Ex-prisoner shares moving story of being rehabilitated with James O'Brien
2 December 2019, 14:16
The caller was grateful to a probation officer and a particular judge for helping him get out of the prison system.
The caller, Rob from Brighton, referred to himself as a "rehabilitated ex-criminal".
He had been in the care system since the age of six - and made the "wrong decision" and ended up on drugs, on the street, "thieving and robbing".
He told James O'Brien that he had robbed someone's house.
Rob said: "I didn't know how to get out. I was never gonna get out on my own."
He ended up in jail - HM Prison Portland.
Rob said the prison had a good rehabilitation programme.
He said that, fortunately, a probation officer believed in him.
Rob told James: "He bent every rule he could, everything he could have done for me, he done for me. I don't think that that kind of service is there at the moment for prisoners."
James O'Brien asked how you can tell if someone can be rehabilitated.
Rob said: "I believe that he had the abilities and the training, the experience, to see that in people."
He could see that Rob wanted to get out and the probation officer had the characteristics of "ability, training, experience, empathy and sympathy".
James O'Brien then asked what Rob was up to now.
He said his life was "amazing". He has five boys and is a qualified engineer.
Rob did, however, have a little "blip" when he first came out.
A judge gave him "that little opportunity again" to go and redeem himself.
James O'Brien called it a really "honest" call.
