Automatic record-sealing proposed for Mass. to ‘make it easier for people to restart'

Debbie Lee Gleason of Worcester worked at the YMCA for a month while the nonprofit ran a state-mandated background check on her. When they discovered she had served time in prison, she was told to leave the Y.

"I love children. The children loved me. I was denied still," Gleason said Tuesday afternoon at a rally in front of the State House. The event was coordinated by a coalition that supports requiring the Commissioner of Probation to automatically seal criminal and juvenile records after the applicable waiting periods have expired and without the filing of a petition.

The Joint Committee on the Judiciary heard testimony on the Rep. Mary Keefe and Sen. Cindy Friedman bill (H 1583 / S 979) on Tuesday, which the sponsors say would provide easier and greater access to record sealing.

"We are not defined by our record. We are not defined by our past. We are defined by the people we are today," Gleason said.

She shared her story with the few dozen people gathered on the State House steps before they went in to testify before the committee. Gleason was one of several people who shared stories of their criminal records serving as barriers to jobs and housing.

Supreme Hassan was in prison for 33 years.

"I caused harm in my community, and I worked hard on repairing harm in my community while I was incarcerated," Hassan said. Since he came out of prison, he said he wanted to help young people involved in the criminal justice system.

Hassan got a job at the same home for kids involved in the justice system that he had stayed in as a child, he said, and worked there for 11 months. He later learned that he was accepted for the job only because someone made a mistake while running his background check, and his time in prison didn't show up.

After 11 months, he was up for a promotion. Before he could take a supervisor role, the organization had to run a Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) check again, and realized Hassan could not legally work with young people. He was asked to leave.

"By the way I'm looking at it, I'm actually somebody that can help these kids. I've been where they've been. I was here. I slept in the same bed and everything," Hassan said. "I had been there 11 months, which is almost the longest I've kept a job since I've been home, so that was my own goal in itself. I was committed to something positive for almost a year."

Other speakers said they were denied housing on multiple occasions.

Keefe and Friedman's bill would not change any CORI regulations, but rather make a procedural change so when a person becomes eligible to have their criminal record sealed -- often years after they are released from prison, determined by the offense they were charged with -- the record would be automatically sealed.

"CORI can really stand in the way of so many things. Housing, jobs, even your child's field trip that you may not be able to attend," Keefe said to the committee.

Gregg Caplitz, business engagement manager at Community Work Services and self-described "ex-con," said the bill would also help businesses that are seeking workers.

"Procter & Gamble, Gillette, Star Market -- they want to employ people. And when CORI comes back, they let them go," Capiltz said. "They want to work. They want a wage."

Having a criminal record show up on a CORI check does not automatically disqualify someone for any job, he said, but companies still let people go because of it. Capiltz said hospitals and any workplace that serves children also cannot hire someone with a criminal background on their record.

"CORI is being used for things it was never intended for," he said. "It discriminates against you for credit, for jobs and for housing. It was only intended to allow the police to make informed decisions, and they still do. They need to protect public safety, I understand. This bill doesn't change that, police will still be able to see it. But it would make it easier for people to restart their lives."

Peter Elikann, a criminal defense attorney who said he was representing the Massachusetts Bar Association, supported the bill, saying it allows former convicts to move on with their lives and decreases recidivism.

Elikann said Massachusetts would not be an outlier with this bill, as many other states already automatically expunge records after a person serves prison time.

Last year, about 5,000 out of 1.7 million Massachusetts residents with criminal records filed sealing petitions with the Massachusetts Probation Service, Friedman said. This current process to wipe their record from the view of prospective landlords and employers is "complicated, and it takes so long," she said.

"I really feel like our criminal justice system is out of control," Friedman said. "The last time I looked, I think when you were accused of a crime -- you committed a crime -- you did your service, and then you went on with your life. And that's not happening anymore."