CEDAR CITY -- When he walked out of the Iron County-Utah State Correctional Facility four years ago, Glen Carpenter knew he was going to make it.
Carpenter, 35, whose drug addiction led him to burglary and 15 months in prison, said he had a good support system to help him re-enter the community.Now, he's a mentor for the Yellow Ribbon Society, a group that tries to help others make the transition from prison to the community.
The Yellow Ribbon Society is the brainchild of the Rev. Ron Belnap, a retired minister who continues to work with prisoners at the Iron County facility, and Carol Bolsover, case manager at the Iron County Care and Share.
"The idea is that if these people know there's somebody out there -- even if it's just a telephone number -- it can help them," Belnap said.
Belnap and Bolsover went to John Graff, regional administrator for Utah's Adult Probation and Parole department, about a year ago with their idea and were welcomed.
"A parole officer is supposed to be a mentor," Graff said. "But we're stretched so thin, (we) can't."
When Carpenter left jail, there was no Yellow Ribbon Society to help him, just helpful family members and friends.
"I had a good support system in place to keep me from my old habits and old ways of thinking," Carpenter said. "I was blessed. People believed in me, and I achieved some small goals."