Engaging Communities in Prisoner Reentry - Public Forum

For any man or woman convicted of a crime, successfully completing their sentence, along with any assigned parole or probation, is just the beginning. After their release from confinement, they are faced with re-integrating themselves back into their community – often in the same area and with the same influences that provided them opportunity to break the law in the first place. Their search for employment is often stonewalled by the fact that they now have a conviction on their record. Employers performing a routine search find the negative information, and unless they are part of a progressive federal or state program, or willing to give the applicant a second chance, the applicant is put at the bottom of the list of candidates – if they remain on the list at all. The goal of improving their own economic status and fighting the impulse to return to their former ways is complicated further by the fact that even advanced education – like a master’s degree – is often not enough to convince a potential employer to give them another chance. Apartment leases, home mortgages, opening a bank account or a credit card, and many other processes that non-offenders take for granted are often closed to these individuals. This situation continues for as long as the conviction stays on their record, and with the advent of computers, the information is even easier to find. How long is long enough for a person convicted of a crime, who has successfully completed their parole and / or probation, to continue to pay for that crime? The Connecticut Pardon Team was founded in 2004 to provide tools and information for individuals convicted of a crime who are interested in clearing their record through the Expungement/Provisional Pardon process within the state of Connecticut st through our Expungement/Provisional Pardon Assistance Program.