There is major tension between law enforcement and urban communities in our country. Last year, Hope For Prisoners hosted a summit called ‘Repairing The Breach’ in Las Vegas. The summit focused on grassroots organizations from around the country that are transforming poverty, violence, crime, despair and recidivism from within the communities that those tensions exist.

After Orange is continuing to follow the efforts of those community leaders and grassroots organizations. What is working? My goal is to cover how law enforcement and communities across the country are working together to ‘bridge the gap’. If you are interested in the cause, please watch and share this video.  

After Orange is a project dedicated to discovering, documenting and sharing programs transforming the correctional system and influencing change in the judicial system.  

Where do people go when they get out of prison?  How do they adjust to society?  In this episode of After Orange #ThePrisonProject you'll meet Cassandra Hein as she travels to visit her sister in prison.

This episode provides Cassandra's backstory and explains how After Orange came to be.

In 2007, Jamie Hein began a 10-25 year sentence in a women's facility within the Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC). Upon her entry into prison, she immediately realized that inmate rehabilitation was not a priority for the NDOC. She became increasingly frustrated with the lack of recovery and educational programs for inmates. During a visit with her sister, Cassandra, Jamie shared her observations and frustration with the system. This conversation inspired them to develop a plan to raise awareness. Cassandra immediately began filming the stories of women leaving correctional facilities. This project eventually evolved into the documentary series: After Orange.  

In November of 2016, After Orange opened Halfway Home; a sober living environment for women being released from the correctional system. Halfway Home provided a safe, structured, and sober living environment with the purpose of helping women become the best possible versions of themselves.

Cassandra will be documenting each woman’s journey though Halfway Home and eventually into the community. Please join them as they take action to change their lives.

Jamie was given a rare opportunity to change her life before being incarcerated. She credits her family with providing the support she needed to get herself sober and stay that way. After completing rehab, she lived in a clean in sober environment until she got herself on her feet. This experience made such and impact on Jamie's life that she maintained her sobriety through trial and sentencing five years later. She's now fifteen years sober and pending parole from prison. She's tentatively scheduled to be released in June of 2017; after which she will be working on this project from the outside.

Most of the women in prison are not as fortunate as Jamie is. They do not have opportunities to get clean and sober before entering prison. They do not have not adequate preparation to lead productive and healthy lives upon release. Yet what if those resources were available to more women? Call it optimism or ambition, but After Orange believes that people can change if given the opportunity. With a bit of direction and community support, more women will experience success and fewer will return to criminal lifestyles.

Cassandra and Jamie sincerely thank everyone for supporting the house. The first season of After Orange generated positive feedback and inspired them to do more. Now, Cassandra continues to document programs around the country that are making a difference in this cause.

- Abraham Lincoln

Producer / Director

"It's time to change the prison culture in our country from the inside out.  In ways that are for the highest good of us and everyone involved."

Copyright 2017 © AfterOrange, A Non-Profit Organization.