House arrest comes with a lot of rules to be completely honest. During their recognized holidays (a list is given), I am on what is called lock down. I cannot leave for any reason at all. Not even to go to work unless my employer writes a letter explaining it is mandatory for me to be at work on a holiday. If I make medical appointments, I have to give my PO a 48 hr notice and she has the right to refuse any appointments. Additionally, I have court mandated things I have to do as part of my punishment as well. I have work release from 8am-5pm M-F. Anything outside those times, I am not permitted to leave my house for any given reason unless it is an emergency which involves me going to the hospital. If I schedule an appointment and make my PO aware of the appointment and she does not get back to me to confirm the appointment, then I have to cancel the appointment. Well, if I cared or desired to take the risk of the PO having put that "window" (that is what the allotted time frame is called) and just left thinking they did put the window in and turns out they didn't, I go to jail for breaking my house arrest. Those are the basic and most important rules essentially.
First two months on house arrest are terrible. I have spent more time sitting on my ass doing nothing and resenting my situation than I have being productive in general. I use my work days to work being I live at the place that I am working, I never get a change of scenery. Plus I have that time to take my dog outside for bathroom breaks. There is nothing worse than having to rely on someone to do everything for you. Literally. My wife not only works 80 hours a week but also has to do the grocery shopping (since I live with someone I am not granted two hours a month to shop), take the dog to the groomers, incidental shopping, errands, medication picked up from the pharmacy and the list goes on and on. Essentially, if I am not going to a Dr. appointment, scheduled work or court mandated appointment then I am locked up in my house.
Weekends are the absolute worst. From 5pm Friday to 730am Monday I cannot leave my house for any reason what so ever. So if my wife got into a car accident, I wouldn't be able to tend to her. If a family member passed away in Erie (home town), I couldn't go and be with my family or attend the services.....NOTHING. So you might be thinking....well you did the crime you have to do the time.....
You're right, I am deserving of my sentence. However, I will say, house arrest should not be cookie cutter but rather tailored to each person within reason. I say that for a number of reasons. First and foremost, not every person is able to stand being in the house for hours and hours on end for days, weeks, months. It's dehumanizing. Nothing left to say about that.
Why should house arrest be tailored?
Well not everyone is the same. Some people have mental health issues that really interfere with life as whole. For example. I personally have depression, anxiety, PTSD, bi-polar and borderline personality disorder. What a friggin list right!!! Well with my wonderful cocktail of diagnoses its very complex to treat making sure the medications are not interacting negatively with each other, or cancelling the other out, bringing on additional side effects and causing more problems. So having these fun things to deal with daily I personally need human interaction. I always have. I need people to communicate with, to socialize.....if I don't I fall deeper into depression, have uncontrollable manic episodes, those are just to name a few. So being trapped in an apartment, makes my mental health worse, which screws with my meds, increases my Dr. appointments and money out of my pocket. I truly believe that depending on the nature of ones crime their house arrest should be more tailored. Like I read about someone having a curfew, during the day they have freedom to go and do whatever they want so long as they are home by their curfew time. This lady got her nails done, visited family, hair done, shopping, worked, spent time hanging out with friends, going for joy rides, attending family functions and so on. Hell it was my wife's birthday and I couldn't even take her to dinner like I always have, I couldn't go buy her a card or a gift. I hand made the card and ordered something online for her. It really takes the fun out of the gift, not being able to go out and about and look around, read through cards till you find the perfect one or pick up stuff to make a cake....or more me...buy a cake lol. Nevertheless, it seems like the fun and excitement in our lives have dissipated for the time being. Now you may think, no problem just have family come over and visit you.Well my family lives in Erie, as stated before. My wife's family does not know that I am on house arrest and realistically there is no way we can get her family in our small apartment. Additionally, her family lives nearly an hour from us and I do not foresee anyone aside from her father driving in for a visit. He has come in a couple times which has been nice. With my wife working 80 hours a week, I am left here alone to my own thoughts, which makes it very hard on bad days.
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