We Support Clean Slate Re-Entry
Prior to 2016, the Center for Arkansas Legal Services (CALS) typically held a clinic once a year in connection with Martin Luther King Day. As a result of strategic planning, CALS developed the Clean Slate Re-entry Program to help alleviate the effects that a criminal record has on an individual’s ability to obtain employment and housing.
In 2016, a formal partnership was created with the AR Department of Workforce Services and the Central AR Planning and Development District to provide low-income Arkansas with a fresh start by sealing criminal records. A six-month pilot project launched in Saline and Jefferson Counties. Case managers were trained to identify and refer eligible candidates to CALS, staff attorneys and pro bono volunteer attorneys assisted clients in sealing their records during clinics, and CALS attended and advertised at job fairs around the service area to promote the project.
The first clinic was held on July 14, 2017, in Pine Bluff, with 20 clients, 2 pro bono attorneys, and an outcome with a total of 17 petitions and orders.
We continued to develop the program with community partnerships and offer regular clinics. Since that time, we have built relationships with Goodwill, the City of Little Rock, Shorter College, Local Libraries, and the local homeless shelters. That partnership expanded to include the Circuit Court Clerk, Terri Hollingsworth, in 2019. The Clerk’s Office has waived the $50 filing fee for petitions.
In 2022, we garnered a partnership with the Arkansas Crime Information Center (ACIC), and they now attend several clinics in person to provide ACIC reports on the spot.
Our Work
Rights After Wrongs
Each year, the largest clinic we hold is Rights After Wrongs. This is a multi-agency event with local Driver Control Offices, District Court Judges, tail light repair companies, employers with job openings, professional resume writers, health screeners, veterans services, and the criminal record sealing volunteer attorneys present.
Impact
Rights After Wrongs has grown from 274 attendees in 2017 to 525 attendees in 2019. Though COVID caused this event to be on pause for two years, we were back at the end of 2021 to help out Arkansans.
Since 2017:
18 clinics around the state
488 clients
578 petitions and orders prepared
97 pro bono attorneys and 102 law students participated
In 2019 alone:
70% of orders and petitions were filed
77% of records were sealed
Attorney Ryan Hill, from our Hot Springs office, talks with KARV (93.1 FM) radio host Johnny Story about the ins and outs of sealing your criminal record, also known as an expungement. He discusses what records can be sealed, what records CANNOT be sealed, and how you can start the process. Visit www.arkansaslegal.org/radio-on-the-air or click the image above to listen about how to seal your criminal record.
Click the image above to download a pardon packet.
Client Story
Alayah had been hired and subsequently dismissed for several jobs based on a misdemeanor conviction from 1996. She had twice tried to seal her record before contacting CALS. Our attorney filed Alayah’s petition and represented her in a contested hearing where the petition was granted over the State’s objection. Alayah was subsequently hired for a new job as lead pre-k teacher making $20.55 an hour.