Of the state program’s 800-plus “graduates,” only 20 have returned to prison after committing a new sex crime.
One day back in 2003, DeMont Conner sat in a room at the Kulani Correctional Facility, listening to a recording of a frantic 911 call.
A woman was on the line, clearly in distress: Her house was being broken into. Terrified, she was hiding in a closet and begging for help — but to no avail. A man soon broke in, raped the woman and killed her.
Conner, who had been locked up for seven life sentences — including one for a rape conviction — says listening to the recording was "torture." "It hit me really hard. It broke me down. I cried profusely," he said.
The exercise was designed to be a step on Conner’s road to redemption.
