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Overcoming
Discrimination Against People with Criminal Records
by
Roger White
California
releases nearly 285,000 people from probation and state prison
each year. Once released, people with felony records find
it next to impossible to secure housing, find a job, get drug
treatment, or access public assistance. Discrimination against
people who have been in prison is a widespread, day-to-day
roadblock for people attempting to re-enter their communities—and
it’s legal.
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| Harriette
Davis testifies at the East Bay Peace & Justice Community
Summit about losing her grandchild to adoptive parents
due to a felony. Photo: Scott
Braley. |
In the Bay Area, people with criminal
records and their families are taking steps to end discrimination
that negatively impacts them and their communities. All
Of Us Or None, an organization of people who have
been in prison and their families, in collaboration with community
groups and religious organizations, is convening a series
of Peace & Justice Community Summits that bring together
community members, elected officials and community leaders
in townhall forums to hear testimony and commit to solutions
that support people to re-enter their communities.
The first Peace & Justice Community Summit,
convened in Oakland on July 31 in collaboration with Keith
Carson, a member of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors,
was a resounding success. Hundreds came to hear testimony
and take action. People with felony records shared personal
stories about the impacts of being denied housing, employment,
welfare and food stamps, and access to their families. Emani
Davis, daughter of an incarcerated parent, called on the community
to recognize that “visiting our parents who are incarcerated
is not a privilege but a right.” Elder Freeman, a Black
Panther and currently a member of All of Us or None, gave
a historical perspective on how barriers to re-entry have
increased: “I was released from San Quentin in 1979 and
got $200 dollars gate money. Now in 2004, they are still releasing
you with $200…When folks come out with no family or friends
or support they end up in the streets, they end up homeless.”
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DEMANDS FOR POLICY
CHANGE
1. End discrimination against
people with criminal records.
2. Opt out of the
welfare ban for people with drug convictions.
3. Adopt Bill of
Rights for Children of Incarcerated Parents.
4. Ban the felony
box on applications for public employment.
5. Increase support
services for people coming out of prison.
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Accompanying the testimony, people
who have been in prison and their families, presented five
demands for policy change: end discrimination against people
with criminal records, opt out of the lifetime welfare and
foodstamps ban affecting people with drug convictions, implement
the Bill of Rights for Children of Incarcerated Parents, ban
the felony conviction box on applications for public employment,
and increase support services for people coming out of prison.
All of Us or None, DataCenter and East Bay Community Law Center
produced a briefing
packet (12 pages, PDF) with supporting data, including:
• In California, 70-90% of people who
have been incarcerated are unemployed. An unemployed former
prisoner is three times more likely to return to prison
than a formerly incarcerated person who has a job.
• 24,100 adults would be eligible for
food stamps if California opted out of the drug felony ban,
including 16,300 parents with children.
• Only 12% of the California Department
of Corrections parole budget is spent on assistance and services
to people coming out of prison.
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| Ise Lyfe speaks
at the Summit about the lockdown on youth. Photo: Scott
Braley. |
A Listening Panel of community leaders and elected
officials was responsible for hearing testimony and making
commitments to respond to the policy demands. Following a
break-out session to review the testimony and supporting facts,
community leaders on the Listening Panel agreed to work with
All of Us or None and vowed to pursue the initiatives presented.
Several elected officials agreed to put the policy demands
on their legislative agendas and hold hearings in Sacramento
on re-entry issues that affect the entire state. Some Panel
members agreed to put the list of demands on the legislative
agendas of their respective cities and counties, and hold
hearings in Sacramento on re-entry issues that are statewide.
And some endorsed the idea of using a portion of the money
confiscated in drug busts to fund re-entry programs. Others
agreed to work on developing networks of employers that will
hire formerly-incarcerated people and to help employers to
navigate hiring issues and understand the opportunities that
non-discrimination policies against people with felony convictions
open up.
Peace and Justice Community Summits are being
held in San Francisco on October 23, and in East Palo Alto
on November 13. For further information or to get involved,
contact Linda Evans or Dorsey Nunn, All
Of Us Or None, (415) 255-7036 x.337 or (510) 410-1099.
Roger White is an Information Activist in
DC’s Criminal Justice Program.
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