Unbreakable: My 1st Experience with the MDOC Parole Board

Yesterday, was the first time I was able to see my husband since the first week of January. He had his parole hearing yesterday morning. I drove the two hours across the state to sit next to him to show that he has support and that I’m ready to have him come home. However, the hearing did not go the way I had pictured it would. The parole board member questioned Drew intensely about the incident at the facility in January. He asked me equally difficult questions. He also felt that since Drew was in prison because of a previous relationship, he shouldn’t parole home to my place. Drew and I got married back on Halloween last year but have been together since he was waiting to be sentenced. Drew asked him at the end of the hearing if he thought he was going to get his parole and the board member answered, “If it was up to me, no.”

My husband’s parole hearing did not end very well and was extremely discouraging. His earliest release date is June 18, so if he does get granted parole he will be coming home that day. The decision is made by three parole board members. That’s why the member that did Drew’s hearing said that it wasn’t just up to him. I have been waiting for my husband to come home for almost three years. I can’t visit him anymore and being able to hug and kiss him for the first time since January hurt more than anything. I miss him terribly. I am hoping that he is granted his parole and we will know within 45 days. It is possible that they will give him his parole but he would have to go to a half way house. We just don’t know what they might decide. If he gets flopped (not given parole) he could be in prison up to another year. That would absolutely devastate me. I will keep everyone updated on what happens. Have a great weekend and I will see everyone on Wednesday night for the next episode!