Not long after John Grobman was released from prison, where he thought he would remain until the day of his death, he returned voluntarily - this time with loyal companions in the form of dogs.
Grobman returned as the newest acquisition of an organization called Paws for Life K9 Rescue ("Give a Hand to Life - Saving Abandoned Dogs"), which he had to help on his long and difficult journey to redemption.
He will not easily forget the words of the judge who sentenced him to life imprisonment without the possibility of pardon.
"If I had felt you had any promise of being worth something in your life, I would not have given you such a sentence," Grobman recalled of the sentence.
The message was, Grobman said, that he "stated that I have no value for anyone or anything in the world."
Sixteen years later, the memory still shakes his voice.
Grobman, who grew up in a non-religious Jewish family in the affluent city of Hillsborough, in the Gulf of California area, has been embroiled in trouble for years.
He began experimenting with drugs at a young age, and continued to deal with emotional issues.
When his parents sent him to a child psychologist, when he was a teenager, the doctor sexually assaulted him.
Because he stole to fund his drug use even in adulthood, Grobman continued to get entangled with the law.
In 2005 he passed California's "Three Disqualifications Act," which carries 25 years in prison to life in prison for those convicted of three criminal offenses.
In prison, however, Grobman found a way to a new life.
With the help of a local Chabad rabbi, he rediscovered his Judaism; and with the help of some friends on all fours, he found an opportunity to make a confession.
"Of all the lessons I learned in prison, the lesson that affected me the most was a lesson on awareness of victim sensitivity," he said.
"It connected me to what people go through when they are a victim of something. I began to connect the trauma I went through to the trauma of those around me, and the trauma I caused to others. I began to think about what I could do with my life to make a difference in the lives of those around me. More.
"I knew I was never going to go out, but I could help them, for the time they would go out."
In 2018, Grobman's fate was reversed: after 13 years in prison, he became the first inmate in California to win a "cancellation of commitment."
The State Prison Service noted his exceptional behavior in prison and the assessment that he would be a positive asset outside of prison, and the state recommended his release.
Today, at age 54, he is a free man.
Since being given a second chance, Grobman feels he is proving day by day that the judge was wrong and he does so mostly through his activities in the organization "Give a Force to Life."
The Los Angeles-based organization is giving inmates the opportunity to tame abandoned dogs from shelters suffering from behavioral problems that would otherwise die under anesthesia.
John Grobman hugs his mother, Diane Grobman, at the closing ceremony of "Give a Force to Life", during which he first received the news that his life sentence may be sweetened, Photo: Courtesy of Rita Earl Blackwell
While in prison, Grobman initially hid his Judaism, but over time became friends with the only other Jew in Lancaster.
Rabbi Yosef Lazar, the Jewish spiritual guide at Lancaster Prison and the director of the nearby Chabad branch, came once a week to put on tefillin with him and teach him Jewish history for most of his time there.
"In prison, he found the good side of him, who was buried deep beneath all those layers that led him to prison in the first place," Lazar said of Grobman.
"Over time, he focused his life on helping others. He really learned how to develop compassion and empathy for others inside, and really became a personal example of the meaning of the term answer."
Grobman said studying with Lazar was inspiring.
“We are a resilient people, and when I learned about our history, I saw the connection to my personal story,” he said.
His work in the prison commander's office, managing many of the prison's rehabilitation programs, gave him a degree of strength and protection, which allowed him to feel safe being “out of the closet” as a Jew, even among bald-headed people;
He even made close friends between them.
When approached to help kick-start the "Give a Force to Life" program in prison, he agreed.
At first, it was difficult to find 15 men who would agree to sign up, in part because they found it hard to believe they would be allowed to put dogs in jail.
Eventually Grobman himself also participated;
He had a natural talent for dog training, and he later became the head of the program.
"Every person I was able to influence erased something more from what the judge said," he said.
"I realized what a good feeling it is to help change someone's life, and play a role in guiding people in the right direction."
John Grobman (center) with a group of inmates at Lancaster Prison, Photo: Courtesy of Rita Earl Blackwell
As soon as it became known that Grobman was about to be released, he was offered a full-time job at "Give a Force to Life";
He calls it the work of his dreams.
As the program director of the association, he is responsible for bringing the healing benefits he himself has experienced to other people.
So far, he has helped start the program at two prisons in Northern California.
Grobman still sees Rabbi Lazar on his frequent visits to Lancaster.
"I'm very impressed with how much he continues to contribute back," Lazar said.
"At every opportunity he literally goes out of his way to help others."
"When I work with the dogs I can forget I'm in jail," said Andrei Bernick, who identified himself as a Ukrainian Jew on his mother's side.
"Give a spoon to life" says that to date, 39 of its participants have won the mitigation of their sentence.
Many of them are now working with dogs outside of prison.
None of them returned to prison.
"All this goodness that came from John's release is helping to free us," said Eddie Davis, another California inmate.
"In a somewhat strange way, John found in prison what he loved and his vocation. He could have now been working for some company, but he was by no means as happy as he is now."
