Kelly Orians is a staff attorney at The First 72 Plus, a New Orleans nonprofit founded by six formerly incarcerated people to help other formerly incarcerated men and women navigate the first 72 hours of their release. She is also the co-founder of Rising Foundations, a partner nonprofit that provides pathways to self-sufficiency for formerly incarcerated people, with an aim to stop the cycle of incarceration in low-income communities through small business development and home ownership.  

Interview with the MOON and Kelly Orians:by Leslee Goodman, syndicated from moonmagazine.org, Jul 16, 2018

The MOON: Most Americans are not aware of the obstacles that formerly incarcerated people face in order to avoid re-incarceration. Can you describe some of them?

Orians: Yes, but first I want to say, though, that more and more people are aware of the big barriers, like access to housing and jobs. Particularly among millennials, I’ve found an awareness that the United States is the incarceration capital of the world, and Louisiana is the incarceration capital of the U.S. But there are other barriers that make it extremely difficult for people to avoid being re-incarcerated. Actually, just avoiding re-arrest in your first 72 hours is exceedingly difficult—which is how our organization got its name. For instance, in Louisiana, upon your release you’re given a check for $10 and a bus ticket. If no one is available to pick you up at the gates of the prison, a correctional officer will give you a ride to a bus stop in Baton Rouge, and from there you are on your own. That is actually how a couple of our co-founders made their way home, so it makes sense that one of the first services we chose to provide was simply a ride home from prison.

The MOON: I’ve also heard that formerly incarcerated people can’t go home to family if anyone in the household is currently involved with the criminal justice system because then they’re associating with known criminals. I spoke with one Goodwill client who spent his first night in a park swing because he had nowhere else to go. Can you speak to that?

Orians: Absolutely. In a city where one in seven African-American men are currently under some form of correctional supervision, you can see how the options for formerly incarcerated people are severely limited. At First 72, we estimate that there are several hundred people in prison simply because they can’t give a reportable address. And in truth, you don’t want to be released to the streets. Maybe not everybody would admit it, but I’ve sat across the bulletproof glass at OPP with several clients who have said that, of all the time they did in prison, the time when they first came home was the most difficult. So, if you have nowhere to go, it’s often better that you don’t leave. That’s just the reality of it. First 72 is the only transitional housing program in the city dedicated to formerly incarcerated people, and we compete for affordable housing with all the other folks struggling to find a place to live, such as women fleeing domestic violence, people with chronic mental illness, people dealing with substance abuse and opiate dependency, and people who lost their homes because of healthcare debt, loss of a job, or other financial circumstances.

To read more of Kelly Orian's interview, please click here.