An account of one occasion of a success story of what happened when the Prison, Church and Probation Service worked together for the benefit of an ex-offender.
Steven* was a prolific sex offender. He had offended against all his family. His wife had divorced him. Only one of his daughters was still speaking to him.
Whilst in Prison he was regular in Chapel services and showed some level of repentance and we had talked about forgiveness under God.
The time came for Steven to be released on licence.
It was my job to tell him that once released he would not be allowed to have contact with any of his family again. I will never forget that moment as I looked at his face, I literally saw is face turn ashen. I thought that he was going to collapse in front of me.
Rev. Sam* had been coming into the Prison to help with Alpha, a Christian Course that we were delivering to the Inmates.
As we were preparing Steven for his release it so happened that his digs were close to Rev. Sam’s Church and he offered to support Steven on release.
Steven started to go to Church regularly and was further discipled in the Christian faith which had been re-awakened whilst he was in Prison.
This Church support went very well for two years, then the Church started to sense a change and alerted the Probation Service who said that the Church were being over dramatic and that there was no cause for concern.
A short while later the Church went a second time to the Probation Service; on this occasion, they listened.
The Probation Service acted and only just managed to prevent Steven from offending again. He was returned to Prison.
This is an excellent example of how the Charity and the Church can work together for the benefit of an ex-offender and, in this case, the Probation Service, all working together to keep everyone safe.
*All names that are used have been changed.