Babis Theologis is not a man who made a mistake in his life and ended up in prison. He is a man who spent 30 of his 54 years behind a cell and as he says he feels the prison as his home.
The well-known "The Prisoner" was hosted on the Front Page and talked about everything he experienced during his criminal activity. Now, the goal of his life is to make the youth understand that his experiences are an example to avoid and not to imitate.
He initially stated that he was first imprisoned in America at the age of 17. “I was deported in 1992, the next year I was imprisoned in Korydallos, then I escaped to America via Canada. In 1997 I went in again for 20 odd years and got out in 2017. In 2021 I went in again for robberies. I'm currently out on suspension."
Complete everything starts with the family. "If you don't pay attention to your child, then someone else will give him and teach him something other than what you would like."
As he said, he has suffered a lot from all these years spent in prison. Conditions are difficult. You die in there. It's a warzone, a war. I have seen many offenses that should not have been committed. My heart and soul grew with all that I saw in there. In their eyes you see only death, you don't see soul and heart."
He went on to say that he had in mind the thought of helping the youth so that they don't get pulled what he got pulled. "When I first went out I was panicked. I was outside and it felt like I was in prison. My first home was prison. I grew up and lived there."
Babis noted that prison in America is a thousand times more difficult than in Greece. “There are people from all over. As soon as the prison bars open you have to be ready."
He emphasized that prison only teaches you more illegalities. "In the prisons of America I got degrees in business and the stock market, but what do degrees do for me when no one will give me a job. What should I write on my resume, that I did 30 years in prison?
He added that he moved to America when he was 7 years old. "I was deported after 20 years and I didn't know anything about Greece. "In America's prisons, the biggest war is psychological. There's a lot of isolation."
Then Babis also talked about his family environment. "After so many years in prison they don't know me and I don't know them. I left home at 15. They know the old Babis and have no idea about the new one. How much I have changed and how much I have suffered. I'm still alive and moving forward."
He pointed out that he has been offered jobs since the day he came out. "Right now I'm trying to help the youth and I'm doing it from my heart. Youth helps me too. When I change the path to a child, you have no idea how much it makes me a better person. My job is youth. This is what I am after and this is what I will achieve. I want to help them get away from the gangs and the knives. In the future these kids will walk into schools and shoot other kids. Then you will remember me. We will get there."
He emphasized that someone has to show them what prison means, show them the food in prison, the mice and cockroaches that sleep with you in the cells."
In closing, he said that young people can listen to someone who has been through a lot in his life. "The one with the tie will never be listened to."
Sigmalive