In Louisiana, proposed food stamp changes might hurt some ex-convicts

(Photo by Shawn Fink)

For Osby Bryant, $35 is a lifeline. That’s how much the federal food stamp program sends every month to the Shreveport native, who spent 43 years in prison for murder.

Now free on parole in New Orleans, the 70-year-old Bryant is slowly rebuilding his life. He works from 5 a.m. to noon every day as a carpenter while he saves money for an apartment.

“When you get out, you’re struggling to make ends meet. So you need all the little help you can get,” he said.

Proposed changes to the farm bill now before Congress could cut off access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as the food stamp program, for Bryant and others with certain felony convictions, however.

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