Comment by tyingo | Hacker News Reader

Comment by tyingo | Hacker News Reader

I personally know several people that did go back. The common thread was parole and/or probation programs that just weren't achievable.

Requirements vary, but typically there's: - tons of recurring fees (classes, mandatory drug testing, etc) - reimbursement of the court's costs - classes, parole officer, drug testing, etc, located in areas away from public transportation - judges that chronically no-show, after you've paid to get there, parking, etc.

I spoke to one in-depth...it's about $500/month in direct costs, not including indirect costs like transportation. In many areas you would really have to own a vehicle to get to the required places. Which, for a felon, also means "special" high cost SR-22 insurance.

Couple that with the sort of jobs available to a convicted felon, and...

This reminds me of those jurisdictions that jail people for their inability to pay a fine, and then continue to fine them when they're in jail, exacerbating the problem.

Not just that but appointments in the middle of the day so you get to choose between your job or go back to jail ... not so smart

If you choose to serve out your sentence in full do you still have to go through all these different fees and classes?

Do all felons have to have SR-22 insurance or only those convicted of vehicle offences?

You can choose to serve the full sentence, and you would not have all of the fees, but you would still have some...like reimbursement of court costs. You're also subject to some classes. Drug offenders, in some states, have to take classes if they want their driver's license back. (even if the offense was not vehicle related in any way).

It's also not a trivial trade-off. Varies by state, but in Texas, for example, you could be choosing between 2.5 years + probation or 5 full years.

Not all felons need SR-22 insurance, but many whose offenses were NOT vehicle related have to have it. Drug convictions, for example, even if it had nothing at all to do with a vehicle.

To answer your question regarding SR-22 for all felons, I did not (in fact my insurance went down twice while I was on probation for a year). Unless there is some mitigating circumstance, I think that would only be limited to vehicle offenses.

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