Kamala Harris talks criminal justice reform with former inmates in Iowa

Tyler Jett | The Des Moines Register

Show Caption Hide Caption Full video: Kamala Harris meets with the Des Moines Register editorial board U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., meets with the Des Moines Register editorial board on Sunday, Aug. 11, 2019, in Des Moines.

A1 Truck and Trailer Repair owner Bill Gulling wants to give former inmates a second chance, he told U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris on Tuesday afternoon. But it's hard for both the workers and well-meaning employers like himself.

Take a mechanic he hired. Unpaid court fees hung over the man's head after he left prison, Gulling explained. The payment schedule was too demanding on a mechanic's salary and, eventually, the worker gave up.

He stopped answering his phone, and the last Gulling heard, he was on the run.

"Do you know how much that fellow's fines were?" Harris asked during a discussion in the basement of the Evelyn K. Davis Center for Working Families off Seventh Street in Des Moines.

"Twenty-something thousand," Gulling said. "It was ..."

Harris leaned forward in her seat.

"Twenty-something thousand dollars?" she asked.

Gulling confirmed the figure.

"When people come out, they are set up for failure," said Harris, D-California, who is running for president. "I believe in certain things, including the importance of redemption, as a value. Just as an understanding, right? Of how we should live and what it takes. Redemption. Redemption. It's a really basic point, which is: Everybody will make a mistake. And for some, that will rise to the level of a crime. And yes, there should be consequences and accountability. But after that has been paid, is it not the sign of a just society that we allow people an ability to earn their way back?"

Harris highlighted her criminal justice reform agenda during the discussion with Gulling, four former prison inmates, a probation officer and Robert Pate, a community resource specialist for the Davis Center, which provides education and job training for low-income families.

Harris told the group she wants to shutter privately run prisons, end the cash bail system and ban the box on employment forms that job seekers must check if they have been convicted of a felony. Speaking to a woman who recently left prison after a 15-month stint, Harris said female inmates should be allowed overnight visitation with their children.

The woman, who was convicted of forgery last year, said she struggles to find work. A man who was released from prison four years ago told Harris he has lived with his sister since getting out because he can't pass a background check to move into an apartment.

He estimated he has applied for 100 jobs in the last four years and has been rejected for 95 of them. (As a policy, the Department of Correction does not share the names of offenders who have committed crimes against victims, said Joy Esposito, the assistant director at the Davis Center.)

"Every time I put in an application, it's always got that box (asking if I've been convicted of a felony)," the man said. "And it gets me all the time. I've got a lot of skills. And it kept on telling me 'no, because you've got a felony.' "

Harris compared the educational offerings available through the Davis Center to Back on Track, the re-entry program for low-level drug traffickers she created in 2005 as San Francisco's district attorney.

In Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds has pushed for reforms to make re-entry easier. She's advocated for a state constitutional amendment that would give felons the right to vote this year. The effort failed in the state Senate, but she has said she will push the effort again in 2020.

She also created a working group that will propose criminal justice reform priorities in December. The group is looking at policies that could provide resources like jobs and housing to recently released inmates. In addition, Reynolds hosted a business roundtable earlier this month at the Iowa Correctional Institute for Women in Mitchellville, encouraging employers to fill workforce needs with inmates leaving prison.

On Tuesday, Probation Parole Officer Kennesha Woods told Harris that ex-offenders frequently call her, asking her to provide documentation that they've paid all of their probation fees. Questions about whether they still owe the government dog them, years after they are off of probation.

Pate, the community resource specialist, said most offenders don't even make it that far.

"It's virtually impossible for a human being to abide by every single one of those rules," he said. "It literally could set a person up for failure."

Shaun Hutchinson, a former inmate who gave his name, told Harris police in smaller communities outside of Des Moines are too aggressive about pulling drivers over. He said he believes some officers ticket drivers as much as they can to rack up fees for the local governments.

"Part of my plan for what we need to do for the criminal justice system is doing exactly what you're talking about, which is taking the profit out of the criminal justice system," Harris told him. "It's about flat fines. It's about bail."

Tyler Jett covers jobs and the economy for the Register. Contact him at 515-284-8215 and tjett@registermedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @LetsJett.

Your support makes work like this possible. Subscribe at DesMoinesRegister.com/Deal.