Formerly incarcerated celebrate passage of Illinois' Clean Slate Act

SPRINGFIELD — After completing nearly a decade behind bars, Chauncy Stockdale was hopeful the worst was behind him. But he quickly met with the challenges many formerly incarcerated people face after being released.

Stockdale spent weeks looking for employment. He had multiple interviews and received a handful of job offers but could never get past the background check.

“I couldn't even get a job helping my mom out,” Stockdale said after applying to be a caregiver for his mom, who had just come out of surgery. “I already had home patient experience, and I still couldn't get the job because of the things in my background.”

Stockdale is now one of the beneficiaries of a new law enacted by Gov. JB Pritzker called the Clean Slate Act, which helps streamline the reentry process for people with criminal records.

Starting in 2029, people who have committed certain non-violent felonies will automatically have their records sealed two to three years after the completion of their punishment, as long as no more offenses are committed. It’s a change that could impact close to 2 million Illinoisans.

The sealing process was already available, but it required people to obtain sealing approval through months-long court procedures that cost money.

Stockdale’s first criminal offense came from a trespassing case when he was just 17. After two six-month jail sentences for theft in Ohio and Texas in 2008 and 2009, he returned home to Chicago. At that time, Stockdale said things “were looking good.” He had gotten married, started a family and found work.

But in early 2012, Stockdale was struggling with the loss of his job as well as a separation from his partner. In February of that year, he was convicted of aggravated robbery and residential burglary, leading Stockdale to be sentenced to nine years in prison.

Stockdale said the event made him realize he needed to make a change. The next few years in prison, he set goals for himself, got in touch with religion and prepared himself for reentry.

“While we're in prison, that's time we'll never get back, so we might as well use that time to the best of our ability,” Stockdale said. “Now I’ve got a different mindset, instead of trying to go out there and just take, take, take, because I'm hurting, let me go create something.”

Stockdale now works as a program coordinator for the Illinois Alliance for Reentry and Justice, a nonprofit organization that works to support individuals who have served prison sentences as they return to society. Among his other duties, he helps formerly incarcerated people get their GED and health insurance, learn how to budget and establish goals for reentry that help keep them from being reincarcerated.

Stockdale said the new state law will enhance his ability to help ex-offenders reintegrate into society.

“I can talk to people when I do community events with some of the organizations, and it's a little easier to talk to them because it’s like, ‘Hey, we got hope now,'” Stockdale said.

The new law passed the legislature with bipartisan support and will not include crimes like murder, sex-offenses, human trafficking, drunk-driving or domestic violence. Of the 2.2 million adults in Illinois with a criminal record, an estimated 1.74 million would have their records fully or partially sealed from the Clean Slate Act. Critics argue the implementation of the bill will cost the state $20 million over the next five years.

“This legislation is about empowering eligible people who seek a second chance to make their own choices about their futures and to get themselves on the right path,” Pritzker said when he signed the legislation.

Antonio Lightfoot, deputy director of the Illinois Coalition to End Permanent Punishments , helped lobby for the passage of the Clean Slate Act.

Lightfoot was incarcerated from 2006 to 2009 and, like Stockdale, faced challenges finding employment and housing after his sentence before landing in his current job. In 2020, he helped host a sealing expungement workshop where attorneys were invited to talk about the sealing process. Even though he helped set up the event, the attorney’s presentations were the first time Lightfoot learned his record was sealable.

“Even people who work in this space don’t know,” Lightfoot said. “A lot of folks don’t even know their record is eligible for sealing. ”

Lightfoot was better-equipped for the court’s sealing process than most. He had connections to public figures who wrote letters of recommendation and testified in court on his behalf as well as the money to pay for court fees. Even with that, the process of getting his record sealed took Lightfoot about nine months.

“Not everybody has the time to take out their day, to go down and spend all day in a courtroom filing petitions,” Lightfoot said. “Most folks who are struggling can't afford to take a day off work.”

The Clean Slate Initiative is a national movement that has passed similar laws in 12 other states and in Washington, D.C.

Artinese Myrick, deputy director of Live Free Illinois, a faith-based community group focused on addressing social issues, explained the law has been years in the making.

When Myrick was 9, her mother, father and stepfather were all incarcerated at the same time.

“They were being denied jobs because of their background and the stigma itself,” Myrick said. “Because of that, I'm interested in making sure that systems can be of support for families like mine.”

Having been unable to seal their records through court procedures, she says her family members are all excited for the passage of the Clean Slate Act.