| Released From Jail After 8
Years With Moldy Old Clothes Valerio Critiques
Probation In Hearing Half Reported
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
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SDNY COURTHOUSE,
April 13 – Amid the emergency
applications by detainees to
get out of prison amid the
spread of the COVID-19 virus,
among the telephone hearings
focusing on questions of
exhaustion, sometimes those
acted on by the criminal
justice system are given or
take a voice for themselves
and some or most of it can and
should be reported.
This is the
case of Fabian Valerio, who
was sentenced to 90 months
imprisonment in 2014 as a
felon in possession of a
firearm. He finished his term
and was released before the
extent of the Coronavirus
pandemic became known.
At
first he went to Bellevue
Shelter; then U.S. Probation
suggested he to go to the
Bowery Mission Shelter at 90
Lafayette Street not far from
the U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New
York courthouse at 500 Pearl
Street.
On April 13
SDNY Judge Richard M. Berman,
often tireless on these calls,
held a conference at which
Valerio explained his
dissatisfaction with
Probation's supervision. While
Inner City Press is following
the directive not to report on
any of the mental health
issues that were raised,
Valerio made a lot of
sense.
How is a
person supposed to start a new
job and a new life if after
eight years in jail they come
out with no clothes to wear,
only the old moldy clothes
from eight years ago?
How can the
releasee comply with competing
directives of state and
Federal probation and still
look for a job, particularly
when so few people are
working?
Valerio
raised these questions
himself; his lawyer Lloyd
Epstein genially said he has
not spoken to him in years,
understandably.
Judge Berman
listened as some other judges
wouldn't, as Valerio dropped a
few integral to the analysis
F-bombs and said, "Bro, what
are you trying to tell me" and
"Berman, is that you? You
don't usually sound like
that."
As Judge
Berman said earlier on April
13, these supervision hearings
are not meant to be punishment
but to help. He said that no
mental health information
should be reported - granted -
and gave some gentle advice to
Valerio. Another telephone
conference was set up for
later in the month.
This may be a
test, one of many, for how
Probation helps or doesn't
help a released prisoner like
Fabian Valerio. He is a man
who, Inner City Press
believes, can and should tell
his own story. He has a story
to tell. The case is US v.
Valerio, 13-cr-219 (Berman).
***
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