This is an amazing story of an unlikely but legitimate friendship between a convict and a prison guard that started while David Wilson was in Stateville Prison in Illinois serving his sentence after being convicted in 1978.

This friendship developed while Brian Parpart worked as a prison guard between 1990 and 1995.  He quit working at the prison and started his own business, which was doing well.  After being away from the prison for a couple of years, he contacted David.  They corresponded back and forth until it was time for David to go up in front of the parole board.

David had been going in front of the parole board for twelve years in a row without success.  This time, Brian went to the parole board hearing.  He told the board that he would take David into his home with his wife and two young boys as well as give him a job at the company he had started.

The parole board was going to deny David once again.  However, one of the board members saw something in the situation that was different than usual and felt that it deserved further review.  Mr. Jorge Montez, who is now the Chairman of the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, fought behind closed doors to convince his fellow parole board members to grant parole for David.

On May 9, 2001, David Wilson was paroled from prison after almost twenty-five years of incarceration.  His friend, the former prison guard, picked him up at the prison gates.  Brian set a video recorder on the dashboard and recorded the two-hour drive home.  The footage is amazing! You can see David experiencing everything like it was the first time in his life.  So many things had changed over twenty-five years.  Just riding in a car, in the front seat and without handcuffs was new to David.

The story entitled “Ordinary People, an Extraordinary Bond….a Christmas Story” has been written and produced by Felicia Middlebrooks and will be chronicled on WBBM Radio 780 Chicago the week of 12/22/08.

Ms. Middlebrooks is one of the nation’s top journalists.  She has won scores of awards, including the coveted Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in News, Associated Press “Best Reporter Award”, and kudos from United Press International, Women in Communications, The Urban League and American Women in Radio & Television.

These are some of the things that we take for granted that I missed out on while incarcerated for all of those years:

• The loss of human touch from anyone except when I was being frisked/searched.
• Unable to breathe the fresh air or gaze up and look at the stars at night.
• Tragic loss of a loved one through death without attending the service to have closure.
• Missing holiday gatherings with family/friends.
• Hearing the laughter of children playing outside on a Summer day.