My name is René Hamrla and I am 50 years old. I grew up in a full and contented functioning family. In my 20s, I went into business and after a very short time began to taste the first hints of “success”. I managed almost everything, and I stopped respecting the legal norms and lived in the belief that nothing could happen to me after all.

After ten years, I was convicted of attempting to cut taxes for 4 years. After 2 years, I was released and entered life with the resolution that this would not happen again. Another 10 years passed and I found the courage to go into business again. I built a business with dozens of employees and a corresponding, not small, turnover. There were accompanying problems, and I resorted to the simplest of all possible solutions in good faith. I didn't consider the consequences of my decisions and I was recapturing.

After almost 15 years since my release, I was sentenced again, this time to 6 years.

It was a huge mistake for which not only I paid, but also my whole family, my children. Unfortunately, it was only after spending several months in prison that I slowly began to realize what success really is and the values that go towards it. My life has turned inside out. And today I'm actually happy for that.

I started running in the execution of the sentence first to stay physically ready for the next life, but also because it was actually an escape to myself. I could reflect on my mistakes, come to terms with them and start looking slowly on, at the life that would come after release. At the time, I perceived the dismissal itself as a very difficult and complex step.

This is the case today, more than a year later. It was a mixture of difficult and crucial decisions that each of us, the released prisoners, must make. Despite the disfavor of social habits and prejudices that we encounter on a daily basis. And not only in their job search, but also in their families, whom we have let down so much. In all of this, I try to stay grounded in my beliefs and values, which I think are finally the right ones. It's the trickier path, but I believe it's the right one to permanently integrate into a stable family and society.

With my openness to the past, I try to make people judge us not by the superficial information that comes to them and criminal records, but by how we approach life and the fulfillment of our personal and social responsibilities.

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