Support for Communities

People who have a criminal record are now getting a second chance thanks to the Tuscaloosa area nonprofit. Thursday at Shelton State Community College, University of Alabama law students partnered with Outside the Walls to help people who recently got out of jail. 

Outside the Walls is a ministry of 14 churches that offer programs to help those who have criminal records to get their rights restored. The law students walked people through the process. 

Dallas Richey once attended an event like this, and now he’s helping others do the same. 

“You are talking to a person with felonies and went through the expungement clinic,” Richey said. “It’s very important and it’s very helpful to be able to get the expunge but a lot of people don’t know, so it’s our job to enlighten people so this is what this event was all about to enlighten people about getting records expunged so it’s very helpful and it was very knowledgeable.”

Expungement is when an individual who has been arrested or convicted of a crime seeks that the records of that earlier process be sealed or destroyed, making the records nonexistent or unavailable to the general public.

Expungement is a long process but once the process is done people can start a fresh, new life.