There is one thing 10-year-old Nebraska resident Jayci Yaeger wants more than anything else - for her father to be with her as she confronts the final stages of brain cancer.

However, her father, Jason Yaeger, is currently being held at the Yankton Federal Prison Camp, and it doesn't look like he's getting out any time soon.

According to a statement released from the prison Thursday, officials have reviewed his request for a compassionate release and "have determined his situation does not meet the criteria ..."

"We're not asking him to be released early, we're asking for them to let him out temporarily so he can be there when she goes," said Jayci's mother, Lincoln/Omaha area resident Vonda Yaeger in a telephone interview with the Press & Dakotan.

Jason Yaeger has been released from prison, where he is serving time for methamphetamine charges, on three separate occasions, two of them in the past month, according to the prison's statement.

The most recent of these took place approximately three weeks ago, when he spent about 2 1/2 in an Omaha children's hospital with his daughter.

"It was good," Vonda Yaeger said. "They did CT scans and he actually got be involved with that, and that's the first time since he's been in that he's had any involvement in any of her treatment stuff. So he was very happy that he was there for that."

Jayci Yaeger is now in hospice care, in the final stages of her terminal illness. Vonda Yaeger has said that her daughter's brain tumors are growing and hemorrhaging, and now she is encountering more problems.

"She's had some respiratory distress a couple times (Thursday)," Yaeger said. "It gave us some scares, but outside of that, she's been pretty comfortable."

According to the prison's statement, the Federal Bureau of Prisons does not have the authority to release or suspend a court-imposed sentence.

"Our agency's mission is to protect society by confining offenders in controlled environments of prisons and community-based facilities which are safe, humane and appropriately secure," the statement read.

Vonda Yaeger said the publicity surrounding her family's situation has provoked many and varied responses from people.

"A lot of people typically are saying, 'He did the crime, he needs to do the time,' 'He deserves to be where he's at,'" Yaeger said. "There's even people who have said that Jayci doesn't deserve to have a criminal for a father.

"On the other hand, he's had those people out there who say, 'People make mistakes, he's only human,'" she said.

Jason Yaeger has contacted Nebraska U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry regarding his situation, and is now asking for clemency from President George W. Bush.

For now, his only contact with his daughter is through the telephone.

"Jason always tells her and her sister how proud of them he is and that he loves them," Vonda Yaeger said. "His favorite saying is, 'You are my heart.' He actually has that tattooed on his arm with both of their names in it. ... He's been a really good dad to them and, they miss him very much."