New Haven Independent: Pardon Path Prescribed

Pardon Path Prescribed

by Melinda Tuhus | December 15, 2006 9:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

New Haveners got advice Thursday night on a challenge holding back ex-offenders like Hugh Edwards (pictured) from moving on with their life — how to win a pardon. One woman stumped the experts with a common story: She plea-bargained on a crime she never committed, and now doesn’t want to lie about it on job applications.

Imagine you had stolen a car or burglarized a home as a teenager “” say a burglary or car theft “” and served time in prison, or on probation, and then moved on with your life, becoming a productive citizen, raising a family, contributing to your community. But the felony conviction follows you everywhere, often resulting in failure to secure employment or housing or other necessities of life. Leaders of an organization called the Connecticut Pardon Team, Inc. addressed ex-offenders at the meeting Thursday night at City Hall to explain in detail how they might go about winning pardons for themselves.

If granted, the pardon would expunge their entire state criminal record “” that is, make it disappear so that if someone applies for a job, for example, he can say honestly that he has no criminal record, and if a prospective employer does a search, no record should show up. Due to lag time in updating computer records, though, it can take up to a year after a pardon has been granted for someone’s record to be expunged.

To win a pardon, ex-offenders must complete their sentence, parole or probation, be violation-free for at least five years, show they’ve been rehabilitated, and demonstrate ways in which they’ve contributed to their community. Audience members were advised to take full responsibility for their past, without going into overly dramatic detail. “The parole board doesn’t want to hear that it wasn’t your fault,” said Dianne Daniels, executive director of Pardon Team.

“Just be honest,” advised Douglas Poger (pictured), an investigator with the Board of Pardons and Parole.

Then a young woman complicated matters by saying she had accepted a plea bargain to stay out of jail, by admitting to something she hadn’t done. About 95 percent of cases in the state are resolved through plea-bargaining, and many of those who admit to crimes are innocent. So she said she couldn’t both be honest and take responsibility for the crime that gave her a felony conviction.

It was a conundrum for which nobody on the panel seemed to have a good answer. New Haven State Sen. Martin Looney, who hosted the meeting, suggested she emphasize “the extraordinarily good work you’ve done since your conviction.”

barb%20and%20dyson-3.JPG Then Barb Fair (pictured on the left with State Rep. Bill Dyson on the right) spoke up. She, too, had copped a plea as a young woman in order to stay out of jail. She has since gone on to raise ten children, become a social worker, and volunteer in her community, in particular with the criminal justice reform group, People Against Injustice. She said she faced the same dilemma the young woman described “” and she dealt with it by convincing the members of the parole board that she was not guilty of her offense as charged and that she’d lived an exemplary life since then.

Those applying for a pardon must fill out various forms, write a personal statement, and get three reference letters. The first hurdle they must overcome is the pre-screening. If a three-member panel of the parole board deems them likely candidates for a pardon, they will go before the board personally to plead their case.

Hugh Edwards (pictured above) said he was frustrated by three failed attempts to even get past the pre-screening. He has multiple felonies on his record from crimes he committed as a teenager. He’s now 39 and says he’s been crime free for more than 20 years. He has a home, a family, and runs his own business, so as a practical matter his criminal record has not really hurt him. Still, he says, he wants a pardon, and he thinks the Pardon Team may be able to help him. Click here to listen to him describe his life then and now.

Looney (pictured) said two years ago the Parole Board was reorganized into the Board of Pardons and Parole. “And prior to that time there really was not an informational function in terms of applying for a pardon. It was a process that was not well publicized at all, and I think that with the new provisions we have a better public process.” He said no one is automatically excluded from applying for a pardon, though individuals convicted of recent or particularly heinous crimes probably don’t stand too much of a chance.

Comments

Posted by: Ned | December 17, 2006 10:43 AM

Imagine you had your car stolen or your car or home were burglarized or you were the VICTIM OF A CRIME and then moved on with your life, becoming a productive citizen, raising a family, contributing to your community. But the feeling of insecurity resulting from being victimized by criminals follows you everywhere... Tell me again why these people, who knew what they were doing was wrong and didn't care, now feel they deserve to have their crimes erased from the historical record? Does the person who was robbed get some kind of respite? Also, if these former criminals ended up turning their lives around, that achivement seems, to me, sufficient reward and a lesson learned. Let them seek and receive pardons, if due, but I'm reserving my sympathy for the crime victims.

Posted by: Miriam | December 18, 2006 1:11 PM

First, who says people who have records were REALLY doing anything wrong at all? Well to answer your question Ned, I would be glad to tell you why people with felonies have a right to a pardon. Where should I start? How about first with the people who are copping out to crimes they did not committ on a daily basis just to avoid losing their families along with their humanity. Once the felony is there it is there and it is held against them. We see this on a daily basis. If it was a choice of jail time or keeping your family together, whether you are guilty of the crime or not, what would you choose? The system beats innocent people both ways. Now let's talk about those who made bad choices when they were teenagers and it resulted in a felony. If they decide when they are 25 and 30 that they want to build a career for themselves, who has the right to say NO and discriminate against them because of their records? The State of Connecticut continues to pump this rhetoric about rehabilitation and public safety. Who is being rehabilitated?, and safety for who? Why must there be a question of a criminal record on a financial aid application? This is supposed to be an application to have funds disbersed directly to an institution of higher learning, not into the hands of a person. What does a criminal backround have to do with that process, besides it being a way to discriminate against minorities who want an education but can not afford it on their own. Then people like Ned do not realize that comments and beliefs of that nature just add to the recidivism that currently exists. How about we start rehabilitating people and showing them support in what they are trying to do to stay on the right path? That is what I am fighting to see happen.

Posted by: Ned | December 18, 2006 4:43 PM

The problem seems that the pardon process is not well publicized, not that it seems to onerous. I understand that many people cop a plea to alleged "drug crimes" by being threatened with extreme sentences based on trumped up charges (which the legislature could attempt to solve, but probably won't - the state is all about punishment). However, some people, mentioned in the article, have multiple felony convictions - which, to me, seems to indicate something about their character. Cutting people out of employment, housing or education seems counterproductive, but I'm still reserving my sympathy for crime victims.

Posted by: easy | December 19, 2006 9:53 PM

Why don't we let the victims decide, and give justification for their decision. Let the victim forgive, becuase only they know the depth of the wound caused by the criminal. And yes they are criminals. That is what you are when you breaj the law, and are convicted. Most plea bargains are to avoid the harsh sentence deserved for the crime. The State bargains to save money, not becuase they think the offender is unjustky accused.

Any victim knows the lifelong misery caused, not the liberal give ecerone a second chance. Wouls they let the offender move into their house as part of a work release program? Would they accept a halfway house in their neighborhoods?

i work in the field and I know they preach one thing, but don'y want their lives effected. Let put a halfway house on St. Ronan Street, and one on Livingston St. Heck they wouldn't let Hooker be built there, so would they let all the second chancers live among them.

Posted by: Disko DP | January 8, 2007 9:26 PM

The question is are we making society safer if we pardon individuals who proved themselves as productive members of society after a period of at least 5 years, or do we punish these individuals for the rest of their lives by barring them from decent jobs and forcing them back to a life of crime to support themselves.

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Pardon Path Prescribed

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