LSU Parole Assistance and Re-entry Clinic partnered with the Parole Project and The Visiting Room Project to give students the opportunity to hear from people formerly incarcerated under life-sentences.
On Thursday, law students and professors gathered in the McKernan Auditorium to learn more about what life is truly like for prisoners serving a life sentence and the challenges they face upon reentry.
Robert Lancaster, who teaches the Parole and Re-entry Clinic at LSU, opened the presentation with a discussion of Louisiana’s increasing number of incarcerated individuals.
Louisiana leads the nation in incarceration with almost 30,000 incarcerated as of 2023, and these numbers are expected to increase in the coming years.
Gov. Jeff Landry, who is heavily opposed to early release programs, proposed a new budget in January that would give $82 million in state funding to corrections systems. This would increase the number of incarcerated individuals in prisons by providing the state with the resources to house more inmates and keep them for a longer period of time.
Lancaster said that Landry’s proposal overlooks one fundamental truth: People have the ability to change. He said many inmates, with the proper support, can learn how to regulate their emotions and eventually return to society.
Marcus Kondkar, the founder of The Visiting Room Project, followed Lancaster with a video presentation, featuring three inmates all serving life sentences — Donahue Smith, Jeffrey Dale Hilburn and Sammie Robinson.
They each shared their own stories, reflecting on their old lives, families, dreams and ambitions. None of them ever expected to be serving for such a long time. They all thought they would get out on parole after ten years, but that has not been the case.
Both Smith and Hilburn have served for over 20 years so far. Robinson served for 66 years from 1953 until his death in 2019. He died in Angola Prison at age 83.
Following the video, Kondkar introduced the four panelists: Stephanie King, Sabrina Monaco, Everett “Buff” Offray and Kerry Myers.
Myers is the deputy director of advocacy and development for the Parole Project, and he served 27 years himself after a wrongful conviction. Parole Project offers a safe space for all formerly incarcerated individuals, providing them with transitional housing, post-transitional housing, employment, mental health therapies and banking assistance.
Myers and his business partner, Andrew Hudley, are dedicated to working with formerly incarcerated individuals to help them integrate into society as smoothly as possible. They have helped over 670 people return to society with a recidivism rate of less than 3%.
“We have to overcome those stigmas until we prove they are more than the worst thing they’ve ever done,” Myers said.
King and Monaco worked with Parole Project to get out on parole.
Stephanie King, who served for 27 years, got her degree while in prison and now works at the Baton Rouge public defender’s office. She said she never thought there would be hope for her release until she heard of Parole Project. She was represented by Lancaster and released in 2023.
Everett “Buff” Offray, who served for 28 years, also got his degree in prison. He now works at the public defender’s office in New Orleans to help others who are in the same position he was.
Offray emphasized how important it is for everyday citizens to educate themselves on Louisiana’s “sentencing schemes,” referring to the recent laws that increase incarceration times and limit early release.
He urges people to use their votes and voices to make an impact, encouraging them to get into contact with their representatives and research who they are voting for in the future.
The final panelist, Sabrina Monaco, spoke on the misjudgements that many formerly incarcerated people receive.
Monaco, who served 42 years and now lives with her family, said she had a hard time accepting that she was worthy of love and forgiveness. That is until she found God while experiencing a Kairos retreat, where Christian volunteers shared the teachings of Christ with her.
“I looked at [the volunteer] and I said, ‘I’m a sinner,’ and she said, ‘God loves you,’” said Monaco.
Since then, she said she has not defined herself by her past actions, only by the person she is today. She and her fellow panelists believe that change is possible and you can live a happy, fulfilling life even after incarceration.
“You make a mistake and you pay for it,” said Monaco, “But it doesn’t mean you’re a horrible person. It just means you made a horrible mistake.”
Correction: Parole Project supports all formerly incarcerated men and women, not only those serving life sentences. A previous version of this article also incorrectly identified Kerry Myers as a co-founder of the Parole Project; he is the deputy director of advocacy and development.
