Offenders Seek Clean Slates

Hundreds Attend Summit In Effort to Clear Records

The men and women arrived by the hundreds at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, many with a single goal: to get their criminal records sealed or expunged.

Those with minor crimes such as marijuana possession and soliciting for prostitution were allowed to begin the process. But most people walked away worried that their futures could be jeopardized by their pasts.

Felonies, no matter how long ago they were committed, can't be wiped clean. And that doesn't seem fair to some members of the D.C. Public Defender Service, which sponsored the event.

"If you've had a felony 20 years ago and haven't done anything else in any jurisdiction, we can't move on from it?" said Heather Pinckney, deputy trial chief for the Public Defender Service. "There's got to be some wiggle room."

Nearly 1,000 people attended yesterday's event, the Community Reentry and Expungement Summit, seeking legal advice and tips on how to survive outside prison and how to land a job. Charles Singletary, who spent eight years in prison for robbery and kidnapping, came with a gripe about the system.

After being free five years, he was charged in a homicide. The charges were dropped, but the parole board determined he had violated his parole and sent him to prison for a decade. A different panel later determined that he was innocent, according to Singletary and the public defender who represented him.

Singletary went blind in jail, in part because of a lack of medical care for glaucoma. A public defender took his case before a court, which ordered his release in 2006.

"A lot of people came in the system and gave up," Singletary said. "They refuse to stand up and fight. They have to continue to seek other avenues to maintain their freedom."

An estimated 60,000 ex-offenders live in the District. Since 1997, convicted felons have been dispersed to federal facilities across the nation to serve their time as part of a deal city leaders made with Congress, which agreed to cover the costs.

But more than 2,000 offenders return home each year, and they usually struggle to find jobs. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) has established the Office on Ex-Offender Affairs to address their needs.

At a town hall meeting sponsored by that office Monday evening, men and women with criminal histories said they have to accept low-paying jobs to get a foot in the door. But one man said that even menial jobs are out of reach because of the felony on his record.

"Everywhere I go, I hear the same thing," the man said, and pleaded: "I need to work."

Similar sentiments were common yesterday as former prisoners complained about a lack of assistance and about city-sponsored training programs that seldom lead to jobs.

Avis E. Buchanan, director of the Public Defender Service, said getting convictions sealed or expunged can be a key to employment. A law passed two years ago allows certain misdemeanors, including drug possession, to be expunged.

"They want their records sealed so they can get a job," she said.