Hey there Rob fans. :)

Here's the scoop on Rob. He did finally get the job at the recreation trailer. It came in the nick of time, as things were getting rough at the powerhouse with the new CO in charge and permanent lock down, etc. The only problem that could arise now is that there is a secretary at the camp who makes it her business to enforce many policies that have gone by the wayside. One is that anyone who has a job that requires minimal time and attention must stay at their place of work through their entire shift and keep busy. --Like the guy whose job it is to clean an mop the visiting room. He needs to stay in that room for 7 hours a day and "look busy". I am not sure how long it will last. But what that means for Rob is that he needs to stay out of her way or she may start giving him extra busy work to do. Thankfully the rec. trailer is not in the main building, and as long as Rob stays out of her way, she is not likely to bother him.

As far as the halfway house policy goes....
There have been several cases won by inmates fighting the policy. (here's a good one --  http://pacer.mad.uscourts.gov/dc/cgi-bin/recentops.pl?filename=ponsor/pdf/iacaboni.pdf   ) So far none of the appeals have come from inmates already in prison, but rather inmates who went directly to halfway houses and were about to be pulled out and sent to prisons. Rob and I have completed a motion for resentencing and sent it off to the judge about a week ago. Hopefully Rob will be able to set a precedence in a positive way this time! We are hoping he will be specifically re-sentenced to spend the last six months of his sentence in a halfway house or in home confinement. If the judge refuses, we have a chance to file the motion with another court. I will keep you posted on our progress.

Rob's origami class is still going well. Inmates are happy to have little paper creatures to send off to their children. One inmate from China is teaching a class on Chinese culture. Rob may be checking that one out soon.

Other than that nothing is new. Rob is just about down to his pre-arrest weight now! :) He runs on the track and muddles through each day as usual. The "good" tread mill was taken out last week as the prison would not pay for the replacement part needed to get it working again. At least the weather is warming up and he is not freezing cold at night anymore. The showers seem to have sufficient hot water again as well. The possibility of a furlough is still on our minds, but the final papers have still not been signed. We are hopeful though.

Rob has a request. You know those pages in the magazines that you can open up to get a wiff of the latest colognes? Well he and the other guys there actually use those as cologne because they can't get access to the real stuff. If you come across any of those, Rob would love it if you would mail them to him from time to time. :)

Thanks!
Shannon