Today, Wednesday I facilitated three morning sessions on the many faces of reentry court programs, and interviewed an ex-federal probationer. The interview turned out to be the most exciting part of a very interesting day. I got to ask the ex-probationer ( who had spent 108 months in federal prison)what were his problems with the Federal Reentry Program. He candidly spoke of the lack of services available and the specific lack of employment assistance. A federal probation officer who then joined the ex-offender on the stage explained that work was available, but that ex-offenders were typically not ready or prepared to do it. The contrast and brief confrontation between the two men was a change from the success stories often heard from ex-offenders. Sometimes, it simply better to get ex-offenders to respond to probing questions regarding programs they’ve completed.