Hi Chris..

I've been on the receiving end of that. It is not nice.

In one case, it was not long after I got out of prison. I was working on a building site at the time, and some other people came along not long after I started. One of them knew me from before I went inside, and why I went inside.. There was talk of throwing me off one of the upper floors.

I also knew the owner of the firm from before I went inside. He was in the leadership at a church I attended back then, and he used to visit me in prison as well. He hired me less than a week after I got out. Plus, while I got on with my job and worked hard, these other guys spent a lot of time sitting around talking. Eventually the boss told them "He's a better worker than all of you combined, I won't have you talking like that about him, here's your final pay and you are to leave the area immediately or you will be arrested". Hard work and kindness (plus of course my Lord :) ) got me through.

Case 2. I was on a course covering operating and driving of forklifts, trucks, and various other related machinery. Again, someone who knew me from before started stirring (also a friend of the ring leader from the previous group, and a man who is now serving a VERY long time for raping young girls, go figure). It was planned that after the last day of the course, I would be dealt to. But I had a friend in the mix, someone who kept me informed of their plans. They knew one or two people I was close to, so they didn't tell them anything, but one guy was able to do the "yeah he's a dirty kid fucker lets make sure he dies" bit quite convincingly, while phoning me each night to fill me in on the details. The last day I didn't attend, so missed getting in any sort of trouble. However, the instructors made sure that their disappointment in the actions of supposed adults was made clear. It's possible many of those people missed getting their passing grade even.

There was a 3rd case as well, but that I can't go into much for security. However, I was already well known by most of the staff for a long time before the word got out, and while there was some fuss, it died down pdq. The Lord was clearly at work there still.

It is very far from a nice situation to be in. That level of hate, you can literally feel it. For a 20yo it's pretty rough, and I cannot begin to describe the hurt and often fear. Imagine being in a place with people who hate you, who desire your death, and have the means to do that - and maybe get away with it as well.. Unless you know it, you will struggle to imagine what it really is like.

So I am going to ask you to please, befriend this guy. You don't have to make yourself look like a wannabe-SO, you can make it appear that it's due to your faith (and that should always be first anyway!), and do what you can to help him out. You'll be noticed, you'll get flak from co-workers maybe.. And you might get some flak from him if he doubts your intentions at first..

But you have a chance to make a huge difference, and maybe even a very real chance to save a life. When someone is on parole, esp for SO, there's not a lot of job options open. There's not a lot of freedom to leave the job you're at. Suicide becomes a very attractive option, very quickly.

So please, do what you can to help.

God Bless,
TC