After a promising job interview, Jack meets with the human resources manager to get his paperwork set for his first day on the job. 

The HR manager runs a background check. She tells Jack the company can’t hire him because he has a felony on his record from seven years ago.  

“I can’t go home to my family and disappoint them,” Jack pleads. 

“Jack, I understand, and I appreciate your determination,” the HR manager says. ”But the policy is clear. There’s absolutely nothing more that I can do.” 

Jack walks off the stage, defeated. 

This was one of many vignettes Wednesday night that highlighted ways in which a criminal record can impact someone’s ability to move forward in life years after they’ve been released from prison. 

The short plays were part of “A Day in the Life: A True Life Sentence,” staged at Urban Community School in Ohio City, one of several events shining a light on barriers formerly incarcerated people face. Cuyahoga County’s Office of Reentry and other community organizations host the annual series of events, which also focus on solutions.

Facing barriers 21 years after release

The scenes were based on real experiences. Jack was based on and played by Mike Jones. 

In 2004, Jones applied for a job at Sprint, where he could make $15 an hour, well above minimum wage at the time, he said. He had been out of prison about five years by then and had worked construction and customer service jobs. 

His interview with the phone company went well, Jones said. He got a job offer and a start date. Then the HR manager checked his background and told him they couldn’t hire him.

“I was crushed,” he said.

More than a thousand state and federal laws limit or prevent people convicted of crimes from accessing certain rights, benefits and opportunities. They’re called collateral sanctions or collateral consequences, and they can keep formerly incarcerated people from working certain jobs, getting approved for housing, volunteering or getting an education. 

Jones has been home 21 years now. He’s a member of the county’s Justice Housing Committee, a group tasked with finding ways to reduce housing barriers for justice-impacted people. 

His criminal record is still haunting him. In February, he was barred from accompanying his 15-year-old granddaughter on a school trip. 

“It’s affected jobs that I could get, to be able to provide a brighter future for my family and kids,” Jones said. “It’s affected memories that I could have with my children and grandchildren. It’s even affected just sometimes how I feel about myself. … Sometimes getting punched in the face and being told ‘no,’ it doesn’t feel too well.” 

Education can lead to community conversations

In between the skits, Sharyna Cloud went over a questionnaire the audience was asked to fill out on their phones. She shared information about what laws do and don’t exist to protect people from collateral sanctions. 

Cloud asked whether Ohio requires background checks for volunteer opportunities and whether the state sets any standards for what offenses can prevent someone from volunteering.

“It’s false,” Cloud said. “The State of Ohio does not require background checks or set standards for denial for service opportunities.”

Those standards are often set by the organization that accepts volunteers and by the insurance provider for the organization, she said. 

Chamomile Ware-Hendricks, communications manager for the Cuyahoga County Office of Reentry, said the committee that planned the event wanted it to be educational for the community.

“People don’t know what they don’t know,” she said. “And so when you educate them and make them aware of the things that are happening, then it allows you the opportunity to start to have those conversations.” 

Recent changes reduce barriers

After the skits, a panel of experts talked about the existing barriers for people with criminal backgrounds and some opportunities to reduce those barriers. 

Kate Pruchnicki, a criminal defense lawyer, explained the difference between sealing and expunging a criminal record.

“When we’re teaching our students, we say that a sealed conviction is something that is put into a lock box,” Pruchnicki said. “Whereas an expunged conviction is put through a shredder. It’s completely destroyed.”

Kris Keniray, associate director at the Fair Housing Center for Rights and Research, told the audience about a new proposal from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The proposal would tell public housing providers who get funding from HUD they can’t deny someone housing if their criminal record is more than three years old. 

Keniray told people they have until June 10 to submit public comments to HUD as the agency decides whether to implement the proposal. 

Jones wants people to understand how much collateral sanctions can affect not just a formerly incarcerated person but their whole family.

“Collateral sanctions really do hold people back,” Jones said. “People do want to change their life around. They want to be respected by their family, by their children, by the community.”