Non violent offender needs your help in getting sentence modification and programming.
RE:
Anthony Rivera
WSPF
Po Box 9900
Boscobel, Wi
53805INTRO:
Anthony is a nonviolent offender. He is also
addicted to drugs and alcohol and cannot get the treatment he needs while in
prison. As he explains here, in May , he will be petitioning the court for release
under a law that allows for the release of non violent offenders who have
served a minimum of 75 % their sentences. Anthony asks that he be put
immediately in a treatment program upon release. He has strong support of
family and girlfriend , and expects a bright future if given this chance.
This is quite a story and I recommend reading it- it tells of the failings of the entire system and I hope the
courts get a good view through it what is actually happening in our
taxpayer paid institutions.
.
PETITION FOR SENTENCE ADJUSTMENT
PURSUANT TO §973.1193 Wis. Stats .
I am petitioning the Court for a sentence
adjustment because I have served 75% of my confinement on each of my
cases; which allows me the opportunity to request relief on my sentences
under §973.195 Wis. Stats.
This petition is a bit more than simply a
request for early release, because I am asking for more than my release from
prison. In fact, I would like to make a proposal to the Court; in doing so, I
will explain certain conditions within the prison system, along with particular
issues I've personally been dealing with insofar as my addiction to cocaine and
my ongoing struggle with alcohol.
My overall conduct history while in custody
is moderate. If you take the time to review my conduct history, you will notice
that the majority of my conduct reports are due to either the use of drugs or
alcohol, or to attempts to get drugs for my own personal use. I was in denial
of my addiction for quite a long time, but I have matured over the past several
years, and come to realize that I clearly have a drug and alcohol problem.
Because of my addiction problems, I have AODA treatment needs which I am
currently on the waiting list for, I also had educational needs, which I
successfully fulfilled in November, 2011, when 1 earned my H.S.E.D at Green Bay
Correctional Inst.
Due to good behavior and the achievement of
significant program needs, I was transferred from a maximum to a medium
security facility. More importantly,it was a facility that has the AODA program
which I need; unlike the maximum security facility I was previously housed in.
Once I arrived at the "medium" facility, I spoke with the social worker
about my being placed in the AODA program because a new program was due to
starting the "near future." Unfortunately, I was told that 1 would be
placed, on the "waiting list because there were other inmates who had the
same AODA program need, whose release dates were sooner than mine. To my
further misfortune, within 90 days of my arrival I was taken to segregation for
drinking, possessing alcohol, and attempting to have cocaine brought into the
facility.
Rather than offering me the help I clearly
need, I was transferred to a supermax facility, and then staffed to a maximum
facility—where
there are no AODA treatment programs.
Drugs and alcohol are plentiful throughout
the entire Wisconsin prison system, and I am struggling to stay clean and
avoid temptation. I feel that I am not being offered (in a timely manner) the
help I need from the Department of Corrections. Instead, I'm being confined to
segregation for years at a time, and being shipped back and forth between
prisons that can't offer me the help I need. Frankly,I feel that the prison
system is failing to help meet my AODA needs, and to offer me the treatment I
clearly need, by treating the AODA program as if it were a privilege rather
than a need.
I clearly have an addiction, problem and I
am perfectly willing to accept help(treatment) but I've been in custody for
over five-and-a-half years , and still haven't gotten AODA treatment. The
message the Department of Corrections seems to be sending me and others is that
we have-to walk a fine behavioral line and "earn" treatment, or just
quit cold turkey, to simply become "eligible" for AODA treatment.
Because once we get to a
facility that offers treatment, we still have to be placed on a lengthy waiting
list, and meet a stringent set of criteria, before we are given an opportunity
for treatment. With all due respect, if I could walk that fine a line on my
own, for an extended amount of time, I wouldn’t have a need for a treatment
program. I would already have the tools and resources necessary to successfully
manage my addiction, I need a treatment program in the very near future, not a
year or more down the road.
I believe it is in the best interest of
justice, for both myself and the community, to release me from prison on
monitored-supervision, so that I can be quickly placed in a community based
residential treatment program. Or, at the very least, be placed in a minimum
security facility, where I would have almost immediate access to a treatment
program—and be released to my
family upon completion of the program.
I am not a "violent offender," in
fact, I've never been convicted of a violent offense. I’m not a threat to
either myself or the community , and my escape history is classified as
"low". I'm not a flight risk, at any rate.
By the time I Completed the treatment
program, I would have more than 75% of my sentences served on each case. I have
employment waiting for me upon release. I have a strong support network of family
and friends, including my girlfriend, who have all stood by my side since the
beginning of my incarceration. They have changed, their place of residence (my family and my girlfriend), so that I might have a fair chance
of success upon my release—I
will no longer reside in Milwaukee.
I will be going home to my family in
either Appleton or Menasha. I have yet to make up my mind; however I will be
starting fresh with either choice. I have nine years of extended supervision,
all I need is an opportunity to receive AODA treatment for my addictions.
Quite frankly, if I'm denied early
release and am kept in my current situation, I will be unlikely to get the AODA
treatment I so desperately need prior to reaching my Mandatory-Release date in 25 months months.
The option I am proposing is in the full
interest of justice for both society and myself. Furthermore, it should be
noted that both of my firearm possession cases are,(in my opinion, at least)
the very least statutory firearm possession charges one can have. Neither case
involved my being in possession of an actual firearm; the charges were based on
photographs of me holding firearms. I took full responsibility for my actions,
and I believe I have served my punishment.
Enclosed you will find written affidavits
from my family members and my girlfriend, along with a copy of my H.S.E.D.
I
respectfully ask that the Court consider my request for treatment and
my release from prison; and that the Court acknowledge the fact that I am a non-violent
offender. 1 meet all the required criteria for an early release, and I have
served 75% of my confinement on each charge. Thank you for your time and
attention in this matter.
Respectfully,
Anthony Rivera
Dated this 23
day of May,2013
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