Former Felon Voices - Kristi Kendall, Floyd County

In an attempt to share more of the stories from former felons across the Commonwealth, we’re presenting a series of short interviews every few weeks on our blog.

Kristi Kendall was born in Texas along the gulf coast, but moved to Kentucky many years ago.  She lives in Floyd County now, in Eastern Kentucky.

Somewhere in between, she found herself in prison at Otter Creek.

"When people are in prison, they dream of being free, and how wonderful the outside world is.  Even the colors out there seem brighter," Kristi said.  "But when you get out, there's just so much discrimination and you always feel like you're kind of a 2nd class citizen.  You're not really free out there either."

"Getting a job is the toughest part for most former felons, I think.  I really feel like one of the lucky ones."

"I work in a law office as a paralegal.  I'm pretty good at it, but because I'm a former felon there are some basic things that I can't do like notarize documents."

"I feel like employers can sometimes exploit former felons.  It's hard to get a job, but when you do, some employers I've seen give lower wages than they advertise, even though a person is well-qualified."  

"I filled out the voting rights forms and sent them in.  Waited 6 months and never heard anything, then sent in another one.  6 months later, I sent a third and maybe 9 months after that, I sent a 4th letter along with a set of letters of recommendation from people here in the community.  I still haven't heard back from the Governor's office and I still don't have my right to vote."   

"Some legislators like Senator Damon Thayer say there's an existing process that works fine, and clearly some people are getting their rights back, but it's a hard and arbitrary process."

"The opposition to voting rights legislation is so unwarranted.  It's a political ballgame and it kind of makes me sick."

"How can they expect you to join the community as a respectfully, productive, fully rehabilitated member of the community if they won't let you?

"I was so involved in organizing in the prison, trying to make things better, trying to get the guards to adhere to the law and make it a more humane place."

"Making things better and belonging to a community is important to me, which is maybe one of the main reasons I started to reach out to KFTC and get involved."

"I'm excited to see a lot more work around this issue in Eastern KY when I live in the future.  There's certainly a lot of potential."