Twenty people have graduated from Albany County's Clean Slate program.
Inside the District Attorney’s Outreach Center, you’ll hear countless stories of redemption, of friendship; inspiration is at the heart of this one.
"Good will always beat out evil," said mentor Benjamin Rountree. "It takes some time. But in the long run, good is always going to win, and that's the side that I'm on now."
Albany County's Clean Slate program takes formerly incarcerated people like Rountree and pairs them with non-violent offenders aged 18 to 24, offering the opportunity to take accountability for criminal wrongdoing, repairing harm to any victimized party, rather than punishing offenders. Participants graduate from the program within two years with a clean record.
"I feel like a lot of our individuals who are returning are to me they're the missing link," said Outreach Center Bureau Chief David Graham.
With Rountree having been released in 2020 after a prison stint for selling drugs, it was that very past that makes him the perfect mentor, according to Graham. Rountree uses his experience to help people get on the right path.
"In the world, in what [we’re] living in now today … is this is so sad seeing these children and young men and women making the wrong decisions with their life, thinking that they're going to get some glory vacation from the streets, when the streets don't care nothing about you," said Rountree.
The pair feels it is changing lives, inspiring each other and the mentees in the program.
"There is a African proverb that says ‘if you want to go fast, you go alone. If you want to go far, we go together,’ and this program encompasses that as well," said Graham.
Rountree believes everyone has it in them, and that it’s just about using talents for good.
"All you got to do, just stop and take 5 seconds and ask yourself, 'Is it worth it if I decide to do this? Would it be worth it in the long run, or will it make me a better person if I decide to walk away? Regardless of what somebody might think of me,’ ” Rountree said.