HUFFINGTON
08.04.13
THE UNTOUCHABLES
“John and I planned this whole
thing on death row,” Cousin
says. “We had cells right next to
each other.”
Thompson comes out from a
back room. “Cell two and cell
three!” he calls out. “We always
knew we was going to get out.”
“We motivated each other,”
Cousin says, “inspired each other
to keep up the fight. So we always
knew we wanted to work together
to create something positive from
all of this when we got out.”
Bearded and bespectacled,
Cousin comes off as restrained
and pensive. Where Thompson is
loud and brash, Cousin is quiet
and standoffish. Thompson started our interview by scarfing down
a box of fast food. Cousin has a
plate of what looks like health
food, but insists on putting it
aside as we talk.
Cousin had his own experience
with the difficulties of re-entry.
In 2008, shortly after he got out
of prison, he pleaded guilty to using his boss’s identity to apply for
and use some credit cards. “When
I got out of prison, I had spent
half my life behind bars,” Cousin
says. “I was impressionable. I had
some mental health issues that
had gone untreated. And I had
little money. Those aren’t excuses.
But the experience made me more
aware of the problems exonerees
face when they get out. Especially
the mental health aspects, which
I think get overlooked. People understand that people first getting
out may need money or housing. But doing time does things to
people, even innocent people. If
you don’t get your mind right, get
some counseling, you could find
yourself back in prison.”
At Resurrection, Cousin now
counsels recent exonerees and
directs them to mental health services. He also trains and employs
some of them at a screen-printing company he and Thompson
started through the non-profit.
“Right now we have contracts to
print school uniforms for several
schools in Orleans Parish,” he
says. “And we have the city’s ear
right now, so we’re in the process
of lining up more.”
Cousin talks briefly about his
case, and about prosecutorial misconduct, but he isn’t interested in
delving into specifics. “I let John
handle reforming the system,”
Cousin says. “It just gets me too
upset. I don’t like to be angry. So I
handle the re-entry stuff. I let him
deal with the activism.”
Currently, Thompson is planning an exoneree march on Washington. “We’re hoping to get at