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<\/figure>\nCharles Powells was grateful, but frustrated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was 12:30 p.m.\u00a0He’d been waiting since 8 a.m.\u00a0outside Catholic Charities’\u00a0Center for the Works of Mercy in Detroit for an Aug. 12 expungement clinic that\u00a0started at 11 a.m.\u00a0There, he’d have a\u00a0chance to meet with pro-bono lawyers and\u00a0begin the lengthy\u00a0process of getting his record expunged.<\/p>\n
But this wasn’t the first clinic Powells had gone to. It wasn’t his second, either. It was his third\u00a0\u2014 and he was 19th in line. Others had been waiting outside the center since 6 a.m.<\/p>\n
“It’s chaotic. I don’t want to cause no riff, I’m just frustrated,” said\u00a0Powells, 50, of Detroit. “We’ve got a system that doesn’t give us any consideration.”<\/p>\n
Booker T. Walker,\u00a0a returning citizen and criminal justice organizer with Michigan Liberation, tried to console Powells as he was making his rounds, offering help and guidance to the dozens of others waiting in line at the clinic Michigan Liberation helped organize.\u00a0<\/p>\n “We can’t wait on the government,” Booker, 65, of Detroit\u00a0told Powells. “We’re doing the best we can. What else can we do?”<\/p>\n Powells is not alone in his frustration. Since new expungement legislation dubbed the Clean Slate Act\u00a0took effect in April 2021, more people are eligible for criminal record expungement through an\u00a0application process. But with\u00a0high demand, technology hurdles and\u00a0court backlogs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it takes about six months to a year, and sometimes longer, to get their clean slate.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n Related:<\/strong>\u00a0Gov. Whitmer signs bills expanding criminal record expungement in Michigan<\/a><\/p>\n “The system really was inundated with thousands\u00a0and thousands of more applicants than in prior years, which is great, because all of those people are now eligible,\u201d\u00a0said\u00a0Stephani LaBelle, who runs Detroit’s Project Clean Slate, city-run program specifically for Detroiters.<\/p>\n “And so the entities involved (in expungement), they’re really working on scaling up and committed to continuous improvement. And we had been working with all of those agencies to streamline the processes and also kind of innovate new ideas on how we can help.”<\/p>\n That includes connecting clients with resources during the expungement process, she said.<\/p>\n More than 15,500 Detroiters have applied for help with the expungement process through\u00a0Project Clean Slate since January 2021, LaBelle said. Fewer than 2,000 of them remain on a waitlist, and all cases are expected be reviewed by the end of this year.<\/p>\n Before the Clean Slate Act, the program only processed about 1,200 applications each year.<\/p>\n LaBelle said Project Clean Slate’s process is efficient, but acknowledged that clients are still subject to the court system’s timeline. \u00a0<\/p>\n The city estimates about\u00a0168,000 Detroiters\u00a0are now eligible for expungement.<\/p>\n “I just want it gone,” said Erica Vance, 43, of Detroit.\u00a0<\/p>\n Like Powells, she had been to two other clinics in Wayne County\u00a0before the Aug. 12 clinic. She didn’t know she was eligible to expunge two nonviolent convictions from 2004 until this summer.\u00a0For years, those convictions were hanging over her head, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Third time’s a charm,” said Vance.<\/p>\n Vance and others, however, have something to look forward to: automatic expungement.<\/p>\n\n In late July, more than 2,000 people sought help at\u00a0an expungement fair at\u00a0Fellowship Chapel in Detroit hosted by the Wayne County sheriff’s office, the prosecutor’s office, the state attorney general’s office,\u00a0Safe & Just Michigan\u00a0and others.<\/p>\n It was cut a few hours short\u00a0due to a computer system crash, said Kamau Sandiford, the clean slate program manager for Safe & Just Michigan. It was just one of many fairs and clinics\u00a0that have\u00a0experienced that type of delay,\u00a0Sandiford said.<\/p>\n Most fairs and clinics encourage\u00a0people to pre-register\u00a0\u2014 that way organizers can run background checks to check expungement eligibility with Michigan State Police’s\u00a0ICHAT system prior to event. But Sandiford said organizers are seeing many more walk-ins than people who have pre-registered.<\/p>\n “I’m not sure why that is, but that tends to create a lot of stress on the operation the day of, because we have to basically run a large number of ICHATs, or background checks, all at once\u00a0\u2014 the system eventually crashed,” Sandiford said.