Comments on: Florida Appellate Court Reverses Probation Violations for Non-Willful Violations

By: Michael Brown

Michael Brown — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 11:57:29 +0000

In reply to Phys Ed. I am facing a situation where I did 10 years in prison followed by 10 years probation with monitoring. I was released in 2016 and am expecting to be done with probation on March 21,2016. I do construction work but my pay barely pays my bills so my payments have been sporadic. Yesterday my P.O. told me that I have 6 months to pay them $25,000 or she will issue a warrant for my arrest. I said that I still have until next year before my probation is completed. She stated to me that if she waits longer than the 6 months then it would be out of the courts hands. Can she really do this?

By: Michael Brown

Michael Brown — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 11:55:24 +0000

I am facing a situation where I did 10 years in prison followed by 10 years probation with monitoring. I was released in 2016 and am expecting to be done with probation on March 21,2016. I do construction work but my pay barely pays my bills so my payments have been sporadic. Yesterday my P.O. told me that I have 6 months to pay them $25,000 or she will issue a warrant for my arrest. I said that I still have until next year before my probation is completed. She stated to me that if she waits longer than the 6 months then it would be out of the courts hands. Can she really do this?

By: Phys Ed

Phys Ed — Thu, 02 May 2019 02:27:18 +0000

Why is it that no one discussing sex offender “treatment” ever seems to delve into the criminality inherent in that cottage industry. Rarely do the treatment providers boast a PhD in their resumes. They are “wannabe” psychologists and psychiatrists who are allowed to “practice” these supposed skills on a captive clientele – all of whom of course must pay cash for these dubious benefits, most often meted out in a group environment. Most of the time the treatment involves a “naming and shaming” philosophy rife with confrontation within the group and/or based on inquisitional techniques of interrogation as to what or how they are currently living their lives.
Eric Hoffer, the famous longshoreman philosopher, said it best and I paraphrase it here: all great causes – or supposed ones – begin as a movement, rapidly become a business, and then devolve into a racket. Such is the state of sex offender “treatment” today. Think about all that cash money these poor unfortunates are forced to lay out to listen for an hour and 1/2 or more while the treatment provider tries to intimidate and insult them, counting on the fact that these unfortunates condemned to this sort of “treatment” whether they want it or not, or need it or not are aware that a word from these people to their individual parole officers or supervisors in these poor unfortunates can be on a prison bus back to incarceration if they do not genuflect enough or “kow – tow” to these forensic overlords who are most of the time on some sort of power trip. Then of course there are the endless polygraph tests, which even if one does pass, must be repeated fairly often as “maintenance”. These of course are also couched in cash payments. In Illinois it amounts to $360 a pop for testing. God forbid you should get a desultory or unclear response to any individual question the polygrapher may ask to have it accounted as a negative or a deliberate lie on the part of the person taking the test.
Now imagine having to drive 70 or more miles in a round trip to attend these farcical proceedings – and on a weekly basis to boot. I am of course describing all of this from personal experience in Illinois – at least until I decided to call a spade a spade and got myself kicked out of the class on purpose because I could no longer stand the nonsense of being made to pay for the nails and cross of my own crucifixion.

By: Jay

Jay — Tue, 30 Apr 2019 19:37:33 +0000

In reply to Roger Mansfield.

@Roger re: …asking 10 different probation officers.
When I needed a travel permit my officer was out of the office. She normally faxes them to me.
The officer who was kindly doing my permit in her place told me I needed to come by and get it as she doesn’t fax travel permits. This is 2 officers in the same building doing things differently. She told me she could email my permit to me to a closer location to me (I was at work). I asked if she could simply email it directly to me, she laughed and said “No, we don’t email travel permits” I told her my friend (s.o. in another Florida county) gets his emailed directly to him. She responded “Well, that is that county, we don’t do that in this county” (paraphrasing).
Is this the FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS? Or is it the (insert county here) department of corrections? Hello? I thought this was a STATE agency using STATE guidelines?

By: Dustin

Dustin — Tue, 30 Apr 2019 19:27:22 +0000

In reply to Florida Action Committee.

FAC,

Think also of those who can’t afford attorneys and try to proceed pro se and being roadblocked by procedural rules. Most courts will tell such persons to go to the public defender, who always advise not to bother. Asking a PD to do anything in their defense is all too often like asking a fish to fly.

I personally think it’s sad that most courts subordinate the law to court rules, many of which are specifically written to preclude pro se litigation.

By: Capt Charles Munsey Jr. USN Ret

Capt Charles Munsey Jr. USN Ret — Tue, 30 Apr 2019 19:22:30 +0000

In reply to Roger Mansfield. Roger, we're on the same page with your response. I was amazed when I was on probation at how many different answers the same question got. I don't really blame the probation people for the confusion. It's the way the laws are thrown together, driven by paranoia and emotion...with no common sense or logical application.

By: Roger Mansfield

Roger Mansfield — Tue, 30 Apr 2019 18:11:59 +0000

Thank you FAC for reminding people to be cautious…. While the First District ruled in the appellant’s favor that doesn’t mean the someone in another district can rely on it. The issue that we (SO’s on probation) all need to remember is that our danger starts with the individual probation officers. If you asked 10 different officers you’d probably get 7-8 different interpretations. You absolutely might prevail at trial or on appeal but that’s a long difficult road to travel.

By: Capt Charles Munsey Jr. USN Ret

Capt Charles Munsey Jr. USN Ret — Mon, 29 Apr 2019 18:04:08 +0000

Maybe there is a glimmer of hope for Florida. Many of the probation officers in Florida must have missed the class on common sense.

By: RM

RM — Mon, 29 Apr 2019 17:39:22 +0000

In reply to Muriel. This has been settled law in Florida since time immemorial. Whenever a circuit court revokes probation solely due to failure to pay costs or attend a therapy session which requires payment and it is clear that the probationer is indigent, the court is willfully disobeying settled law and established precedent. There have been hundreds of Florida DCA opinions with the identical holding. I read the Court's decision, and it appears that both the probation officer and the presiding judge were the ones who willfully and substantially violated the law.

By: Florida Action Committee

Florida Action Committee — Mon, 29 Apr 2019 17:29:45 +0000

In reply to no hope. You are correct, no hope. His trial court found him guilty - so for at least as long as it took him to appeal he sat with that sanction. Think of how many can't afford to appeal!