(upbeat music) - There are hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans who can't get jobs, not because they aren't willing or qualified, but because they have criminal records.

And there are many people in Illinois trying to remedy that issue.

Toy Beasley works for the McLean County Reentry Council and the organization responsible for the new advocacy group, Fully Free BLONO, and coming soon, Fully Free Peoria.

Toy, thanks for coming in.

- Thank you.

Thanks for having me.

- Let's talk about these groups.

They're different, (Toy clears throat) but working towards the same goal.

Let's talk about the Illinois Coalition to End Permanent Punishments.

What's the group's purpose?

- So, the group purpose for the Illinois Coalition to End Permanent Punishment is to help push policy change that affect people that have been impacted by the criminal justice system.

A whole mission is that a person shouldn't have punishment after the punishment.

So, once they complete their sentence, it should be over, which it shouldn't be the punishment after the punishment.

So, that's our whole mission, it's to drive, connect with legislators, let 'em know, hey, these policies out there that affect people with criminal backgrounds.

- Okay.

And now, a new organization, Fully Free BLONO, has started, and a Peoria chapter coming up soon.

How does that transition into working in these specific communities?

- So, the whole goal is that when you want to make change in the community, you gotta get the whole community involved.

And so, our whole ultimate goal is not only work with justice-impacted people, but get business people involved.

So, the more you get people involved, the more you can make change.

So, our goal is to build power in the community.

And how do you build power is getting 'em to know their legislators.

There's a lot of people in the community don't know who the legislator is.

And legislation has the power to make those changes.

So, here in Bloomington, that was one of the missions we did, is to build power, build power around people that can help make change by giving a voice for the voiceless to help make that change in the community.

- Now, when someone's incarcerated, they've got a criminal record, they get out and they gotta start their life over, and they wanna get a job.

What are some of the speed bumps that they're facing?

- So, their past.

So, a lot of people that's been impacted by the criminal justice system, a lot of 'em know how to get jobs, like warehouse jobs, working in the kitchen, doing (tuts) lawn and garden, mowing, and stuff like that, but gainful employment.

So, working in the insurance industry, working in the banking industry, working federal jobs.

So, those jobs that people that qualified that have been impacted by the criminal justice system can get those because of their past.

And I'm not talking about individuals that just coming home from prison, I'm talking about people that have been out 8, 9, 10 years that are still facing those barriers.

And so, that was one of the big things that we wanna push the Fully Free BLONO and hopefully the Fully Free Peoria, is to let people know that, hey, these people are good people.

They're these people that got caught up.

Now, their past is catch 'em up to where they can't get gainful employment or housing.

- And we're gonna talk about some legislation that's been proposed, the Clean Slate Act.

We'll talk about that in a few minutes.

But one thing I wanted to ask you, when someone does get out of jail, how long is their conviction or their arrest going to be on their permanent record?

- It's permanent - Permanent.

- until they...

So, right now, if a person come home from prison, they have to wait three years to, after their sentence over with, to qualify for the expungement settlement.

Where the expungement settlement process, where you gotta go through an attorney, you have to go through the circuit clerk system, and then you have to, the judge makes a determine whether a person get that record sealed or not.

So, it's three years after that.

So, with that, with the Clean Slate bill, that's, we're gonna be talking about a minute, the Clean Slate bill will be automatic.

So, a person doesn't have three years after their sentence, which is parole or probation.

They don't have to go see an attorney or go through the circuit court process.

It will be automatic.

So, to automatically drop off their record.

- So, for those people right now that have to wait three years and go get an attorney and go through the process, how much does that costing them and how long does that typically take?

- Well, it just depends.

So, it depends on what area you live in.

So, it can range anywhere from 0 to $7,000.

So, people that fit, so they do have organizations out there.

They got one in Bloomington called Perry State Legal Services.

And they got one in the Peoria area called Land of Lincoln.

I think Perry State Legal Services is here.

If you fit the qualification, you get a free attorney, you get a free person to represent you to get that done.

But if you fall outside those guidelines where you make too much money, then you have to hire a lawyer.

And that could be anywhere from 300 to $7,000, depending on how many cases you got and what counties they're in.

