Expunging Records…Giving Hope
It is no secret that the United States leads the world in the amount of people who are incarcerated. There are so many different ways that people here can find themselves entangled into the criminal justice system that it would take a 9,000 page book to list them all. But no matter how you end up in the criminal justice system, most people will find themselves out of the prison system. And then what?
There is the pervasive myth that once you serve your time, you come out of prison/jail with a clean slate. Sadly, that is not true for many people who serve their time. Depending on the conviction, you may have to deal with many long lasting, life constraining after effects. For the millions of people who have encountered the criminal justice system, these effects may seem insurmountable. Some of the constraints that many formerly incarcerated people may have to live with are as follows: being denied certain jobs, being ineligible for financial aid for college/post secondary training, being denied housing, being denied business loans or mortgages, being denied custody of minor children, and so many more. For those living life constrained after serving time, this can make life seem hopeless.
In Maryland, eligible people can access expungement after a period time as determined by different factors. Expungement of a criminal record can truly liberate people as they can now access many of the resources that they had been previously denied. It would seem like expungement should be automatically done as soon as people are eligible. However, it is not. People have to go through the process of expungement. As the process can be costly (most of the cost is in hiring trained professionals to help wade the waters of regulations and court), you can imagine that those who have already had restricted incomes may struggle to be able to obtain final liberation after completing their obligation to society.
On July 29, Columbia Community Care (CCC) offered their second Essential Resources Day to the community. It was a day in which many resources were brought together to help people to gain health,healing and liberation. One of the many resources that was offered to the community was a free expungement clinic.
Run in partnership with lawyers, the expungement clinic gave folks who have convictions the ability to have their situations reviewed with no cost. Yes, this was offered absolutely free of charge to our community. The ability to have a lawyer give you advice about your situation is worth a great deal of money. However, the expungement clinic did not stop there. For those who were determined to be eligible for expungement, the lawyers would then work that case until final determination. FOR FREE!!!! What life giving hope!