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Clearing a Path from Prison to the Bar Exam
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of Reasons to be Cheerful
Posted: February 6th, 2023
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/formerly-incarcerated-peop...
As a teenager, Phil Miller dreamt of becoming a CIA field officer. But incarceration derailed that dream. Miller became a jailhouse lawyer — an incarcerated person who informally helps others challenge their convictions while in prison. This year, he’s finishing his first year of law school at the City University of New York. But, he says, he wouldn’t be where he is without support: at CUNY Law that came from the Formerly Incarcerated Law Students Advocacy Association (FILSAA). FILSAA is part of a growing movement of organizations working to change the overwhelming scrutiny that discourages — and often disqualifies — people with records from pursuing a law degree. The National Inventory of Collateral Consequences of Conviction catalogues around 40,000 official restrictions limiting or excluding people with convictions from accessing employment, education and more in the United States. While other organizations work to tackle the barriers to the Bar on a political level, FILSAA works on a deceptively simple level, offering free LSAT training, mentorship and a needed supportive space at school for people with records. FILSAA’s impact has been small in numbers but deep in value. Thanks to what Williams calls “mythbusting” YouTube videos, they’ve heard this year from 12 currently or formerly incarcerated people expressing interest. “Hope is a necessity. It’s like food and air,” [Miller] says. “Finding out there’s something that other people value you for, that can help you take yourself seriously.”
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