- Now, it's my understanding when it comes to applying for a job that Illinois, quote, unquote, I think it's called "Ban the Box", where initially, - Yeah.

- an employer can't ask you if you have a criminal record or criminal pass.

But if you get far along enough in the interview process, then they can find out that information.

Is that correct?

- Absolutely.

Absolutely.

So, yes, some employers still put on the application.

(chuckles) Have you been convicted of felony?

They're not.

And so, that law was passed and not supposed to, but yes, an employer can actually, once you get through the interview process.

And the good thing about having a Banning the Box, going to that interview, you can sell yourself.

So, by the time they ask you, where you've been convicted of a felon or not, you already built that relationship.

So, there's times that I've seen that people didn't get the job.

There's times I've seen they get the job because they built that relationships by going through those two or three interviews to go through that process to get that job.

- Mm-hmm.

So, let's talk about the Clean Slate Act a little bit.

I know other states have this, at least 15, I think, so that once you do- - 11.

12, 12.

- 12.

Okay.

- We'd be the 13th one.

- Giving us too much credit.

- Yes.

Yeah.

(chuckles) - So, we'd be 13th.

So, if the Clean Slate Act does eventually pass, what does that mean?

- So, if the Clean Slate bill passed, it would be automatic.

So, remember I was talking about the expungement settlement, that would go away.

It won't go away.

It'll still be there.

But that Clean Slate bill three years after your conviction, I mean, three years after your sentence, whether it's probation, it would be automatic.

Now, I do wanna share this.

There are four felony misdemeanors that do not qualify, and that's DUI, domestic battery, animal cruelty, and any sex cases.

Outside that, a person's automatically qualified for automatic sealing with the Clean Slate bill.

So, looking at some stats here, it says more than 3 million people in Illinois live with old arrest or conviction records, and most of them are eligible to have those records cleared.

It's just not happening.

And we talked earlier about the hoops they have to jump through.

- Mm-hmm.

- Is that the big reason?

- Yes.

- All those hoops?

- Yep, yep.

You know, a person should, and that's why we're doing, a person shouldn't have to go through those hoops.

And to me, if this bill passed, when people get an opportunity, I think it's gonna reduce recidivism.

So, when a person feel, if a person know that their record can be automatic and they can make 30, 40, 50, $60 an hour, they won't go back.

And a lot of people end up in the criminal justice system because of the things they went through in life that have kept them from being successful by using their past, continue to use their past against them when they've already done their time.

- Do you know anybody specifically who's benefited from, obviously not the Clean Slate Act, 'cause it's not law yet, but some of these other things that are offered by these different groups?

- Yeah, so there have been individuals that got that record, that I've know that have got the record sealed through the processes now, and have been able to gain employment, gain from employment, but not through those industries that I've mentioned.

So, they may be able to work.

So, most employers, if they wanna hire you up in a, say if you're working at a warehouse and you wanna go up in leadership, and since you built that relationship with them and you've been out and your work has been sealed, 9 times out of 10, they would give that individual an opportunity to work being in management because they've seen their production while they were in the warehouse.

So, that gives 'em an opportunity to move up.

And I have seen people that employees have given them an opportunity because of the work they've done and not going back into the system.

- And the Clean Slate Act, I believe, was passed by the House, but not the Senate.

Have you heard reasons why any pushback to this bill?

- Absolutely no pushback.

We have the votes.

It's just the Senate ran out of time.

So, when that bill was passed at the end of May and it was bipartisan support, it went to the Senate.

And of course, they had a lot of things they had to go through, like the budget and things like that.

It wasn't no issues about we didn't have the votes.

It just, it ran out of time.

So, hopefully during veto session in October, I believe, the bill will pass.

So, our chief sponsor of the bill is Senate Senator Sims.

He's the chief sponsor on the Senate side that's heading up that.

- I know Jehan Gordon-Booth is a supporter of this.

Any other politicians here in Central Illinois that you've reached out to or gotten any thoughts from on, on this?

- Absolutely.

So, my representative in Bloomington, Representative Chung, she's a big supporter of it.

There's a few other that are supportive of it in Central Illinois that I can't recall their name, but there's a few of them that have been supportive of it on the left side.

There are conversations I had with people on the right side that was kind of questioning about it, but they won't openly say they support it, but they'll say outside closed doors, they support it.

