For Louis, life didn’t just come full circle, he found its center.
As a child, he pedaled his bike through the parking garage of the Orleans Public Defender’s Office, just blocks from his Mid-City home – never imagining how deeply that building would shape his path.
Now he parks his car in that same garage, but this time as an employee of the office that defended him when he was 17 years old before he was sentenced to life without parole. Today, Louis is helping young people navigate the same system he once only glimpsed from his handlebars.
Louis’s journey is marked by several more moments where life has come full circle. When he was released from prison in 2018, after 25 years, he was a Parole Project client. Six months later he was hired as a reentry specialist with Parole Project. Fast forward several years and he now sits on the board of directors as its secretary.
He said when he left Parole Project for another position it was bittersweet, but he’s excited to be on the board and give back to the organization that helped him win his second chance and navigate a much different world from the one the 17-year-old Louis left.
“It was heartbreaking to leave Parole Project to work for Catholic Charities,” he said. “I was volunteering with them at the time, and they asked me to come on full time to do reentry and case management for them. It was the same work I was doing with Parole Project, but Parole Project had guys to fill that service and Catholic Charities didn’t, but it was still so hard to leave. Andrew said I’m not going to let you get too far so when he asked me if I wanted to be a board member I didn’t hesitate.”
Louis’s addition to the board felt like a seamless fit, according to Executive Director Andrew Hundley.
“We wanted Louis on our board because his lived experience gives him a perspective that is essential,” Hundley said. “He understands the impact of our work and that insight makes us a stronger, more accountable organization.”
Growing up in New Orleans, Louis was an active and curious kid and considered himself “to be a smart kid until I entered the fifth grade.”
“That’s when I realized I was poor and I stopped doing schoolwork,” he said. “I strictly stuck to the streets.”
While incarcerated, he earned his high school diploma and received his culinary arts degree. He also began writing in a journal every day about his dreams and wishes. These manifestations began coming true.
“I wrote the word freedom down and that came true,” he said. “I wrote that I wanted to work with kids within the legal system and I’m doing that now. I wanted to write a book and have a house and now I own two. I wanted to own a vehicle and be married and have kids and travel. And it all came true.”
Louis has been married for six years to his wife, Kynisha. Together, they share a blended family that includes her two children – Tanisha, 20, and Tyrese, 17 – as well as their five-year-old son, Khalil, who shares Louis’ birthday. Rounding out the family is their black cocker spaniel, Milo.
In addition to his full-time job and his dedication to Parole Project, Louis also sits on the board of the Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights, where he was once a client, another example of a full-circle moment in his life, a path traced back to where he started.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that all of this has happened in my life,” he said. “I think it’s a higher power because I’m here and I wasn’t supposed to be. I had a life sentence and now look at my life. I have this family and this little boy who is my joy. When I come home, he is at the door and screams ‘Papa!’ It’s amazing.”
