April 01, 2005
(Oakland, CA) – Alameda County residents looking to put past criminal offenses behind them had their records publicly cleared as part of an expungement summit hosted by Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) at Laney College in Oakland on Saturday.
“Building a healthy community means removing the obstacles that prevent ex-offenders from getting work, finding housing and rejoining our community,” said Rep. Lee. “We have a vested interest in making sure that people reentering our community do so successfully.”
Alameda County Presiding Judge, Barbara Miller and Alameda County Superior Court Judge Gordon Baranco presided over the ceremonial expungement of the records of participants who had applied beforehand, and volunteer lawyers from the East Bay Community Law Center helped attendees begin the process of applying to clear their records. In preparation for the event, more than 200 people had free legal consultations to begin the process of clearing their records. More than 100 people will have their records expunged, either at this event or subsequently.
Lee and Baranco were joined by Congressman James Clyburn (D-SC), Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, and representatives from the Alameda County Dept. of Probation, the East Bay Community Law Center and All of Us or None, an advocacy group for the rights of the previously incarcerated. Attendees talked about their experiences with officials and advocates and discussed long-term policy changes that would positively impact the lives of previously incarcerated people.
The event was designed to address the issue of reentry. According to the Los Angeles Times, 95 percent of all offenders – about 600,000 people per year nationwide - return from jail. Approximately 10,000 formerly incarcerated people return to serve probation or parole in Alameda County each year. The difficulties faced by returnees in finding work, acquiring stable housing, pursuing education and otherwise stabilize their lives contribute to recidivism and act as a barrier to the economic and social development of the community.
The summit comes at a time when state lawmakers around the country, including Governor Schwarzenegger, are reevaluating the role of rehabilitation in the prison system. Lee, who has worked to reincorporate rehabilitation in the mission of the California prison system since she was in the state legislature, discussed the issue with the Governor when he visited Washington, DC in February.
“We need structural changes in the criminal justice system to increase the focus on rehabilitation and reentry,” said Lee. “This is about crime prevention. The sooner we pull our heads out of the sand and make sure that people who are returning to our communities are prepared and have the resources they need to succeed, the better off our communities will be.”
The summit was a follow-up to a conference on The Status of the African American Male hosted by Lee and Congressional Black Caucus Foundation in Oakland in December. Addressing barriers to reentry was one of the recommendations that came out of the conference.
The East Bay Community Law Center, Decriminalization of Poverty Project, will be providing follow-up with participants, and be consulting on the issue of expungement at the Wiley W. Manual Court Self-Help Center, each Tuesday and Thursday morning, starting May 17, 2005, as a result of the Summit.
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Rep. Barbara Lee Hosts Record Expungement Summit
Event Helps Ex-Offenders Return to the Community
(Oakland, CA) – Alameda County residents looking to put past criminal offenses behind them had their records publicly cleared as part of an expungement summit hosted by Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) at Laney College in Oakland on Saturday.
“Building a healthy community means removing the obstacles that prevent ex-offenders from getting work, finding housing and rejoining our community,” said Rep. Lee. “We have a vested interest in making sure that people reentering our community do so successfully.”
Alameda County Presiding Judge, Barbara Miller and Alameda County Superior Court Judge Gordon Baranco presided over the ceremonial expungement of the records of participants who had applied beforehand, and volunteer lawyers from the East Bay Community Law Center helped attendees begin the process of applying to clear their records. In preparation for the event, more than 200 people had free legal consultations to begin the process of clearing their records. More than 100 people will have their records expunged, either at this event or subsequently.
Lee and Baranco were joined by Congressman James Clyburn (D-SC), Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, and representatives from the Alameda County Dept. of Probation, the East Bay Community Law Center and All of Us or None, an advocacy group for the rights of the previously incarcerated. Attendees talked about their experiences with officials and advocates and discussed long-term policy changes that would positively impact the lives of previously incarcerated people.
The event was designed to address the issue of reentry. According to the Los Angeles Times, 95 percent of all offenders – about 600,000 people per year nationwide - return from jail. Approximately 10,000 formerly incarcerated people return to serve probation or parole in Alameda County each year. The difficulties faced by returnees in finding work, acquiring stable housing, pursuing education and otherwise stabilize their lives contribute to recidivism and act as a barrier to the economic and social development of the community.
The summit comes at a time when state lawmakers around the country, including Governor Schwarzenegger, are reevaluating the role of rehabilitation in the prison system. Lee, who has worked to reincorporate rehabilitation in the mission of the California prison system since she was in the state legislature, discussed the issue with the Governor when he visited Washington, DC in February.
“We need structural changes in the criminal justice system to increase the focus on rehabilitation and reentry,” said Lee. “This is about crime prevention. The sooner we pull our heads out of the sand and make sure that people who are returning to our communities are prepared and have the resources they need to succeed, the better off our communities will be.”
The summit was a follow-up to a conference on The Status of the African American Male hosted by Lee and Congressional Black Caucus Foundation in Oakland in December. Addressing barriers to reentry was one of the recommendations that came out of the conference.
The East Bay Community Law Center, Decriminalization of Poverty Project, will be providing follow-up with participants, and be consulting on the issue of expungement at the Wiley W. Manual Court Self-Help Center, each Tuesday and Thursday morning, starting May 17, 2005, as a result of the Summit.
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