I guess that's how politics work these days.

You know what I mean?

So.

(laughs) - Yes, I do.

- Yeah.

- Yes, I do.

So, if people watching this, say are in support of this bill, would contacting their representatives and their senators help with, do you think with this?

- Absolutely.

So, if you're watching this, it would be very important that contact your senator.

Tell your senator you wanna pass this Clean Slate bill.

And if you need any information on a Clean Slate bill, all you gotta go to is our website at endpp.org.

That's the illinoiscoalitiontoendpermanent.

And you can find information on there about the Clean Slate bill and what's in it.

- When people typically get out of prison, and I'm sure you've talked to many in your line of work, are they given any kind of how-to pamphlet on how to get back into society and get a job, and do they know what these rules are when they get out?

- Absolutely.

So, there's a lot of different organizations.

Previously, the organization that I used to work for, called Treatment Alternatives for Safer Communities, as short for TASC.

And so, what we did, we specialized in case management, so we had different institutions that we worked directly with.

So, when they came home, they had a parole agent and they had a case manager that can give them direction on which way to go.

There's some case, there's some parole agents that come home were really close with some of these individuals that's coming up from prison, to give 'em the resources that they have.

That's one of the reasons why we started the McLean County Reentry Council is because we wanted to start working with people that's coming home from McLean County six months before they leave.

So, we built a relationship with Illinois Department of Corrections to start sending in those resource packets so they have 'em.

And so, when they come home, they say, "Oh, I know where I can go get this at, I can get that at."

So, that kind of helps a lot of the frustration and struggles as they come home from a prison.

- Sure.

I also read that if you take the humanity part out of this and you say you just care about economics, - Mm-hmm.

- the National Urban League says the Clean Slate Act would generate more than $4.7 billion in lost wages for Illinois, easing economic disparities and addressing labor shortages.

That's an amazing number.

- It is, it is.

There's a lot of jobs, sure, there's a lot of job openings out there that can be filled by people that have been impacted by the criminal justice system.

I'll give you an example.

I was recently at a Clean Slate Initiative conference, convening conference in Chicago, and I spoke with some people from Ohio that said that, hey, they have businesses that want to hire people, but the insurance company won't let 'em because of the criminal background.

So, there's a lot of businesses that are tied behind their insurance because their insurance won't cover people that has a criminal background.

That's just one scenario that I heard that the reason why I don't hire, but there's a lot of, here in Illinois, there are a lot of positions open from the state to the government, to the banking industry, to an insurance industry that are open, but they can't fill 'em because there's not people out there available there to fill them.

There's just not enough to go around.

But with having this Clean Slate bill this passed, that's gonna open up those opportunities to, fulfills a lot of those positions that you're talking about right there.

- Yeah, that's interesting.

I never thought about the insurance aspect of that.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Another hurdle out there.

- Yes.

- Now, are there certain people, I'm assuming that if you're convicted of a felony or felonies up here, misdemeanors down here, those felons, once they get out, they probably have a rougher time than those who are convicted of misdemeanors.

- Absolutely, absolutely.

And most of those people that are incarcerated, a lot of 'em are not incarcerated through the crime they committed.

A lot of people that get locked up, they're locked up because of some type of childhood trauma or untreated trauma.

And so, when you share and talk to employers, when you talk to people in the community, some of 'em don't understand that.

And when I share it with them, they'd be like, "Wow, I didn't realize that."

And so, some of 'em be more opening to giving people opportunities that never gave my opportunities before because I shared with them, hey, this is what people went through.

And when I talk about childhood trauma, people don't know that a lot of people had a bad upbringing.

People were molested.

People went through a lot that led to where they're at, raised themselves.

And so, the community don't understand that, that these people that are incarcerated went through a lot.

So, that's why I say, that a lot of people was never incarcerated for the crime they committed.

They committed the crime, but because of the unresolved issues they had in their life that led them to where they're at.

- That seems like a good argument, you know?

And if someone is just maybe older or old fashioned, and says, "Ah, they shouldn't have done the crime and they get what they deserve."

And that doesn't seem to really help the rest of society if someone does their time, gets out, and then has a hard time being a contributing member of society.

