Johnny Waller says he applied to 175 jobs after being released from prison — and was rejected from every one because of his criminal record.
“I was a violent offender. I sold drugs. I didn't want to do it, but I had no other option," Waller told KCUR's Up To Date. “There's really not much that you could do except for going back to your same cycle of behavior. I was so frustrated that I asked them to send me back to prison.”
According to data collected by the United States Sentencing Commission, nearly 64% of people who have a violent crime on their record will be arrested again.
This is just one factor that is driving what Waller describes as a “cycle of violence,” where those who are charged with a violent crime become repeat offenders after they're released.
U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Bough says that Waller’s experiences are not unique.
“[There’s a lack] of expungement we see on the state and federal side," Bough says. “It keeps people from getting jobs, keeps people from getting apartments, keeps people from being able to move ahead on just about anything in their life.”
Bough and Waller now work together on efforts to expand state and federal expungement and re-entry services.
Bough oversees a court program that helps people released from prison obtain jobs in exchange for agreeing certain criteria upon their release, such as attending counseling and completing additional community service.
Waller is the manager of the Clean My Record Expungement Project, a program which assists Missouri residents in clearing certain charges from their record.
While both programs have seen success, Waller says the best way to help the formerly incarcerated is to eliminate the stigma against them.
“We need to reimagine re-entry and our attitude towards being tough on crime and mass incarceration,” says Waller. “We're warehousing people and then providing them no opportunity.”
- Stephen Bough, US District Court Judge
- Johnny Waller, Clean My Record Expungement Project Manager
