Sam Thomas had been out of prison for about six months when he moved back to Bangor in October 2018. He wanted to rebuild his relationship with his children, who are 10 and 7, and further his education.

Thomas, 33, knew he would need help finding a place to live, getting a job, enrolling in school and reconnecting with his children while maintaining relationships with his parents and other family members in Baldwin, in southwestern Maine. So he turned to the Rev. Stan Moody, founder of the Columbia Street Project, whose mission includes helping former inmates re-enter the community. The pastor at Columbia Street Baptist Church in downtown Bangor, Moody also was a chaplain at the Maine State Prison from 2008 to 2010.





“I’d left my parents’ support, but I knew I still needed support,” Thomas said. “I realized that I couldn’t do it on my own. We had a cup of coffee. Stan listened to me. He didn’t judge me, and that’s all I wanted — for someone to give me a chance.”

Now a trained prison re-entry coach, Thomas is helping recently released inmates make the same transition back to life outside prison walls that he had to make. Thomas is one of several dozen re-entry coaches who have received training as part of a program Moody has been trying to get off the ground for more than a decade. The initiative is seeing some interest now from corrections officials in Augusta and at prisons around the state, who see the potential for coaches to help inmates stick to their release plans and stay out of legal trouble.

“The reason I decided to do it is I know what it’s like being incarcerated,” Thomas said. “I know the struggles they face when they get out and also know the rejections they will get. I know that people who are released sometimes don’t have a plan, they don’t have a family, and that sometimes can be overwhelming.”

Thomas was sentenced to five years in prison with all but 13 months — the time he had already served — suspended after he pleaded guilty to one count of sexual abuse of a minor in an incident on Jan. 18, 2014.

While he was released after the sentencing to serve two years of probation, he landed back in prison in November 2015 after he admitted to violating his probation. He was released in April 2018 after serving the remainder of his sentence. Due to his conviction, Thomas is required to register as a sex offender for 25 years.

When Thomas met Moody, the American Baptist minister had been working for more than a decade on the program, which he now calls Ready 4 Re-entry, that would train mentors to help former prisoners return to society.