- Right, right, right.

- When people are incarcerated, we hear about programs in prison, get your GED, learn a trade, things like that.

Are those still prevalent in our prison system and is that really helping folks - Absolutely.

- once they do get out?

- Absolutely.

So, we have a couple of institutions here, here in Illinois, they're all drug, couple 'em, all drug facilities, where they go there to get treatment.

And also, there are trainings and trades they can get there like HVAC, barbershop, culinary arts, building maintenance.

So, there are a lot of different trades they can get while they're there to help 'em come out.

Just there's not a lot of institutions that do that.

And so, I truly believe that if we go to building more institutions like these two in Illinois that have not only this treatment but a trade while you're there, I think that once again, that can help reduce recidivism.

But of course, you can't, because of funding, you can't have them there.

Two, I think a lot of, one of the biggest things is that there are shortage of staff.

Not just on the security side, but in the program side.

You just can't get enough people to do programming.

And so, that's one of the reasons why you don't have, I believe that there's not a lot of trades at different prisons because there's not a lot of people around, them program that can go in and facilitate that.

I know that the Illinois Department of Correction works with Lakeland College, and Lakeland College provides a lot of those services for them.

But we need more.

I think Illinois needs the IDOCs more.

- And when someone gets out, hopefully they're, if they had substance abuse issues before, that they're clean and everything.

But mental health seems to be an issue that's growing.

And not only with people that are incarcerated, - Mm-hmm.

- but our whole society.

How big of an issue is that when people get out and maybe they didn't even have mental health issues before they were incarcerated, but they did - Mm-hmm.

- when they got out?

- [Toy] Right.

- How do we deal with that?

- So, there are more, like my community where I'm at, before, it used to be anywhere from three to six months to get into some type of mental health treatment.

Now, it's more like 30 days in my area.

So, if they're incorrections when they come home, if they was on any type of medication, DOC does give them prescriptions that last them long enough to get home to transition to see a doctor or a person in the mental health field that prescribes that can get 'em that prescription they need.

But as far as counseling, like I said, it used to be three months to six months, now it's less than 30 days to get, for a person that really wants to get into a program, to help them with the challenges they went through, they can right away.

- And the programs you're involved with, are they proactive in terms of looking for folks that need help, or is it purely, you're waiting for people to come to you?

- So, both.

It depends on what community you live in.

So, I specifically say the community I live in, it's both.

It depends on what agency you go to.

So, we have a number of different agencies that can help out.

Like for instance, there was an agency in my town that said, "Hey, we take walk-ins," so you know.

And I didn't know that.

And so, that was part of building relationships.

So, some agencies would take walk-ins for, to give 'em an assessment for mental health and get 'em into some type of mental health treatment.

- Tell me what you think about this, because this is another thing that, again, I think some old fashioned people, maybe some older folks might think, "Oh, when those people get out of prison, they don't wanna work.

They'd rather just sit around and take a handout, or wait for government help."

From the people you've spoken with, does any of that happen?

- That's why it's so important to educate people on this.

And that's why one of the reasons why we're doing the Fully Free, even though it's on the policy side, to educate people on policy, how policy effect it don't make sense.

But on the reentry side, that's the reason why we started the McLean County Reentry, to educate people.

A lot of people just not educated on who these people are and what they went through.

So, remember, I talked about earlier about childhood trauma, untreated trauma, a lot of 'em need to be educated on that.

They just ain't people, these are people that have went through a lot.

And so, when the people that I've talked to since we started this organization in 2021, they're more receptive now because they understand, wow, I didn't know that.

I thought they was just these people that committed crimes for no ever reason.

So, like I shared with them, a person just didn't wake up one day and said they was, you gonna be in prison.

Like me, I didn't just wake up one day and said I was gonna be in prison.

Don't nobody wake... Everybody has goals and aspirations.

I've talked to some people that wanted to be police officers, wanna be a firefighters, they wanted to do things, but the community's been more receptive since we, in my community and the McLean County community, when we start educating people on what people go through.

- Well, when you were incarcerated, how did you stay positive and how did you get through it?

I mean, were you thinking to yourself, okay, when I get out, I'm gonna have to get a job, so I'm gonna keep my nose clean, I'm gonna try and learn what I can.

