This week marks the 20th anniversary of Cabrini Green Legal Aid’s (CGLA) expungement desk. Since the creation of this “help desk,” the organization, which was founded in the Cabrini-Green homes, and is now based in The Chicago Loop, has helped hundreds of community members clear their criminal records in Illinois via sealing, clemency and other forms of relief.
“Each one of those individuals that came through [the help desk] also represents families and entire communities,” said Paul Haidle, an attorney who is also CGLA’s director of strategic advocacy. “We know at the end of the day that being able to deal with a criminal record from the past means public safety, because now people are able to get safe apartments, they’re able to get good jobs, and that has a trickle-down effect for kids, for families and entire communities.”
The expungement desk, which opened in 2005, is housed in the Richard J. Daley Center in The Loop. For decades, the only way to expunge or seal any type of conviction was via a pardon from the Illinois governor. The Cook County circuit clerk at that time saw a need for a one-stop shop where people needing assistance could have direct access to legal services to file petitions to expunge or seal, and have their questions answered by an attorney. Though the clerk can’t help with expungement, they did decide to allow CGLA to have an office at the Daley Center. Since the help desk was founded, the organization estimates that it has served over 82,000 people.
In a statement, The TRiiBE on Nov. 13, Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Mariyana Spyropoulos praised CLGA’s expungement desk and organization’s longtime partnership:
“The Office’s partnership with CGLA plays a crucial role in promoting justice, equity, and community well-being,” Spyropoulos wrote in a statement. “Having their expungement desk in our Criminal Department isn’t just about clearing records- it’s about transforming lives, strengthening communities, and building a more equitable justice system.”
CGLA marked the milestone with a celebratory special reception on Nov. 12.
The history here is important because, for many impacted by the criminal justice system, the stigma of a conviction doesn’t end once their sentence is complete. More than three million adults in Illinois have a past arrest or conviction record.
After spending 13 years incarcerated, South Side native Marketta Gilford walked out of Illinois Department of Corrections custody in 2013 and was given $14.
“I was basically homeless, and people be thinking they not homeless when they come to live with family members,” Gilford said. But having a roof doesn’t necessarily make a home. Gilford is referring to living in a home or apartment without sufficient space for each occupant.
After fleeing domestic violence, Gilford moved to a shelter. Later, she’d be housed in one of the city’s single-room-occupancy buildings. [SRO buildings offer affordable housing alternatives to adults.] She also faced challenges finding employment after her release.
A criminal record creates barriers to securing housing and a job. Some stigmas and stereotypes felt impossible to overcome at the time, she said.
“It puts a damper on your spirit because the job you want to do? They won’t allow you to do,” Gilford said. “When I would come in for interviews, people would say, ‘You don’t look like you’ve been incarcerated.’ How am I supposed to look? That made me not even want to work for the company right at all, because now I already know you have a pre-judgment.”
In Illinois, there are more than 1,189 laws that, if broken, can punish a person with a criminal record. Most of these laws create barriers to employment, according to the 2020 report “Never Fully Free: The Scale and Impact of Permanent Punishments on People with Criminal Records in Illinois.”
Yulanda Thomas also had difficulty obtaining employment. There were two arrests on her record from the 1980s and 1990s that were still visible when she applied for an education position in the 2010s.
Arrests can linger indefinitely, too, unlike credit history, which disappears after seven years.
“This arrest record kept coming up, and it was like 30-something years old, but it kept coming up every time I got ready to apply for a job,” she said. “I couldn’t get a job with the Board of Education.”
Thomas would eventually get one record sealed and another expunged thanks to the CGLA. The process was resolved within a year, just in time for her to accept a position as an outreach coordinator at a charter school.
Sealing her record improved Thomas’s access to other employment opportunities. Today, she works in recovery support services.
“So, because my background was sealed, I was able to work inside the school as a helper. I would go to the classroom and help teachers. When the aide didn’t show up, I was able to go to the classroom, run copies, assist in escorting them [students] to the lunchroom,” Thomas explained. “That kind of just bust the door open for me to be able to go certain places, to put in applications. I’m grateful for that.”
However, for Gilford, the legal battle to seal her record was both arduous and traumatizing, and lasted 12 years.
“It’s re-harming, because you have to actually stand in the courtroom and hear of a prosecutor prosecuting all over again,” Gilford said. “So it’s hard to just come into that space and just feel free again. Feel like chains being put back on you, because of the judgment, and then now the judge has your life in their hands again. The judge can either free you from all this bondage, or keep you in fisticuffs.”
Though the process was draining, Gilford said she remained motivated. Her record was officially sealed in September 2025.
“I stayed the course, even when others may have given up and tapped out,” she said.
Today, she’s a business owner and member of the CGLA’s leadership council. In her role on the leadership council, Gilford advocates for people impacted by the criminal justice system by speaking at panels, conventions, and summits, and by traveling to Springfield to lobby for criminal justice reform bills.
“I love that I can help somebody who comes behind me, and it ain’t just for me, so it encourages me to keep moving,” Gilford said.
Advocates see the Illinois State Legislature’s recent passage of the Clean Slate Act as transformative for people who are navigating the expungement and sealing process. Instead of waiting years, as Gilford did, the law establishes an automatic process for sealing certain records. However, it also deems serious criminal offenses – such as sexual violence against minors, DUIs, reckless driving and serious violent crimes – ineligible for sealing or expungement under current state law.
The Clean Slate Act now awaits a signature from Gov. JB Pritzker. If signed, automated record sealing by the Illinois State Police and Circuit Courts should begin by Jan. 1, 2029.
“I feel that this bill is going to make a great impact on people [who have] been waiting, especially Black and brown people, that’s who it affects the most,” Thomas said.
CGLA was one of dozens of community-based organizations and advocacy groups advocating for the passage of the Clean Slate Act.
“Clean Slate is a huge deal because it gets rid of having to have a lawyer, having to pay the filing fees,” Haidle said. “But it also means that people don’t have to go back into court, generally, to plead for a second chance, or, somehow show a judge that they quote, unquote “deserve to live in a safe apartment or have a job or something like that.”
