One Woman’s Mission to “Ban the Box”

BUILDING TO BRING LATINO STORIES TO THE SCREEN. ♪ SOLEDAD: I’M SOLEDAD O’BRIEN. WELCOME TO “MATTER OF FACT.” NO ONE LEAVES PRISON INTENDING TO RETURN. BUT RE-ENTRY INTO COMMUNITIES FOR THE 600,000 PEOPLE RELEASED EACH YEAR FROM FEDERAL AND STATE PRISONS IS CHALLENGING. MANY CAN’T FIND HOUSING OR JOBS OR GET ACCESS TO EDUCATION. ESPECIALLY WHEN COLLEGES REQUIRE YOU TO CHECK A BOX DECLARING YOUR CRIMINAL RECORD ON APPLICATIONS. MORE THAN HALF OF U.S. COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES CURRENTLY REQUIRE APPLICANTS TO DISCLOSE PRIOR CONVICTIONS, EVEN NONVIOLENT CRIMES, LEADING TO SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER ACCEPTANCE RATES. ONLY A HANDFUL OF STATES HAVE REVERSED THE REQUIREMENT. EARLIER THIS YEAR, I VISITED WITH ONE WOMAN IN LOUISIANA WHO LOBBIED STATE OFFICIALS TO “BAN THE BOX” AND WON. IT ALL BEGAN RIGHT HERE IN VASHERIE, LOUISIANA. 50 MILES FROM NEW ORLEANS. “THE COUNTRY,” AS 42-YEAR-OLD SYRITA STEIB CALLS IT. HER MOM WAS AN ATTORNEY, THEN A JUDGE. HER DAD, A SUPERVISOR AT AN OIL REFINERY. BUT IT ALL STARTED TO FALL APART WHEN SHE LEFT COLLEGE AND JOINED THE U.S. NAVY. DURING A TRIP TO TEXAS, SHE WAS ARRESTED FOR USING FIRE TO COMMIT A FELONY. SYRITA: WE ACTUALLY WENT INTO A CAR DEALERSHIP. WE STOLE SOME CARS AND IN THE COMMISSION OF THE ACTUAL CRIME, THE DEALERSHIP WAS BURNED DOWN TO COVER UP THE CRIME. SOLEDAD: WHAT WOULD LEAD A KID WHO KIND OF HAS EVERYTHING TO CRIME AT 19? SYRITA: I THINK WHAT LEADS MOST WOMEN TO PRISON — TRAUMA AND UNRESOLVED ISSUES IN YOUR CHILDHOOD. I HAD THE PHYSICAL ABUSE AS A CHILD AND THEN BY THE TIME I WAS 16, HAD BEEN SEXUALLY ASSAULTED. BY THE TIME I WAS 19, I JUST REALLY DIDN’T CARE ABOUT MYSELF OR ANYTHING ELSE. SOLEDAD: SHE WAS SENTENCED TO 10 YEARS IN PRISON, SERVING NEARLY ALL OF IT, AND ORDERED TO PAY $1.9 MILLION IN RESTITUTION. SYRITA: WHEN YOU STAND IN FRONT OF A JUDGE AND YOU GET SENTENCED, THEY SAY YOU’RE GOING TO DO X,Y,Z AMOUNT OF TIME, YOU’RE GOING TO PAY THIS AMOUNT OF MONEY, BUT THEY DON’T TELL YOU ALL OF THE OTHER THINGS YOU’RE GOING TO BE DENIED. SO, ACCESS TO HOUSING, EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT. SOLEDAD: BELIEVING EDUCATION WOULD BE HER PATH TO SUCCESS, SYRITA TOOK COLLEGE COURSES IN PRISON. UPON RELEASE, SHE APPLIED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW ORLEANS. WITH 32 COLLEGE CREDITS AND A HIGH GPA, SHE THOUGHT SHE’D GET IN. BUT ON THE APPLICATION, SHE CHECKED THE BOX ADMITTING SHE HAD BEEN CONVICTED OF A FELONY. HER APPLICATION WAS DENIED. TWO YEARS LATER, SHE REAPPLIED BUT DIDN’T CHECK THAT BOX. SHE WAS ADMITTED. AFTER GRADUATING CUM LAUDE FROM LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY, SHE COULDN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT THE WOMEN THAT WERE BEING LEFT BEHIND. SO, IN 2016, SHE STARTED WORKING ON SOLUTIONS AND “FOUNDED” ONE. SYRITA: OPERATION RESTORATION IS AN ORGANIZATION THAT WAS BUILT BY AND FOR FORMERLY INCARCERATED WOMEN TO REMOVE AS MANY BARRIERS AS POSSIBLE UPON REENTRY. SOLEDAD: THEIR 15 PROGRAMS TACKLE EVERYTHING FROM EDUCATION, FOOD AND HOUSING INSECURITY TO CHILDCARE. ALONG WITH RUNNING THE ORGANIZATION, SYRITA DECIDED IT WAS TIME TO REMOVE THE BARRIER THAT HAD HAUNTED HER. THE FIRST STEP — HELPING WRITE A BILL BANNING COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES FROM ASKING ABOUT CRIMINAL HISTORY ON ADMISSIONS APPLICATIONS. AT THE HEARING SHE DESCRIBED HER JOURNEY. SYRITA: IT WAS A COMMITTEE FULL OF MEN, WHITE MEN SPECIFICALLY, WHO COULDN’T RELATE TO MY STORY, AND THEY WERE ASKING ME QUESTIONS LIKE, WHY DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU DESERVE AN EDUCATION? SOLEDAD: THE BILL WAS SHELVED THAT DAY. WHEN SHE WENT BACK, SHE TOOK A WHITE WOMAN TO TESTIFY. SYRITA: THEY CRY. THEY GIVE HER A STANDING OVATION, AND ’HOLD YOUR HEAD UP, YOU’RE GONNA BE SOMEBODY.’ IT HUMBLED ME IN A WAY WHERE I WAS ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THAT THIS FIGHT WASN’T ABOUT ME. THAT THIS LEGISLATION, ONCE PASSED, WOULD AFFECT BLACK, WHITE, PURPLE, GREEN, MEN, WOMEN, WHOMEVER. SOLEDAD: WHY DOES IT MAKE YOU CRY? WHY ARE YOU SITTING HERE LITERALLY SOBBING? SYRITA: BECAUSE PLACING MYSELF BACK IN THE MOMENT, BRINGS BACK THOSE FEELINGS OF PEOPLE FEELING LIKE YOU’RE NOT WORTH IT. LOUISIANA ACT 276 PASSED AND SYRITA WAS STANDING BEHIND THE GOVERNOR WHEN HE SIGNED IT INTO LAW. THEN, ON HIS LAST DAY IN OFFICE, PRESIDENT TRUMP PARDONED SYRITA. IT CHANGED HER LIFE. SOLEDAD: DO YOU EVER THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT YOUR LEGACY TO BE? SYRITA: I JUST WANT TO BE KNOWN AS SOMEBODY WHO SAW A PROBLEM, SHOWED UP, FIXED IT AND AFFECT