SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The car dealership that fired Quante Wright Monday offered him his job back Thursday. The owner and manager shook hands with Wright after they talked about honesty and second chances.

Less than an hour later, Wright was picked up by U.S. marshals and taken to the Onondaga County Justice Center jail.

Speaking from jail, Wright said that he had been charged with violating his probation for not going back to the halfway house immediately after he was fired Monday. Wright was fired after a Sunday story on Syracuse.com detailed his path from the streets to college graduation.

His story illustrated the rigid rules that make it hard for ex-prisoners to straighten out their lives. It caught the attention of readers across the country.

Related story: Who's the speaker at his graduation? The man who sent him to prison

Wright was living in the halfway house for two months as part of his probation.

When Wright was fired from Lowery Brothers Chrysler Jeep on Monday, he walked to the state Human Rights Division office on Washington Street to ask about filing a complaint over his firing, he said. He picked up some paperwork.

Then, Wright said, he went to his apartment, which is nearby. He's kept the apartment, expecting to return to it after he finished out his sentence at the halfway house. Wright said he went there after being fired because he was depressed and wanted to be alone.

Wright said was due back at the halfway house at 9 p.m. He made it back by 8:45 p.m., he said. But staff there was waiting for him. They were told that he was fired at 2:30 p.m. He should have been back then, he was told.

After that, Wright was put on "lockdown," not allowed to leave the halfway house since his return Monday.

His probation officer made a special exception for Wright's meeting at Lowery Brothers this afternoon, said Wright and Gary Lowery, the owner.

"Now he's in jail? For God's sake," Lowery said from his home Thursday night. Lowery said Steve Spector, the manager who fired Wright, had planned to call Wright's probation officer Friday to try to smooth things over.

The three men talked about how they could understand how upsetting it was to be fired, Lowery said. And they talked about the importance of second chances.

"I feel very badly that this happened," Lowery said. "I want to be part of the resolution."

While Wright was in lockdown at the halfway house and even as he sits in jail, people from all over the country are emailing him job offers, support and suggestions.

The jail deputies had read his story. One of them shook his hand, Wright said.

Wright, though, said he feels lost. "Society leaves you with no hope," he said, the noise of other inmates rising behind his voice. "Everyone wants to talk about rehabilitation."

Wright is due in front of U.S. District Judge Norman Mordue Friday morning.

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