Justice Creator: Tarra Simmons' story (part one)

Today and tomorrow, I am sharing a conversation that I had with Tarra Simmons, a formerly incarcerated individual who decided to devote her life to advocating for people serving sentences and for people with criminal records. In 2014, with the encouragement of the attorneys who helped her rebuild her life after incarceration, she entered the Seattle University School of Law. She graduated magna cum laude in 2017. She earned many honors, including a Skadden Fellowship. On the Skadden Fellowship website, Tarra described her goals while working with the Public Defenders Association as a Skadden Fellow as: “Direct representation and policy advocacy on behalf of former justice-involved individuals to remove barriers to successful entry. Will particularly work to overcome barriers to employment, housing and legal financial obligations.” The Skadden Fellowship, a two-year program, is considered to be very prestigious. Tarra hit an unexpected roadblock when the Washington State Bar Association tried to prevent her from sitting for the Bar Examination. She challenged the Bar Association in court. With the assistance of attorney and Georgetown Law School faculty member Shon Hopwood, himself a formerly incarcerated individual, she won a unanimous decision by Washington’s Supreme Court in November 2017. In February 2018, she sat for the bar examination. She was formally admitted to the bar in June 2018.

Alice: Can you tell me when you discovered your passion for the law, which, for you, seems to be a calling and not just a job?

Tarra: When I was in prison, I was served with divorce papers from my ex-husband.  There were lawyers who came to the prison who had me learn to advocate for myself from prison. When I was released from prison, I saw how people were not given a second chance. We couldn’t find jobs. We couldn’t find housing. I realized that all of those things were created by laws and that we could change the laws. I went to law school so I could learn how to change the laws. I saw how important it was to have access to an attorney in dealing with my legal issues that came from my criminal conviction, such as the divorce. Because I had access to a lawyer, I had favorable outcomes, but a lot of people didn’t have access to a lawyer. I thought, if I can go to law school, I can help other people with these situations, too.

Alice: Tell me more about how you see your passion for the law and working with the legal system as you being able to create change in our society.

Tarra: Because I am equipped with a law degree and because I am white, the decision makers, the system players listen to me a little more, and I am able to speak their language. They kind of relate to me because they see a white woman with a law degree. I am always trying to recognize my privilege in terms of race and of profession to be as good of an ally and an advocate as I can be. I do think that having a knowledge base of how the system works and having some experience advocating for others in the court system and working on policy changes gives me credibility. I have been able to form relationships with system actors. I try to meet them where they are at, and I think that they are more willing to allow me to come to the table.

Alice: So it sounds like your goal is to be an advocate and is it also to change policy?

Tarra: Yes, so I work with the legislature a lot, doing statewide advocacy, to work with judges and others, to develop diversion plans, to create opportunity for people to advocate for themselves. I’m also advocating for other individuals in matters, such as clearing their court debt, vacating criminal records, and those types of things.

Alice: Could we talk about diversion programs because I find that to be a great way to help people who get in trouble not end up in a toxic system.

Tarra: I work for the public defender association, where we started the law enforcement diversion program in Seattle in 2011 and that program, the LEAD program, has taken off nationwide. What that is, is that law enforcement, instead of arresting someone, can take them to case management, immediately, on the spot. I really like the LEAD program because it is a harm reduction program, so folks don’t necessarily have to stay clean and sober. We know that there will be a lot of people who relapse. In drug court, if you relapse, you’re sanctioned. The LEAD program is more about reducing the amount of harm that you are doing to yourself and to the community. LEAD is an amazing program, and I’ve been working on getting that established in the county where I live, which is just a ferry ride away from Seattle. It is a stark contrast because, in Kitsap County, we have been so far behind the times that we won’t even allow for methadone programs. It’s been a challenge, but we are making progress.

Alice: What does LEAD stand for?

Tarra: It stands for Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion.

Alice: That sounds good to get people into case management right away, to help them with their difficulties. You mentioned drug addiction. Could you address issues having to do with that?