What were you going through?

- So, I'm a go-getter, so I got involved in everything I could, whether it's church, AA, NA.

If I could work two jobs, I would, while I was in there.

And also too, I met with a Methodist pastor every Friday for two years.

And so, he was a big mentor in my life.

And a lot of guys didn't take advantage of it some.

And so, I took advantage of the opportunities that was in front of me.

And so, that's what I try to do with some of the men now that I know that's incarcerated.

I tell them, get involved in anything you can, whether it's, if church all they have, just go there.

If you're not a person of faith, just go there, and listen, try to get involved.

If it's just AA there and you never drunk alcohol, did drugs before, just go and be involved.

Because even in AA, people think that you know, I know some of the requirements, you gotta be a person that is a recovering addict, a drug addict, and if it's a closed meeting, but sometimes they have open meetings where you can come and talk about your life and some of the things you went through without using drugs and alcohol.

But it's important that people take advantage of the services like I did and it'd be an easy transition as they come home.

- When you got out, were there any services like this offered?

- No, it was not.

- So, how did you get through the system?

- Like I said, I was a go-getter.

I remember, 'cause I paroled here to Peoria to my dad and I will never forget that Manpower gave me an opportunity and I took advantage of it.

And that temporary job turned into a permanent job out there in Chillicothe.

And I was just a go-getter.

And people were like, "Well, how do you do it?"

Of course I was involved in church so I had a support system.

But as in having services out there, it wasn't, I utilized the same support systems I had while I was in prison.

So, I got involved into a local church and I got involved into AA and NA, and had a mentor.

And so, that's what a lot of my success came from.

And still today, I still have a mentor.

I still utilize my church.

For the church I attend, I still utilize as a support system.

So, reentry has to be a lifestyle.

And some men and women don't understand that, that you have to make it a lifestyle.

And sometimes, people think that once you get a job, you get a apartment, you get a car, you get a girlfriend, get married, that your reentry stops.

And so, that's why you have a lot of relapse.

That's why you have a lot of going back to prison 'cause people stop and they'll make it a lifestyle.

And so, that's something I did since I've been home.

I've been home for 25 years and I make it a lifestyle.

And it's still going on today.

And so, I fear that if I give that up, that things would change.

So, I keep going.

- Before we go, what advice would you give to someone who is gonna get out of prison soon in terms of what they should do with their lives and how to do it and where to go for help?

- I would suggest follow through with your parole board orders or follow through with your probation order says.

So, they tell you you need to go get an assessment for mental health, they tell you get assessment for drug treatment, go do it.

Even though you feel like you don't need it.

Second one I say, build a support system.

There's a lot of men out there that don't have a support system.

Support system is gonna be your bread and butter.

Because once you build a support system, when you go through those challenges in life, it would've better able to help you.

And I wanna give an example, because I've had this, have people that happen to me where individuals have came home, they got jobs, and that boss tick them off.

And when that boss ticked them off, they got angry, and they went back off on them.

But if they had a support system, a mentor, they can be able to say, take a deep breath and go back and talk to their support system about what they went through that day at work.

And so, that happens a lot when a person don't have a support system.

But a support system is gonna be your bread and butter.

I recommend a person, get a support system, put yourself around people before they even look for work.

A lot of guys come on, "I need a job, I need a," this is great, but you need a support system.

- Good advice.

Real quick, how can people find out more about these organizations?

- So, to find out about the Fully Free BLONO, you can, we have a Facebook page called Fully Free BLONO on Facebook or our organization at the Illinois Coalition to End Permanent Punishment to find out how to get involved with some of the things we're doing.

That's Illinois Coalition to End Permanent Punishment, for short, it's endpp.org, that's endpp.org.

Contact us.

We'd love to get you involved with statewide coalition and we want to to invite all in to help us change the narrative around people that have been impacted by the criminal justice system.

- Toy, thanks for your help.

(upbeat music) Very good having you on here and good luck with everything.

- Thank you.

Appreciate it.

- All right.

Appreciate you.

(Toy chuckles) And thank you for watching.

We appreciate you.

You can watch this again at wtvp.org and share it with your friends and family on our Facebook and Instagram pages.

Have a good night.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues)