2022 LSU Gumbo - Book - Page 107
Despite reforms in recent years, Louisiana continues to have
some of the highest incarceration rates in the world, having more
people in jail than any other democracy on Earth, according to a
2021 report conducted by the Prison Policy Initiative.
Those staggering rates are what motivates Tiger Prison
Project and Project Reformation’s work to educate the campus
community on the issue and volunteer with the Parole Project to
assist formerly incarcerated people in Baton Rouge.
“We’re trying to educate students on campus about prison
reform, mass incarceration and the prison industrial complex as
a whole,” said African American studies senior and president of
Tiger Prison Project Kaya Lewis.
The primary goal of Tiger Prison Project is to mobilize the
campus community and have them acknowledge the humanity
of those that are currently incarcerated or have been previously, as
well as the systematic and often overlooked struggles they endure.
The organization’s reach has extended past weekly meetings,
with volunteers from the group directly assisting formerly
incarcerated people in Baton Rouge.
Awareness of the problems presented by the criminal justice
system is the first step, Lewis said.
“I think that most students have a disillusionment to some
extent,” Lewis said. “I think everyone still has things to learn.
Even myself, having studied this my whole college career, I know
there’s still a lot I don’t know. There’s a lot going on.”
Lewis said that when Tiger Prison Project advocates at the
state capitol, they usually start with base-level information,
testing the waters of onlookers’ familiarity to their cause. She
said project members usually start by sharing information they’ve
never heard before.
Tiger Prison Project holds general meetings that typically
feature a professor, attorney or someone who has been through
the criminal justice system acting as a guest speaker.
They also regularly hold workshops in conjunction with
Parole Project where they interact and help incarcerated and
recently released individuals with specifically tailored projects,
like resume building or smartphone crash courses.
Project Reformation began as the capstone project for mass
communication senior Kate Wells, but has since become a
passion of her and her teammates.
Project Reformation is an outreach to the community--especially
the campus community. Wells said that many students are aware
of the problems associated with mass incarceration but lack
consciousness of the intricacies outside of the overarching problem.
They are currently focusing on educating the community
on Senate Bill No. 336, which would significantly raise the
requirements needed for incarcerated juveniles to seek parole.
“These are kids only a few years younger than us,” Wells said.
“They could be our peers in college one day. They’ve been given a
bad label entirely.”
Wells said that of the recidivism among juvenile lifers is
around 1%. She said that the minds of these offenders haven’t
fully developed; the system considers them irredeemable when
they’re still children.
Parole Project was co-founded by Andrew Hundley, the
first Louisiana “juvenile lifer” to be paroled after the U.S.
Supreme Court’s verdict in Miller v. Alabama and Montgomery
v. Louisiana. The conclusions of these cases meant that life
imprisonment of a minor was considered cruel and unusual
punishment, and therefore unconstitutional.
When Hundley was released in 2016, he emerged as a
far different person than when he was convicted in 1997.
He immersed himself in education courses while in prison,
completing numerous programs and serving as a leader in
multiple prisoner organizations.
Hundley is a graduate of Baton Rouge Community College,
LSU, and earned a master’s degree in Criminology and Justice from
Loyola. He serves as executive director for the Parole Project.
His story mirrors the goals of Parole Project--to successfully
integrate their clients—most having served 20 years or more
incarcerated—back into society.
According to Wells, only 60 of the 300 juvenile lifers have
actually been paroled despite the verdicts of Miller v. Alabama
and Montgomery v. Louisiana.
She adds that 93% of those children are Black. Louisiana is
three times more likely to to sentence juveniles to a life sentence.
Kelly Garrett is deputy director of client services at Parole
Project. She said that there’s always been a need for it, but the
need was magnified after the Supreme Court rulings.
“There’s always been a need for transitional services for
individuals transitioning back into society,” Garrett said. “2022
is very different from pre-COVID. It’s very different than what
2010 was or 2000.”
Grocery stores, for example, have changed a lot in the past 20
years. Garrett said that the Parole Project offers classes designed
to introduce participants to new stores that can otherwise seem
confusing and overwhelming.
Other classes focus on budgeting, interview skills,
employment skills, health care and interpersonal skills.
Reentry manager Christi Cheramie joined the Parole
Project after serving 25 years in prison and going through the
project herself. Even with help from her family, Cheramie felt
like she needed something more. She is a firm believer in the
organization and process.
“All of the tools that I was given as a client helped guide me to
this point in my life, I was able to turn around and give that back
to clients I encountered, just like myself,” Cheramie said. “We all
came from the same place and faced this same struggle so who
better to teach than someone who has that same experience.”
According to Garrett, the majority of the staff at Parole Project
is composed of formerly incarcerated individuals. She and
Cheramie also said that many activities operate thanks to the help
of volunteers, of which include Tiger Prison Project members.
“That’s when our volunteer work comes in,” Lewis said. “We
have workshops with incarcerated people, helping them readjust.”
Lewis said that sometimes making human connection is just
as important as the instructional courses of a workshop.
“We have to remember that these are people, the same as us,”
Lewis said.
Lewis said that the prison industrial complex is responsible
for systematically discouraging and dehumanizing those who
go through it. She said that it runs as deep as the language. The
words “prisoner” and “inmate” don’t carry the compassion that
she wants to share with the formerly incarcerated individuals.
More than anything, Lewis wants the community to remain
aware of the problems presented by the criminal justice system
and prison-industrial complex.
“When you stop viewing people as people, that’s when you
become complacent in your views, that’s when systematic abuse
gets excused,” Lewis said.
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