CAMPAIGN ARCHIVES

The Safe Return Home Campaign is about dismantling the barriers and injustices that discriminate against formerly incarcerated community members. The previous areas of work contributed to our work to make a safe return home for those who are returning from being incarcerated.

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CALIFORNIA PROPOSITION 47:
THE SAFE NEIGHBORHOODS AND SCHOOLS ACT

Proposition 47, a law passed by California voters in November 2014, allows people with certain nonviolent felonies on their past criminal records to reclassify them as misdemeanors. This can remove barriers to jobs, housing, education, and more. Find out how and learn more at MyProp47.org.

Over the past two years, we have hosted six reclassification events in partnership with the Contra Costa Public Defender's office, the Courts, and the District Attorney's office. These events engaged over 4000 Contra Costa residents and reclassified over 2000 residents, clearing over $20,000 in traffic debt. This work included securing live scans for over 100 Contra Costa residents and supporting over 500 formerly incarcerated residents through the Contra Costa Record Expungement Clean Slate program.

Safe Return is now part of a Local Advisory Committee for Prop 47 mental health and drug addiction strategies in East Contra Costa County (Antioch). The Committee will oversee the strategy funded through the BSCC in the amount of $6 million Prop 47 granted over 38 months. 5-10% of the funding is for evaluation, and there must be a pass-through of at least 50% of all funds to non-public-agency organizations to provide equitable services.

SECOND CHANCES

May 8, 2019 (Richmond, California) – The Safe Return Project and Richmond resident Walter Killian have reached a landmark settlement with West Contra Costa Unified School District that will make important changes to the District’s hiring practices and ensure job applicants with prior convictions have a fair chance at employment.

Starting in June 2019, the District will no longer ask about prior convictions on its initial job application. Instead, it will evaluate whether an applicant is qualified for the position before it considers criminal history. The District will also establish a new process for reviewing information about criminal histories, an applicant’s rehabilitation, and mitigating circumstances surrounding a prior conviction. Certain criminal convictions will continue to automatically bar employment with the District, but the new policy will help eligible applicants with lesser criminal records.

In late 2016, the District denied Mr. Killian employment as a substitute custodian because of a 20-year-old conviction that he thought had been removed from his record. Mr. Killian decided to file suit to prevent what happened to him from happening to others: “I decided to make it right and say, ‘Let’s stop it right now.’”

The Safe Return Project later joined the lawsuit. Tamisha Walker, the Safe Return Project’s Executive Director, believes fair employment practices benefit the larger community. She said: “True public safety is positioning society to acknowledge that access to economic stability is one of the only pathways to self-sufficiency and long-term liberty.”

The case was filed in January 2018 in Contra Costa Superior Court as Killian v. West Contra Costa Unified School District, Case No. MSN18-0068.

CALIFORNIA FOR SAFETY AND JUSTICE
SUMMER OF SECOND CHANCES CAMPAIGN

One in five Californians has a criminal record. California policies place over 4,800 prohibitions on people with past convictions—long after they’ve completed their sentence. These prohibitions restrict eligibility to basic necessities such as jobs, housing, education, and more.

If California is truly committed to advancing public safety, economic strength, and family stability, these extreme prohibitions on people living with past convictions make no sense. We created the #TimeDone/Second Chances campaign to mobilize people with past convictions and their families to shine a light on the obstacles standing between 8 million Californians and stability and organize for policy change.

#TimeDone/Second Chances advocates in the State Capitol to shape public policy, connects people with support and opportunities on a local level, and brings people living with past convictions together to join as a unified voice. Now is the time to galvanize thousands to action to build a real road to redemption. For more information about efforts in California and Florida, visit TimeDone.org.

Safe Return holds a seat on the advisory board for the Summer of Second Chances Collateral Consequences initiative and has attended meetings to inform a report development to implement further criminal justice reform, reducing over 4,800 barriers to equity for those impacted by any conviction in California. We hosted three events (Beyond the Box, Spread Dinners), educating over 150 directly affected residents, family members, allies, and over 1,241 Black voters on the impact of criminal records on people’s lives and their ability to become productive members of society.

FAIR HOUSING POLICY

Housing stability is essential for breaking the cyclical relationship between incarceration and homelessness and supporting a formerly incarcerated person's successful return to his or her community. To reduce the risk of recidivism, programs that prioritize family reunification and do not use a person's criminal history as a deterrent to housing access are crucial. We reviewed policies in Chicago, New York, Richmond, Seattle, and Oakland in our Fair and Affordable Housing Policy report.

In December 2017, Richmond, CA, passed a new law led by the Safe Return Project to protect people with criminal records from being discriminated against when looking for housing. This is how the law works: The law only applies to low-income housing (tax credit or HUD subsidized) and households who are renting with Section 8 vouchers. A landlord cannot ask housing applicants about:

A criminal conviction that happened more than two years ago.
Any arrests that didn't result in a conviction.
A conviction that has been dismissed.
Information about whether an applicant was convicted, arrested, or punished when they were under 18.
Whether an applicant has been in a diversion or deferral of judgment program.

This law also allows individuals returning home to be added to an existing lease. By doing this, Richmond has committed to protecting the low-income housing status for families and not putting them at risk of losing their housing by illegally housing a loved one or their past convictions other than those restricted by Federal HUD policy.

FAIL EMPLOYMENT POLICY (CALIFORNIA)

Richmond, California, set the stage for progressive policy against employment discrimination in 2013.

AB 218 prohibits any state or local agency from asking a job applicant to disclose criminal convictions on the initial employment application until after it has determined that the applicant meets the minimum employment qualifications for the position. AB 218 does not prohibit public agencies from inquiring about criminal conviction information later on in the hiring process. Rather, it requires the public agency to refrain from doing so until it has determined that the applicant is qualified for the position.

The purpose of the established ordinance is to require that all contractors, lessees, recipients of City financial aid, and their respective subcontractors who employ the equivalent of ten or more full-time employees in their total workforce and who desire to obtain contracts with the City of Richmond, remove any question regarding prior criminal convictions from their printed and/or on-line employment application forms and do not make any inquiry into an applicant’s conviction history.