Kyle knows the weight of prison. Yet, after 22 years behind bars, he now regularly walks into jail as a chaplain, living proof that redemption is real.
“I work for the Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office,” Kyle said, shaking his head. “But look, it’s natural for me to come back to jail and share what I have learned. When I was arrested, I felt pathetic, I was broken. When the Lord put me in the back seat of that police car, I was humbled. Once I was on that tier, the Lord opened my eyes. I got a Bible, I took responsibility, and I was free. That was the first time I took responsibility for anything in my life.”
On a Friday afternoon at 3:30, the last day of February, Kyle steps into the Livingston Parish Detention Center with the same warmth he brings everywhere: hugs, a wide smile, and the occasional “Praise God.” He works as a contract employee three days per week – 18 hours total – pouring himself into the men who sit where he once sat.
Three years ago he helped launch the Family Approach to Inmate Reentry (FAIR) Program – a 16‑week, volunteer, faith‑based course focused on spiritual growth, accountability, and preparing people to return home as stronger citizens. With 41 graduates and only one person returning to jail, the results speak for themselves.
Lt. Col. Lance Landry, the jail’s warden, , credits Kyle’s lived experience for the program’s impact.
“It’s different when you have a man who walked down the same path teaching it,” Landry said. “If I taught it, our batting average wouldn’t be that good. Kyle’s story is what I admire most about Kyle – his relationship with the man upstairs. A lot of people find jailhouse Jesus, but when they leave, they forget. With the FAIR program, you see the change.”
After more than two decades of incarceration, where Kyle said, “I didn’t have a bad day in prison. Prison became mercy for me,” he was released in 2021 and began rebuilding his life. As a client of Parole Project, he learned crucial life, financial and employment skills.
With those tools, he has found success. In the last five years, he secured work at Deltak Manufacturers in Walker and with the Livingston Parish Detention Center, bought a car, and is soon to close on a home. He found community in his Baptist church and in prison ministry.
He is thankful that Parole Project was his launching pad and for the support of Executive Director Andrew Hundley and Kerry Myers, deputy director of advocacy and development.
“I learned a lot from Parole Project, but mostly I learned that they care,” he said. “When I had both knees replaced, there wasn’t a day they didn’t check on me. And everything they helped me set up – my bank card, my bank account, email – I’m still running with.”
Myers said he admires Kyle’s tenacity and dedication to rehabilitation.
“Kyle has been focused on his successful reentry even before he left prison, doing all the right things,” Myers said. “What he’s doing now is a continuation of who he is and not what he did. I had little doubt that Kyle would make a positive impact on people’s lives.”
Kyle was raised in Chalmette by older parents – a teacher and an engineer – and while he grew up loved, he said life was hard. At five, he was severely burned in a house fire that left more than 75 percent of his body scarred. Back at school, classmates mocked him, and he learned to fight his pain. At 10, his parents put him in football to channel his strength. At 17, his father died suddenly of a heart attack, and the anger returned.
By 34, Kyle had been arrested numerous times and spent 11 cumulative years in local jails. On August 19, 1999, everything changed. After a domestic violent outburst fueled by grief, addiction, and rage, he was arrested and later sentenced to 40 years for attempted murder. While incarcerated at Angola, his welding skills landed him on the crew building a prison chapel. A coworker shared the gospel with him as they worked.
Looking back, he said he sees God’s hand in all of it.
“The Lord blessed me with a Baptist pastor from Slidell,” he said. “As we worked in that chapel – while sweeping up, even during lunch – he would pour the word of God into me.”
He took advantage of his time in prison, earning a bachelor’s degree in Christian Ministry from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, mentored new prisoners, preached, and worked as staff writer for The Angolite. Outside of his two jobs, Kyle is involved in prison ministry, and he also shares his story locally and nationally.
After everything he’s lived through, he knows each day is a gift, and he measures success by, “Hard work. Humility,” he said. “Thinking of others needs more than myself.”
