said it s time to get your life right. i stayed in that confinement cell for 90 days. then they transferred me to another prison. when i got to the other prison, i started making aa and m.a. meetings. i started going to church. i started reading the bible more, studying. jones served 18 years of a 25-year sentence at a florida state prison before he was released on parole. he moved into the noah house, a residential substance abuse program, in tampa. they help ex-offenders get a fresh start in life. they help you stay straight, you know. i wanted to stay straight. i didn t want to go back to prison. i always, you know, participated. and so they finally gave me a job. my job title was peer advocate. and i basically helped ex-offenders. jones was doing well. he says he would ride his bicycle to various other halfway houses to recruit participants for programs at noah house. but eight months into his parole, things went horribly wrong one day when he decided to
when we returned to tampa, there was a new inmate in jones bunk and jones himself was back at the noah house. a free man. but very much aware that he was still on parole and one slip away from going back to prison. when the people told me that i would be getting out, that day i was so full of joy, i wanted to scream, but i had to hold my composure, you know. i even wanted to ask her out to dinner. that s how good i felt. i said no, she might take that the wrong way. since his release, jones has been enjoying the simple pleasures of freedom. like getting to choose his own clothes. i like to match my clothes whatever shirt i got, i like to have shoes that same color. i had these shoes first to go with a shirt that i had. and it was these shoes that made me go out and pick the color suit that i got. ain t that something? this is something that i love to do, cleaning the bathroom.
he was arrested and sent back to jail for trespassing. when they handcuffed me, as soon as they put them handcuffs on me, i cannot lie, you know. as much as i ve been through, i didn t think i d do it, but tears started coming to my eyes. even though the charges were dropped, jones still faced the possibility the returning to prison. if the parole board determined that his arrest and admission that he did, in fact, take the shortcut violated the conditions of his parole. jones expected to learn his fate after a hearing with the parole examiner. so regarding my findings in this hearing, i m going to defer them for a period of ten days in an effort to look everything over. i m going to make a recommendation after i come up with my decision. i m not going to recommend anything today. the delay in his ruling meant jones would have to remain in jail until the board could reach a decision. come on, sir. how am i going to sleep tonight? i ll probably toss and turn. i feel a little
up somebody or something like that and go to sleep because, you know, you pass out from the alcohol. i d pass out. he was once sentenced to 25 years in prison. and it was during that time that he says he changed his life by getting involved in alcoholics and narcotics anonymous. i started going to naa, aa meetings in prison and started going to church. the only thing i wanted to be around, if you weren t spiritual or talked about something positive, i didn t want to be bothered with you. jones was eventually paroled and found a place to live and work at the noah house. a residential drug treatment program in tampa, florida. but one day when he took a shortcut on the way home from work through a hole in a fence,
but then it will be too late. everyone will see that they have safely locked us up and threw away the key. thanks a lot. even though jones was popular among other inmates and had spent time in prison, he struggled with some aspects of life in the dormitory-style housing unit he shared with 71 other men. i never really liked open-bay dorms. i m a person that likes cleanliness. a lot of people, when they sneeze or cough don t cover up. you know, sometimes i can be sitting there eating, and somebody just starts sneezing and sneezing and not covering their mouth. imagine, i try to cover my food dang, what s wrong with these people? you know. that s probably a little crazy. oh, father yahweh, please save me and deliver me. as aversive as he was to germs, jones was enthusiastic towards his spirituality. his nightly prayers could last up to 15 minutes. please set me free. please set me free. please set me free. we would come to learn why jones prayers to be set free were especially