Joe's Back in Custody

This past Christmas Eve, we learned some disappointing news that Joe AWOLed from the Hope House.  I tracked his name on Google for several weeks, but had no idea what happened to him except that he checked out on an approved leave and never checked back in.  D' was frustrated and confused.  Frankly, we all were.  Then we received a letter this weekend explaining that he felt that he needed to be somewhere other than Hope House for a while, but that he was going to turn himself in soon.  Looks like he finally did just that:

Coralville Escapee Back in Custody

A Coralville work-release inmate who walked away from Hope House last December is back in custody. 30-year-old Joseph David Dahlen was given permission to leave the Holiday Road facility for a short Christmas shopping trip on December 23rd. He failed to return later that evening, as scheduled.

Court records show Dahlen was booked into the Johnson County Jail just after 5:30 Tuesday night.

Dahlen had been serving a 10-year prison sentence since 2003 for a second-degree robbery conviction in Linn County. He was transferred to Hope House last October.

I understand Joe's reasons.  I also believe that he could have made other choices to accomplish the same goal and not find himself looking at prison time for violating the terms of his release.  Regardless, I'm glad that Joe is back where he needs to be so we can finally move forward again.