Client Interview and Parole Case Overview

[To protect confidentiality, no name or identifying information will appear in this post, and facts may be altered.]

Sometimes you wait for her, and sometimes she waits for you. The earlier one sits in an attorney room in the visiting area, and the first sight is almost always nervous on both sides. Sometimes, she does not know that you are coming: the turnaround is so short and you just have to go right away. A letter would arrive later than you do – and only she can call you, you cannot call her.

She might have called, or written a letter to your office, months and months ago, the record of which buried in the hundreds of intakes that flow in daily. You dig out her case, and decide to meet her. And here you are.

Almost always, she still wants representation. There are few organizations around doing similar work, and most, if not all, are understaffed student run volunteering organizations. “I’m so glad you come,” almost all of my clients said in our first meeting, “I was planning to go on my own, and that scares me.”

It is a strange but empowering feeling that your client trusts you, even if you have just met – even if you know most of the time, she has little choice. Together, you would walk through her life’s story, and form a narrative as to who she is today.

After the client signs the paperwork that seals your representation and allows you to acquire paperwork from the Department of Justice, from the Parole Board, and from the medical record office, among others. Very soon, through these files, her whole life would be in front of you. But even before that, she would tell it to you.

Client interview is always an intensive experience, especially with female clients. We usually start with institutional history, that is, what she has done after she enters prison: what programs has she taken (e.g. Restorative Justice, AA, NA), what courses is she enrolled in, what rules has she violated, how frequently, and how she reacted. We start here because these are usually more matter of fact, and less emotionally charged.

Then we move on to personal history, that is, the family and community she grew up in, the relationships she had in her life, her education or lack thereof… Usually, the story would be filled with trauma, abuse, and dysfunction. Race, gender, and class play important parts in these difficulties. If the client feels uncomfortable proceeding further, we would pause and call it a day.

Then comes perhaps the most heavy part, the crime itself. As the Parole Board usually goes to details of the crime, partly in order to see if the candidate has reflected on it and understood its weight, we would need to help the client face the crime. It sometimes takes much courage and effort on both sides.

For parole hearings, we visit clients for at least three times, and usually more. After the overview in the first time, we go on to collect more information, and conduct mock interviews with potential questions the board may ask. Outside client visits, we also contact her supporters to collect letters of support and prepare them if they intend to speak at the hearing, and collect litigation records to confirm the narrative of the crime. After the hearing, the common practice today is that the board allows two weeks for us to compile a memorandum. Usually, decisions come down after six to nine months.