From: Berkowitz, Brian
Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2005 12:30 PM
To: 'dawnchs@aol.com'
Subject: C.S.

Ms. Chase:

I am sorry to get back to you so late. I was away on family business.

I spoke to our liaison with the Department of Corrections. Pursuant to our agreement with Corrections, they assess all young offenders, and if appropriate (Corrections does not feel it can adequately provide for the offender in an adult facility), refer the youth to Juvenile Justice. We will then review the request, and the Secretary will determine if we should take the youth into one of our facilities. This does not happen very often. In the six years that I have been with the Department, we have only taken four people from Corrections. Corrections will generally not refer anyone unless they are under 16 years of age.

In this case, your son is 17. I have been informed that Corrections does not intend to refer him to Juvenile Justice. After being processed at Lake Butler Receiving Facility, he will likely be placed in a youthful offender facility so he will be housed with people around his own age. I understand that he will have less than five months to serve. You may wish to contact the Department of Corrections to discuss the possibility of them requesting a transfer to our Department, but I think that would be unlikely.

I have also checked with his J.P.O. and was informed that the Department had requested that your son's juvenile commitments be terminated. However, the Court had not yet ruled on that request, and was closed by the Hurricane. Hopefully, the court will grant that request, and your son will be free from any juvenile jurisdiction upon his release from the Department of Corrections.

Good luck to you and your son.

Brian Berkowitz
Chief Assistant General Counsel
ph. (850) 921-4129
fax (850) 921-4159

p.s.: I hope you are recovering from the damage done by Dennis.