Tarra: I think that judges and even prosecutors are frustrated that the legislature is having the criminal justice system handle a public health issue, which is substance abuse disorder. I think that everybody is looking for a new way to handle addiction. We all know that the War on Drugs has failed. It is troublesome to me that now, because of the opioid epidemic, we are paying more attention, where, when it was crack cocaine, it was OK to have a war on drugs. It just speaks to the racial inequities and the racism that continues throughout our system. Hopefully now, with the opioid epidemic, folks are paying more attention because it is now affecting affluent white communities. We can try to make sure that we are centering race in our policies and in our communications about what has happened truthfully in the failed war on drugs.

Alice: Yes, absolutely. I observed that racism, too. Many of the women that I met when I was in the Federal Prison Camp in Danbury, Connecticut, were there for drug charges. And many of them were serving what I thought were excessive sentences for crack cocaine. My bunkie had a twenty-year sentence, which seemed to be very excessive. I was wondering if you could talk about the racial disparities a bit, as well as your opinion of it. To me, it seems blatant and shocking.

Tarra: Yes, it is blatant and shocking that we allowed the War on Drugs to be excessively punitive. The drug that was mostly aligned with the black community was crack cocaine. Powdered cocaine was aligned with the white community and it was treated much differently and much softer. It was very blatant and very obvious. You don’t need a law degree to see the disparities and to see that racism is alive and well in our country.

The racism is horrifying. As the mother of two black sons, I wonder what’s going to be the next horrifying example of racism in our country. The response to the crack cocaine epidemic, as compared to the opioid epidemic, is one. I don’t think that we’ve rid our country of racism. It bothers me. I’m constantly worried for my two black sons. What are they going to excessively criminalize in a way that disproportionately impacts black and brown people? It’s appalling and it causes me a lot of anxiety.

Alice: I can imagine that it would. You want the best for your sons. You want them to have a successful, happy life and not be abused by a toxic system.

Tarra: Yes, exactly.

Alice:  People who have criminal records are called “justice-involved” people. It seems that you are now a justice involved person in a different way. You are working to create justice.  Can you tell me what your hopes are for a better opportunity for people?

Tarra: Right now, I’m appointed by the governor to the statewide re-entry council, where we are trying to develop a system in which folks who are coming out of prison have peer support. So they have somebody who was formerly incarcerated, who has successfully overcome most of the stigma associated with their criminal history. For example, they are able to find employment and housing and re-unify with their families and things like that. We envision everyone re-entering from prison having peer support. What that takes, though, is going to the legislature to ask for money to re-invest away from the criminal justice system. This is recognizing that re-entry is one of the politically safe things right now, to get some bi-partisan support. 

We all want sentencing reform. We want all people to be diverted away, even those who committed violent offenses, by using restorative justice instead.  There’s a lot of controversy and not a lot of political will to see those programs come to fruition. It doesn’t mean that I stop advocating for them. But, one place where there is a lot of political will is in the area of re-entry. If we want to reduce recidivism and help people succeed, they need a holistic approach upon re-entry, which includes housing, education, employment, identification, child support. They need peer support and mentoring also.

Also we've worked on banning the box for employment*. We’re thinking of banning the box for housing now. We’ve banned the box for higher education this past year. So those are the types of reforms that I’m actively working on. Also, I’m working with some individuals on a case-by-case basis and am advocating in court for them to get specific relief now. I’m looking forward to taking on some clemency cases here, too.

*Washington is one of eleven states that has "banned the box" for employment. Questions about criminal history have been removed by law from employment applications. This helps ex-offenders focus on their skills and qualifications for a job before being asked about their criminal record. The goal is to reduce recivism rates by giving ex-offenders a better chance at obtaining employment.

Tomorrow: Tarra talks about the challenges faced when women are sentenced to prison and families are separated. She also discusses mental health issues in prison and the mental health issues that formerly incarcerated individuals experience after release.