SPOKANE RESIDENTIAL REENTRY CENTER

Once in Spokane we drove over to the Spokane Residential Reentry Center. It is run by Pioneer Services and is located at 3614 East Ferry Avenue. NOT the most attractive of facilities, but many of these are not, and like many, is located in the less attractive, old, industrial section of the city. This one in an area known for its prostitution and drugs. Here are a few pictures we took as we drove past it.



We parked and went inside, the only area accessible to us was a tiny inner room with a window looking into a small office. A young man, early twenty- something, and a maybe 40-something woman were working this day. The young man attended to us right away and was friendly and forthcoming with the information he had available to him. We asked our questions about what Corey could bring with him when he arrived (very little, a cell phone with no internet access, a few clothes, $100 cash max), what the visiting times were (a few hrs in the early afternoon and a few hrs in the evening), how soon before he’d get his first pass to shop for personal items (3 days or so, but that would rest with his Case Mgr), did they have someone who would assist him in finding a job (yes they have someone from Social Services that assists), how long before he’d be able to get his drivers license (“It depends”, again, on his Case Mgr), how long before he’d be allowed to get out of the house and look for a job (again, it depends on what his Case Mgr decides). We learned the house has two 'dormatories', one with bunks that hold 7 men (not sure why so small, WHO has the privilege of sharing a room with so few others) and one that sleeps 40 or so men. BTW, this is a FEDERAL (some HH's house both State AND Federal, as well as County, inmates), and all male-inmate (some are co-ed) Facility. There is apparently a small cafeteria where modest meals are served for breakfast/lunch and dinner, but the inmates are allowed to order IN whatever they like. Family and friends when visiting can bring restaurent or take-out food, purchased snack items, but NO home-cooked or prepared meals. Go figure. He will have a very small locker so won't be able to keep much except bare essentials on hand.

SO, pretty much as we've come to expect, from information on other HH's in LA, Salt Lake City, Portland, San Diego, where we've gotten reports from buddies of Coreys who have served their time in these places. Each one is somewhat different in how its operated, but the BASIC rules set out by the BOP are established in all of them. It will be "find out as he goes" pretty much, but at least we've now seen it, spoken to some staff, and that helps prepare us and Corey about what to expect. We just hope the restrictions and endless bureaucracy we hear about in so many other Halway Houses won’t be as stringent at this one, IF one dares to even hope!

"People cannot go wrong, if you don't let them. They cannot go right, unless you let them". ~Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers, 1827