Resources for the Formerly Incarcerated
Along with local organizations, we offer court-involved individuals, and their families, information and resources to help during and after incarceration.
Library Resources
- Basic Skills for Adult Learners - Get one-on-one tutoring, classes and more to help you with test preparation, job readiness and life skills.
- Job and Career Resources - Start your job search at the Library with free in-person and online resources.
- Technology Skills - Learn basic computer skills to help reach your personal, education and career goals.
- Children & Families Impacted by Incarceration Booklist - Find books, DVDs and web resources for children and teens with court-involved family members.
Reentry Assistance
- Crisis Connections - Connect to helpful services. They maintain a "Reentry Assistance Packet” detailing resources in King County, as well as online directories of resources more broadly.
- ILS Reentry Wiki - Get help navigating reentry with a wide range of resources from the Washington State Library division of Institutional Services. Contains statewide resources, robust resource links in Spanish and can be searched by county.
- National Reentry Resource Center - Explore resources, information and guidance for individuals as well as service providers.
- Pioneer Human Services - Get help finding treatment, housing, job skills training and employment.
- Reinstate a Washington Driver's License - Get instructions for how to reinstate a Washington State driver's license.
Legal Help
- Guide to Sealing and Destroying Court Records, Vacating Convictions and Deleting Criminal History Records - Find information about sealing and destroying court records, vacating convictions, and deleting criminal history records.
- Legal Financial Obligations (LFO) Interest Waiver Guide - Learn how to obtain a court order waiving or reducing interest on legal financial obligations in Washington State.
- Neighborhood Legal Clinics - Get free, limited legal advice and referrals. Open to King County residents and Washington State residents with legal issues in King County who might otherwise have no access to the legal system.
- Northwest Justice Project - Get critical civil legal assistance and representation for cases affecting basic human needs such as family safety and security, housing preservation, protection of income, access to health care, education and other basic needs.
- Seattle Municipal Court Community Resource Center - Connect with multiple services in downtown Seattle. Staff can also provide referrals to additional resources and assist with basic navigation of the municipal court system.
- Voting Rights Restoration - Learn about your voting rights after a felony conviction in Washington state.
- Voting Right Restoration ACLU - Find American Civil Liberties Union fliers with information on restoration of voting rights after a felony conviction. Available in español (Spanish), اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ(Arabic), 中文 (Chinese), 한국어 (Korean), Oromiffa (Oromo), af Soomaali (Somali), Tagalog and tiếng Việt (Vietnamese).
- Washington Law Help - Explore this guide to free legal services for low-income persons and seniors in Washington, maintained by the Northwest Justice Project.
- Washington State Court Directory - Find contact information for the Washington State Courts and organizations related to Official Court Business.
Education & Training
- Alternatives to Violence Project - Learn how to deal with potentially violent situations in new and creative ways. Workshops are run by trained facilitators and are experiential (not based on lectures). Projects for a Civil Society, the organization that offers AVP, is committed to helping those in or transitioning from detention or incarceration, among other populations.
- Freedom Project - Explore programs from this educational organization that serves both those currently incarcerated and those re-entering the community. Their programs focus on nonviolent communication and mindfulness, and find supportive resources and peer support during reentry.
- Goodwill Job Training and Education Programs - Get training and education, as well as help finding a job.
- Interaction Transition - Get quickly employed post-release. This group offers an employment assistance program to match formerly incarcerated job seekers with second chance employers, as well as a peer mentoring program and other basic supports.
- Seattle Fair Chance Employment Ordinance - Learn about this ordinance, which restricts how employers within city limits can use conviction and arrest records during the hiring process and throughout the course of employment.
Family & Child Resources
- Division of Child Support Alternative Solutions Program - Connect with government and community groups that serve parents and can help increase your ability to get a job and be financially stable.
- Parents Supporting Parents program - Connect with parents who have successfully navigated the juvenile dependency system and learn what you must do to successfully reunite with your children after they have been removed from your care by Child Protective Services or are in an in-home dependency. Offered by the King County Superior Court.
Advocacy Groups
- Columbia Legal Services - Advocates for people who face injustice and poverty, using policy reform, litigation, and innovative partnerships. Criminal justice reform is one of their primary advocacy issues.
- Families for Justice as Healing - Organizes formerly incarcerated women to join the movement toward ending incarceration of women.
- If Project - A partnership between law enforcement, currently and previously incarcerated adults, and community leaders to build commonality, reduce misperceptions and serve as a deterrent to recidivism and future incarceration.
- Incarcerated Parents Project - Works to reduce the overall chances of family separation due to parental incarceration in Washington State.
- National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls - Strives to end the incarceration of women and girls by building a movement grounded in support, coalition building, solidarity and human rights.
- Projects for a Civil Society - Works to bring the Alternatives to Violence Project to veterans, the incarcerated, schools and youth.
- Who Pays? The True Cost of Incarceration on Families - A report arguing that the costs of locking up millions of people in jail cells are much deeper than we think, impacting families and communities as well as those incarcerated.