A 'hermit' who lived for nearly three decades in a forest in Maine now has a job and is adjusting to life back in society.

Christopher Knight, who survived brutal winters in the woods by stealing food from homes and camps, was jailed for seven months after finally being caught after more than a thousand raids.

Knight, known as the North Pond Hermit, entered the woods in 1986 and was caught in 2013 with a bag full of sweets, burgers and bacon.

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Christopher Knight was arrested after 27 years living in a forest in Maine

After terrorizing the North Pond community for 27 years, Knight was caught out by a motion sensor and a silent alarm.

Knight served seven months in prison for theft before being admitted on to a special court counseling program which he could graduate from as early as this fall, Kennebec County District Attorney Maeghan Maloney said.

While in jail, Knight told GQ magazine that he didn't like the society he was being forced to re-enter.

'I don't think I'm going to fit in,' he said.

'It's too loud. Too colorful. The lack of aesthetics. The crudeness. The inanities. The trivia.'

Knight has never fully explained why he disappeared into the woods, saying that he didn't have a reason and that it was a mystery to him too.

Knight lived in squalid conditions in a hut he had constructed deep in the woods

All of the materials he used in his camp, including sheets, food and propane canisters, were stolen

He said: 'I had no plans. I had no map. I didn't know where I was going. I just walked away.

'I lost track of where I was...I didn't care.'

Knight said that he lost his identity during his years of solitude. 'With no audience, no one to perform for, I was just there. There was no need to define myself; I became irrelevant.

'The moon was the minute hand, the seasons the hour hand. I didn't even have a name. I never felt lonely. To put it romantically: I was completely free.'

Despite the physical hardships of living outdoors, Knight said being locked up in the county jail was mentally tougher.

He said: 'I suspect more damage has been done to my sanity in jail, in months; than years, decades, in the woods.'

Caught on camera: Knight, who became known locally as the North Pond Hermit, caught on CCTV during a raid

Mysterious: For years residents near the woods were unsure whether the Hermit was real or just a myth

He committed more than 1,000 robberies while he lived as a recluse, committing around 40 burglaries a year.

Ms Maloney declined to say what job Knight had taken and where he was living.

Members of Knight's family couldn't be reached for comment on Wednesday.

Ms Maloney said Knight has done everything that he had been required to do in the court program and had done a 'remarkable job.'