Ohio Justice and Policy Center

Second chance:this strategic goal aims to expand the freedom of people with criminal records to participate fully in the community. People with criminal records face unprecedented, lifelong barriers to obtaining and retaining gainful employment, accessing education at all levels, and finding stable housing. Ojpc's second chance community legal clinics provide expert 1 on 1 legal support to people with criminal records. Through the legal clinics and our community partnerships, we screen people for criminal record sealing, help individuals obtain court-issued rehabilitation certificates for employment purposes , provide representation to human trafficking survivors; resolve court fines, fees, and costs; and help ohioans in removing other legal barriers to employment, licensing, housing, or civic participation.

Human rights in prison:through its impact litigation and advocacy, ojpc's third strategic goal is to eliminate unconstitutional and dangerous conditions of confinement for those living in Ohio prisons. In 1982, there were approximately 17,000 people incarcerated in Ohio prisons, but there are approximately 45,000 today (down from approximately 50,000 at the beginning of 2020). As the prison population has rapidly grown over the years, and the state has struggled to pay the costs of incarcerating so many people, prison conditions have significantly deteriorated. Incarcerated people face an enormous range of legal and health issues likely to result in serious harm or death. Ojpc also advocates for statewide policies that eliminate unfair treatment of incarcerated people.

Decarceration:ojpc's beyond guilt project addresses our strategic goal to reduce the size and racial disparity of the state population of incarcerated people safely and substantially. Launched in the spring of 2019, beyond guilt works to free over-punished people who have served significant portions of their sentences and can demonstrate rehabilitation and readiness to rejoin society. Based on the premise that all people are capable of achieving rehabilitation and redemption, including people who committed a violent crime or other serious offense, we believe (to paraphrase sister helen prejean and bryan stevenson) that people should not be forever defined by their worst acts. Beyond guilt aims to do for the over-punished prisoners who admit guilt what innocence projects have done for wrongfully convicted persons. To date, beyond guilt has freed more than 45 people.we are also litigating two lawsuits against the Ohio parole board to force changes that would help more individuals who have rehabilitated themselves gain their freedom.

Ojpc's other work includes training future leaders; hosting a handful of summer interns, offering both undergraduate students and law students legal experiences. Our managing attorney supervises the students.ojpc also works to educate the public about the need for criminal legal system reform through various community presentations.