<\/p>\n “That’s probably the single biggest issue that we see at these expungement fairs, the disproportionate amount of walk-ins versus people who have pre-registered.”<\/p>\n\n That demonstrates just how high demand for expungement\u00a0is, Sandiford said, and why these fairs and clinics are necessary.<\/p>\n There are other delays, too, outside of expungement clinics and fairs. Sandiford and LaBelle\u00a0both noted that processing times vary from court to court. Without taking into account the backlog of court cases caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,\u00a0it usually takes about three months or more for someone to have their initial hearing before a judge after filing their petition for expungement\u00a0\u2014 timing also depends on when Michigan State Police and the Attorney General’s office complete the required background check and statutory eligibility analysis, according to Safe & Just’s website.\u00a0<\/p>\n And if an applicant\u00a0has another conviction during the waiting period for expungement, the process takes even longer, Sandiford and\u00a0LaBelle said.<\/p>\n But there’s hope, Sandiford told the Free Press. In April, Michigan’s automatic expungement process will go into effect, which would automatically clear certain convictions from records.<\/p>\n “Hopefully, once the automatic process is up and running, that will create less of a burden on the state to process these petitions because there\u00a0won’t be as many petitions being filed,” he said.<\/p>\n Painful, but worth it<\/span><\/p>\n Vance and others told the Free Press that while the wait for a clean slate is a pain, it’s worth it. They are grateful for the opportunity.\u00a0The new expungement\u00a0laws have\u00a0already helped thousands of\u00a0of Michiganders by\u00a0removing a barrier to employment, housing and other opportunities.<\/p>\n “You see people reborn when they leave here,” local organizer and returning citizen\u00a0David\u00a0Hourani said at an expungement clinic at the Center of the Works of Mercy in late July.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hourani isn’t eligible to have his record expunged. But he volunteers at clinics because he can see the impact expungement has on\u00a0people’s lives.\u00a0<\/p>\n Prior to the new expungement laws, a University of Michigan study estimated that only 6.5% of people eligible for expungement obtained a clean slate within five years of eligability. The study also spoke to the impact expungement can have on economic mobility: it\u00a0found that wages increase by an average of 25% within\u00a0two years of expungement.<\/p>\n But expungement\u00a0also offers a new chance at life, said Kaumau. It\u00a0reduces the stigma surrounding criminal convictions and provides relief.<\/p>\n\n “Some people want the piece of mind that this isn’t going to haunt them for the rest of their lives,” Lamau said.<\/p>\n Michigan’s Clean Slate Act\u00a0allows certain convictions to be wiped clean from public records after a period of time.<\/p>\n More information on expungement eligibility\u00a0and other resources are available at\u00a0michigan.gov\/ag\/initiatives\/expungement-assistance<\/a>.<\/p>\n For Detroiters, attorneys with\u00a0Project Clean Slate help guide people those for expungement through the entire process and also help connect clients with resources, including educational and employment opportunities.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n For more information, visit\u00a0detroitmi.gov\/departments\/law-department\/project-clean-slate<\/a>,\u00a0313-237-3024 or email projectcleanslate@detroitmi.gov.<\/p>\n The Michigan Department of the Attorney General also lists resources,\u00a0available at\u00a0michigan.gov\/ag\/initiatives\/expungement-assistance<\/a>\u00a0.<\/p>\n Safe & Just lists a number of resources throughout Michigan, which can be found at safeandjustmi.org\/our-work\/clean-slate-for-michigan<\/a>.<\/p>\n Andrea Sahouri covers criminal justice for the Detroit Free Press. She can be contacted at asahouri@freepress.com<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0on Twitter @andreamsahouri<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Communications](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/08\/18\/PDTF\/693cd67a-2104-4e8f-8df3-dc55ab73272b-TenCity_081222_04_MW.jpeg?width=660&height=441&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp\")
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Automatic expungement on the way<\/h2>\n
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Who is eligible for expungement?<\/h2>\n
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Where to get help<\/h2>\n