The Second Chance Reentry Clinic, which is funded by the Cuyahoga County Office of Reentry, spent a lot of time out in the community during the month of February. The clinic was one of several legal service providers that met with community members seeking to get their records sealed or expunged at an event co-sponsored by the Men of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., Cleveland Alumni Chapter and the Cuyahoga County Office of Reentry. We gained some new clinic clients as a result of the event and provided advice to many others.
Two days later, Reentry Clinic students gave a presentation to offenders at The McDonnell Center, a community corrections facility, on laws and procedures surrounding record sealing and expungement and other legal remedies for people facing barriers as a result of their involvement in the justice system. Students shared a 30-minute presentation and then answered questions from the inmates.
To round out a busy week, students then visited the Northeast Reintegration Center, a minimum security prison in Cleveland that houses female inmates and seeks to help prepare them for a successful transition from custody back to society. The visit was organized by the Frederick Douglass Project for Justice, which “facilitates structured meetings and respectful conversations between members of free society and incarcerated people, so that they can learn from each other, form powerful human connections and transform both their own lives and society at large." This is the second semester the Reentry Clinic has participated in this program.
“Visiting and engaging with inmates at the center provides a window to a population of human beings with whom most of our students have not typically interacted, and ideally leads to greater understanding of and empathy for incarcerated individuals,” said Sarah M. Polly, managing attorney of the Kramer Law Clinic, who is co-teaching the Reentry Clinic with Associate Dean for Experiential Education Laura McNally this year. Polly noted that they were encouraged to come back again, and bring others who may feel less inclined to find understanding with those who are incarcerated.
All of this community engagement was on top of the client representation, new client analysis and numerous court hearings our nine students are handling this semester!