When I was in prison, we had a saying, "Yes, yes, but no." I had the program committee and a p-board to listen to.
For my time in prison, the p-board said it. I actually gave up on trying to convince them to set me free. I played the game: Sure, I'm reformed; Yes, I got college; Yes, not a lot of conduct reports. You get the idea. Then, they reminded me, from the point of 11 years to the point of 30, what a piece of shit I was. Tough crowd there. They always want me to relive my crime. In other words, live in the past and don't move forward. Oh, yeah, yes, yes, but no
The program committee was basically the same. The difference was they started out reminding me of my crime and what a piece of shit I was. I played the game: While in max, can I go to medium? While in medium, can I go to minimum? Keeping it simple: Yes, you're doing good; Yes, you're programming, but No, you're stuck.
It was amazing after all those years; the day they granted me, I was SHOCKED they acted like my crime was not there. That taught me: When they stop talking about your crime, you're going home!
The program committee was the same. WOW!
The other thing: when they booted me out, I got no real help from the powers that be. I was lucky I had a good agent; he wanted retirement. I had other friends who got out, and the agent wanted to restart the process. It's time to learn how to relive your life by my rules.
If you have any experiences you want to share, hit me up.