Beyond Prison: Part Five

By the time James was eligible for parole, he could look back on his three years with some satisfaction.

He had learned computer science.

He had started rebuilding his relationship with his parents.

He even had set a prison weight-lifting record.

But the one goal of anyone in prison is to get out, and James was ready to leave.

The only thing he would lose was the time he would spend with his friend Mike Guglielmo.

J.3 T.9
1:26 I remember the day I left M gave me an address and a way to contact him. B/c obviously I couldn't mail him direct, b/c I was going to be on parole. He was going to be inside, and that's not legitimate behavior. And I can understand why. But he says to me, he hands me a piece of paper. He says, 'Jimmy, I've been doing this a long time,' he says this is the acid test of friendship. I says, the acid test? What's the acid test?

G.2 T.14
1:50 oh, the acid test. The acid test of friendship, yeah. The acid test of prison friendship is whether you ever hear from that person again. b/c people say, 'ph, I'm going to do this for you, that for you.' Whatever. 'I'm going to take care of you.' People say it all the time and you never hear from them again.

J.3 T.9
1:26...You know within the first three weeks, I wrote a letter. Got a letter back.

James no longer had the luxury of talking to Mike everyday.

On the other hand, he was finding a kind of support from his family that he had never had before.

The last time James had gotten out of an institution- the juvenile detention center- he hadn't been allowed home.

This time, his parents welcomed him.

POST-PRISON
J.3 T.23
1:38 that's the point where my relationship with my parents really changed. When it got to the point yeah, we'll take him home. Where they put their selves out there to take a risk. They actually brought me home. Where all the times when I was a kid they didn't. how could I say no?

GIL. T.14
11:05 he was just so appreciative to have family and a place to stay. The minute he left prison we went and got sneakers, and clothes and he was extremely appreciative. And he made a lot of progress. Didn't get in trouble. Was working. getting along with his parole officer...

But while James and his parents had a sense of how much he had changed, it was invisible to prospective employers.

To them, he was just another ex-con.

J.1 T.1
1:12 when I first got out I worked at a company called Weathervane, seafood restaurant. Really horrible job, stinky hot, sweaty. I am an intelligent guy and most of the people working there weren't who I saw, either they were young kids or older people stuck doing what they were doing. And you are treated differently.

J.1 T.1
1:55...they would want to put you in the crappy positions...pots and pans, they would have you clean the grease traps, or the fryolators, while they had other people doing the work that was more desirable.

James went through several dead-end jobs.

He got tired of being marked by his prison record.

And when he had the chance to apply for a job as a computer salesman, he hid his past.

He didn't mention prison in the first interview or the second.

For a month, James strung the company along.

Finally, the interviewers called his bluff...and challenged him to explain the three year gap in his work history.

4:51 so I told them, I could either put it all out on the table, or tell you a story how I went to college for three years, dropped out of school, I don't have my diploma, blah, blah, blah. I was like, here's the deal, when I was young, I made a mistake and I got arrested for selling drugs. And I did a little bit of time, now I'm out. And if you want to judge me on that, you can. If you want to judge me on the interviews prior this knowledge and you were looking at me as an individual and as a person with a skill set that could be an asset to your company, then we could go that route. 'Oh, we'll think about it.' And they called me back 3-4 hours later and hired me. And I've been here four years now.

M'S PAROLE HEARING

While James was securing his job, back at prison, Mike struggled to get his sentence reduced.

Mike's argument largely relied on his academic efforts, writing a thesis, earning his master's.

He was eventually granted a hearing.

He convinced the judge that originally sent him to prison in the 80's to come out of retirement and testify on his behalf.

He also invited James, now out on parole.

J.3 T.9
6:06 it was an awkward situation seeing everybody from parole, seeing all the police officers that wanted to keep him in jail. Telling their sob stories how they are in fear of their lives from something that happened 17 years ago, it was quite a drama.

J.3 T.9
7:50 I got up, I introduced myself, I was like I was M's cellmate. And I didn't know what else to say. You know what I mean? I says, M's always had a goal of helping people make changes, and now I am a successful sales rep at a computer company and I've been doing well for myself. I don't think I would have had all that, if he hadn't have had an impact on me. And I was stuttering in my speech and my thoughts weren't straight...I felt like an idiot, and I sat down quickly.

G.2 T.14
4:22 that was the acid test right there. He got up and said, I lived with that man in a cell and b/c of him, I'm a different person. Stood up right in court and said that to a judge, in front of a whole room full of cops that hated my guts.

G.2 T.14
5:36...The karma repaid...when Al Pacino was giving that speech in Scent of a Woman, he was on stage and saying 'you all are a bunch of dogs, and you got a ship of rats and you are all going to sink,' and after he said, 'this is a man right here, and I'll go to war with him,' and he said, 'OOOOHHHHH AHHHHH!!!!!' and that was like when J did that it was like, Ohhh AAAHHH! Yeah, there you go, right in your face. I did something good and changed somebody in your system that you couldn't. it was a reward.

J.3 T.9
8:37 afterwards, his family came around, his brothers and sisters that I hadn't met before, friends from his childhood I had never met before, it was kind of cool to meet his past, his family, his roots. It was kind of honoring to know he wanted me to meet those people.

Mike got his early release.

Since then, Mike and James have managed well for themselves.

Mike has his own siding company, owns a house, and supports a family.

He snorts, with a mixture of regret and pride, I'm a taxpayer.

James lives in a one bedroom apartment in the Upper Valley.

About two years ago he became a volunteer firefighter.

He took some tests, and a year later joined the volunteer EMT company.

Now he sleeps next to a pager, ready to respond to car crashes late at night.

Both men enjoy great success, especially compared to other ex-cons.

And they achieved this, Mike points out, in spite of what he calls the felon's scarlet letter.

G.2 T.23
9:08 we've redeemed ourselves, we've done bad things. And we rehabilitated ourselves, or more properly habilitated ourselves. And have become productive members of society. Although many doors in society are continually slammed in our faces. For example, Me, I have a master's degree, I tried to get jobs in law offices and everywhere else. Didn't even get a call back. As soon as you see felon, done. So I had to start my own business, b/c no one is going to give me a break...I have a siding company...just got tentative approval to start building homes... J can't become a firefighter b/c he's a felon, or unless he can get his record expunged.

James hopes to get his record expunged.

But until that happens, his past continues to follow him around.

Sometimes he literally bumps right into it.

One night, a call sent his EMT team to the house of a former school teacher.

MJ T.1
5:02 I walked into, a couple of nights ago, my teacher's house on an EMT call. And I was the first one in the door. And the look on his face shock, confusion and terror all at the same time. This is going to be the guy that is going to treat his mother.

James says he likes those moments...when he gets the chance to prove to people like his old teacher he isn't the person they thought he was.