An ex-offender may have only a few short meetings with his parole officer each month.
Every ex-offender will have a probation officer, even those finishing short sentences.
Of course, the media would pursue Huhne as the ex-offender but only for a time.
And businesses risk lawsuits if they hire an ex-offender who harms or steals from a customer.
At the time, Branson said he was determined that Virgin companies would actively seek to employ suitable ex-offender candidates.
Even finding accommodation is made more difficult when you state on the application form that you are an ex-offender.
An ex-offender could not be disqualified for employment unless the offense was directly related to the job.
But he said he no longer meddles with political endorsements, and he reminded me that, "being an ex-offender," he has never voted.
"Nobody believed anything we said," said Norris Henderson, a founder of a group for former prisoners called Voice of the Ex-Offender.
"People are sitting around waiting, waiting, waiting — all this is talk," said Norris Henderson, a founder of a group for former prisoners called Voice of the Ex-Offender.
"We don't call anyone an ex-offender or an ex-prisoner – we call them Timpson foundation colleagues," says James Timpson, its chief executive.
