010. Right now my release date is September 2nd, but I still have one more month of gain time I can get in July.

It’s hard not to count days, but when you only have 56 and a wake up, it’s really difficult not to. I’ve seen so many people go home from here and I see how excited they were and I just can’t wait.

I’ve been away for 20 months and in two more months, it’ll finally be over. The only thing I’ll still have to do to put all this behind me for good is pay my court costs.

Updated release date

Ted wrote this about four weeks ago.

Today I finished my last day of training at my job. Training only lasted the first half of the day and for the rest of the day I was on the phone. I even made a deal today. I know one deal isn’t much compared to what other people do there, but I think I did a pretty good job for my first day on the phone.

Another good thing about my job is that we mainly call commercial businesses so there won’t be a lot of people cussing me out. I don’t think I could handle that for too long.

All the people that I work with are really nice, so the work environment is really good too.

Only about four months to go…

Ted still accumulates gain time of 10 days per month for good behavior. His current release date is September 12th, but he can conceivably earn 30 more days off for good behavior, putting his release date in mid-August.

Road trip

When I get out, I have a million things I have to think about and do, but I decided one thing I’m definitely going to do for sure. I’m taking a road trip.

I want to get away from Florida. I’m not trying to escape. I just want to have some time to myself for a few weeks.

It’s going to take a lot of planning and preparation, but I think it’ll do me some good. I don’t want to go anywhere in particular. I just want to start driving and see where I end up. I was thinking about driving on the famous Route 66. Who knows.

Of course I can’t take this road trip right away. First I have to get my license re-instated and save some money. Plus a few other things, but this is one thing I really want to do. It’s one of the things I want to do while I’m young.

My mom said she thought it was a good idea, but of course she worries. Every mom worries about their kids no matter how old they are. Heck, I’ll be 21 when I’m released and still sometimes she acts like she doesn’t want me to ever leave her side.

Anyway, if anyone has any good advice for a successful road trip, I’d really like to hear it.

Getting a job

I know there are organizations that will help find me a job, but they are going to be the kind of jobs nobody else wants to do. I don’t want to be stuck working a job like that for the rest of my life.

I know I’ve probably talked about it before, but I can’t seem to find the right words to describe how I feel about how hard it’s going to be to get a job when I get out.

Nobody wants to hire a felon. Especially one with a record like mine.

Even if I wasn’t a felon and I had a clean record, it’s still hard to get a job in this recession. So now that I’ve been to prison, it’s going to be that much harder. With so few jobs out there and everyone else applying for them, I’m going to be the first person they decide NOT to hire.

I know I can do much greater things if I was just given the chance. I don’t care if it’s not a job that will make me rich as long as I like what I’m doing and making a difference.

I just want to prove to myself and my family that I’m not doomed to spend the rest of my life in prison.

Gain time

It seems like it’s just about impossible to get all your gain time in prison and make your earliest release date. I try so hard to stay to myself (except for a few people who try to do the same thing) and do what I have to do to make my earliest release date.

Right now I have about three weeks worth of gain time when I should have about twice that. I can’t really complain though.Three weeks is better than nothing and at least I’m not maxing my time out.

There’s a lot of people in her that don’t care about getting gain time. It seems like they don’t want to get out any sooner than they have to. Most people will tell you, “Hey, they can’t hold me in here forever.” Yea well, they can’t hold me forever either, but if I can get out earlier than my current release date, than I will.

Unlike most people that just don’t care, I want my gain time. I have people that love me on the outside and I want to be with them more than anything. I’ll do whatever I’m supposed to do to see them as soon as possible.

Inmates earn a certain number of days off for good behavior each month they stay out of trouble. That means, no write-ups or infractions of any kind. Ted has received five write-ups since he’s been at Lancaster work camp. One for having a piece of paper under his bed, one for sitting on someone else’s bed, one for leaving a pair of his pants on his bed while he went to sleep, one for someone else leaving loose tobacco on his bed, and one for not having his shoes tied.

What I think about most of the time

Most of every day I catch myself thinking about my release date. My heart starts to race and when I look around, I feel depressed that I’m still in prison. I can’t help but think about what my family is doing at that exact moment.

I try not to think about getting out, but I just can’t help it. The closer I get to my release date, the more I think about it.

The most popular conversation in here is the one about “when you get out”. There are three questions that I hear on a daily basis: “What did you do to get here?” “How long you got?” “Where are you from?” Those questions force you to talk about your past, which once again makes you think about getting out.

Have you ever heard that old myth that guys think about women every seven seconds? Well, the same can be said for people in prison. It seems that I think about getting out of prison every seven seconds. Well, I know my time here is short and my life will be long, so this is only a speed bump in my life.

When I get out

I know I said that when I get out, I want to go to school, but then I ask myself:

What school will accept me?
Can I afford it?
Can I get a job to pay for school?
How will I get to and from school?

All these questions overwhelm me and I’m trying my hardest not to give in to the pressure. I know I could just say screw it, I’m in prison now, so I’m just going to get used to it. It’s way easier to not work and sell drugs – but I can’t do it.

For some reason, I feel like I’m meant for greater things.

Even though I know this, it’s a constant struggle for me. I know that when I am released I’ll have no car, no guaranteed job, no money saved up, and hardly any clothes, let alone dress clothes for interviews. All this is always at the back of my mind.

If I told you it wasn’t, I’d be lying. I know things won’t be easy, and I feel like I’m sitting on a fence hoping I don’t fall on the side with all the dangerous rocks.

I know I’ve only begun a long road to recovery, but once I’m released, that’s the true test. I want nothing more than to give this story of mine a happy ending.