New citizens are given pennies in a country that only accepts dollar bills.

In March 2023, Hulu released a comedy series called “UnPrisoned.” The show is about Paige Alexander and her father, Edwin “Eddie” Alexander, who gets released from prison after 17 years. The show follows them as Eddie adjusts to life after incarceration. In the sixth episode, Eddie is on the hunt for his birth certificate so he can get a driver’s license. They travel to his hometown in Alabama, and after looking at his home and his church, finding nothing, they make their way over to the courthouse. They find it at the courthouse, and the clerk says that he needs a form of ID. Edwin pulls out the letter from his parole officer, the exact identification they accepted at the airport. After reading the letter, the clerk then retracts his statement and says he needs a photo ID because there are many cases of identity theft being reported. 

Although this show is labeled as a comedy series, scenes like these hit close to home. A conviction is only the first barrier. A conviction leads to a wide range of small deterrents like access to public housing and educational grants.

This is the reality for Marlon Chamberlain — a 43-year-old Black American who was charged for possession and distribution of crack cocaine. In 2003, at age 23, Chamberlain was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. He was released early in 2012 due to the Fair Sentencing Act, which reduced the sentencing disparities between crack and cocaine. Marlon Chamberlain is now the manager for the Fully Free Campaign. The campaign works with consultants and lawyers to produce bills to reverse punishments put in place for people after they are out of prison. The Fully Free members believe that once a person has served time for their crime, they should be free. 

Recently, the Fully Free Campaign introduced the FREE Act (SB1502, HB1268). The FREE acronym stands for Families’ Right to Estate Equity. This bill pertains to restoring dignity and honoring families throughout Illinois to carry out the last wishes and affairs of loved ones who have passed away. Chamberlain was affected by this firsthand, having been denied being the executor of his father’s estate in 2021. The Free Act has two chief sponsors, state Sens.  Lakesia Collins, D-5, and Adriane Johnson, D-30. If passed, this bill will impact the lives of over 600,000 people in Illinois.

Retaining state identification is the most important step for new citizens in Illinois as well, while at the same time being one of the most difficult to obtain with a record. The small piece of plastic seems meritless at first thought, but it is needed to attain life’s basic necessities. Housing, employment, medical care, banking and government-benefit programs such as food stamps are nearly impossible to get without one. The goal is to close the gap between when a person is released and when they obtain full citizenship again.

Jennifer Vollen-Katz is the executive director at John Howard Association. The John Howard Association is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan correctional-oversight organization. They have been around for 122 years. 

“The ‘independent’ is a significant piece of our identity and about the work and mission of the organization,” Vollen-Katz said.. “Independent means we are not funded by the government. We are not a part of the government, and we actually don’t have a legislative mandate. We do have an ongoing relationship with the Department of Corrections and the Department of Juvenile Justice, and they allow us to come in and do our monitoring work.”

The John Howard Association goes into Illinois state prisons to check on the living conditions and treatment of prisoners. They strive to create transparency and understand that opportunities for education and job success are crucial to prepare them for release. The organization does not do any direct representation; they work on fighting from the inside with policy changes. One of the areas they have been really active in is securing state identification for people as they leave prison. 

The process can be time-consuming and expensive. It requires resources like computers, phones and a form of transportation to Department of Motor Vehicles appointments. To some people, this is a minor inconvenience; to the formerly incarcerated, this is putting life on hold. Trying to secure a job or housing is nearly impossible without these documents, and often, it’s difficult to rejoin communities and make a new start.

“We have worked on legislative initiatives, we have worked on (Illinois Department of Corrections) policy, we worked very hard to get the lieutenant governor’s office on board and to understand the importance of giving every person a state ID as they leave prison,” said Vollen-Katz. 

Usually upon release, applicants must work directly with the Illinois Department of Corrections to find and obtain the required documents: birth certificate and social security number. Unfortunately for some, having two pieces of identification is another difficult step in adjusting back to normalcy. In “UnPrisoned,” Eddie was denied getting his birth certificate because he did not have a state-issued driver’s license, but he was unable to get a driver’s license without his birth certificate.

Fortunately, in 2021, Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White launched a new program to provide individuals with a state ID upon release from prison. This was considered a huge win for groups such as the John Howard Association.  Unfortunately, the process is slow and frustrations are arising with the pace of the wide rollout. 

The 2021 press release states: “The program is expected to serve 27 IDOC facilities by April 2022. As of October 2021, 346 state ID cards have been processed. The average daily population at IDOC is 27,323.” As of August 2023, the program is still in place at 27 Illinois Department of Corrections and, as stated before, moving slowly toward expansion.  

One of the last crucial steps on a new citizen’s journey to being fully free is to have their criminal record expunged. Expunging and sealing records is the process in which one petitions to remove arrests and convictions from a person’s criminal record. An expunged record is one that is completely erased, essentially nonexistent. Sealing removes a person’s record from the public; however, specific employers have access to the records.  In Illinois, the process is long, but the duration depends on the district. A “Request to Expunge and/or Seal Criminal Records” must be filed with the court, pending approval by a judge. 

Recently in Cook County, the time frame ranges from four to eight months. In District 1 (Chicago), the time frame expands to 12-18 months. The time varies from place to place due to the amount of cases a county has. The small, invisible barriers based on bias can block new citizens from housing and employment, the two most important essentials in today’s society. Not to mention, obtaining employment is a condition of release, and being unemployed can lead back to jail. After being filed, the request is not guaranteed. 

“If there is an objection, the petitioner is notified of a hearing, at which point they appear before a judge to have a judge decide on whether to grant or deny their petition to expunge or seal,” said Valarie Owino, who works as an aid with Legal Aid Chicago. 

This process cannot be started before a person is released from prison. There are timeframes for when a conviction can be expunged. The time frame depends on when a person completed their most recent conviction. 

A conviction is only the first consequence needing to be faced, then serving the sentence given, sometimes in prisons with poor living conditions. Upon release, new citizens have to go the extra mile to participate in normalcy. Getting a state-issued identification is the first step. This secures housing and benefits and is required on job applications. Petitioning to get the record expunged is the next step. This allows a person’s record to be expunged or sealed, wiping away the public record of the crimes or crimes committed. Although these two steps are simple to read about in an article, it is reality for people all over the United States. 

“When you walk out, this is an opportunity to start over,” stated Chamberlain. 

Header by Bridget Killian