May 14, 2014

Evading capture

Yesterday I read an account from one of Langley House Trust’s service users. For the sake of this blog I will call her Jane. Jane spent 16 years of her life evading capture from the Police. Whilst in prison she was allowed to attend an education course within the community. One day Jane made a significant decision: she decided not to go back to prison after a day at college. The temptation of ‘experiencing freedom’ had become too much.

On the run – looking for freedom

Whilst on the run, Jane found shelter in a small rural setting doing house sitting and making and baking produce. However over time it became clear to Jane that what she was experiencing was not true freedom. She was living a very limited life where each day she worried constantly about what tomorrow held. Jane eventually handed herself into the Police some 16 years after leaving prison.

“Handing myself in was the best thing I did…”

Jane went on to serve the rest of her prison sentence without further incident. Eventually she was released to a Langley House Trust resettlement House. Staff worked with her to develop her confidence encouraging her to take up volunteering within the local community and helped her secure independent living skills.

True freedom

Two years after arriving at Langley House Trust Jane moved out to her own property. During her time with us she had learned the most important lesson: She had discovered true freedom.

Living a life on the run was only a half-life, one in which she could never achieve her full potential one in which she could never hold her head up high and say she had served her time and was ready to start a new life that didn’t involve crime.

Ralph Marston said “There are plenty of difficult obstacles in your path. Don’t allow yourself to become one of them.”