On March 8, 2019, I left Dismas Charities, Inc. and went to the Richard B. Russell Federal Building, where I reported with the intent of seeing my probation officer, after my official release from the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons.
I wrote about my experience in Electronic Chain. https://straightfromthepen.wordpress.com/electronic-chain/
Thirty-years of change in a prosperous city like Atlanta, Georgia, makes a Big Difference. I walked in through the swinging glass doors of the massive building, and planned to use the elevator to report to the United States Probation Office, as required by law for those released from prison and starting a term of supervised release. I had plenty of time to report but I wanted to be prompt.
I did not expect the increased security or to have to surrender my cellphone while inside, or to have to clear a metal detector and the other processes I encountered, just to get up to the Ninth Floor to see my probation officer, whom I did not see because his office is in another town.
No one told me that before I appeared at the semi-wrong place. The release paper I held in my hand said I had seventy-two hours to report to 75 Ted Turner Drive, Atlanta, Georgia. I did.
My experience turned out well, though, even if I wasn’t supposed to necessarily be at that address.
Everyone was kind, polite and professional. I walked out of the Richard B. Russell Federal building, after providing a urinalysis and then speaking with the pretty probation officer I mentioned in Electronic Chain, to go take pictures of the Mercedes Benz Stadium.
While I was away, the Georgia Dome was built and tore down before I returned. Something makes me feel that I was gone entirely too long, but the main thing is that I am back and will be one to fight for change and do my part to make life better for others.
Now please sign up to follow my blogs and then click the link to view my latest page that I accidentally created. https://straightfromthepen.wordpress.com/electronic-chain/
I began with the intent of writing a blog, and when the system didn’t give me the options I should have had, I knew something hadn’t went as I had planned.
However, after I learned I had created the page in place of the blog, I knew it was a wonderful mistake, because Electronic Chain is where I write about exiting the old life and entering the new.