It is an expungement clinic that allows political science students to assist in helping low-income individuals seeking to expunge and seal old criminal records.

The ISU department of Politics and Government, along with the Bloomington office of Prairie State Legal Services created the collaboration to fill an empty void.

“This is something that law schools do but it’s unusual for an undergraduate institution, so I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to build on this and this is going to become a program that will be emulated by other programs across the state,” says Director of the expungement clinic Thomas McClure.

McClure says the program will not be sustainable without additional funding.

“What I’ve done is I’ve donated $100,000 to set up a fund and our goal is to reach $350,000 within the next four years, which is when I retire so that that can be done and become a program that will last in perpetuity,” McClure added.

This expungement clinic deals with many cases ranging from misdemeanors to felonies.

“We help a lot with cannabis cases, we see theft cases a lot, some battery cases, traffic cases.. the rise to a misdemeanor level is an issue,” says Prairie State Paralegal Stacy James.

This program offers a mutual benefit. Students get hand on legal experience, while low-income individuals get help that they likely could not afford.

“It was definitely rewarding, again I loved speaking with the clients and hearing their success stories after their records were expunged or sealed,” says former legal study student Cierra Aiden.

To date, the clinic has expunged or sealed 28 of the 29 cases put in front of them. This year they plan to expunge 35 or so more.

Heart of Illinois ABC can be reached at [email protected].