Member Spotlight: Living with Conviction

Read on for a member spotlight on Living with Conviction, a TPC Ballard member organization.

Debbie, Jonathon, & Dante from Living with Conviction. Photo by Mallory MacDonald

1. Tell us a little bit about the background behind Living with Conviction. What exactly is it? How did the initial idea come about? How did it go from an idea in your head into a functioning company?  

Living with Conviction, a non-profit organization,  is a collaboration between formerly incarcerated individuals and their legal allies, together advocating for relief from both court-imposed debt (called, “legal financial obligations” or “LFOs”) and unconstitutional drug possession convictions. 

Back in 2014, attorney and multimedia storyteller Debbie Espinosa learned that Washington courts impose not just prison sentences on people, but court costs, fees, fines, and restitution, aka LFOs, as part of their criminal sentence. The court also would impose 12% interest, which would start to accrue as people were going into prison. When released from prison, they have 30 days to make their first payment. When they fall behind (because it’s hard to find a job with a conviction), they will be called into court to explain the reason they haven’t paid. In many counties, if they can't pay, they go to jail.

To Debbie, this policy is unconscionable. It criminalizes poverty. And due to the disproportionate number of people of color in the criminal justice system, it is a policy of racialized wealth extraction. Because few people know about this policy, Debbie started interviewing and photographing people with LFOs. Their stories were used by advocacy organizations to convince policymakers to change the law. 

Thanks to that advocacy, LFO law was somewhat improved. And now Living with Conviction is also a legal empowerment organization, leveraging the strengths of its formerly incarcerated team to help their peers advocate on their own behalf for a reduction of their LFOs.

We are Debbie, Anna, Kyrrah, Mike, Jonathon, Dante, Lisa, Esther, and Angelica and love our home at The Pioneer Collective.

2. What are some of the biggest challenges you have faced in starting your own company?

Securing long-term funding.   

3. What is the overall mission of Living with Conviction?

Living with Conviction’s mission is to secure economic and racial justice with and for marginalized communities, especially formerly incarcerated individuals, through community-driven research, storytelling, and legal empowerment strategies.

4. What has been your most memorable story/success to date? 

A 72-year old man, who had been paying $150 per month on his LFOs since 1988, reached out to us for help. He owed so much in LFOs that he feared that the state would take his house when he passed away. Our formerly incarcerated team walked him through our Justice in Motion Web App, which generated the court forms to make a request to the court to reduce his LFOs, consistent with the law. The team also delivered the court forms to the courthouse on his behalf. The court waived all $239,000 in LFOs and entered satisfaction of judgment, meaning he had completed all of the obligations of his sentence.

Photo by Mallory MacDonald

5. What are some things in the near future that you are excited about?

We just received support to help people get the constitutional relief to which they are entitled under the Washington State Supreme Court decision, State v. Blake. The Court ruled that the state’s drug possession statute is unconstitutional. That means that everyone convicted of drug possession going back to 1971 is entitled to have that conviction cleared, or “vacated,” and any LFOs they paid refunded. This support from the state Office of Civil Legal Aid feels like a strong validation of our peer-to-peer legal empowerment model. 

6. What was the inspiration behind your organiztion? 

For years, Debbie has worked in African countries helping marginalized communities know their rights and access justice. Debbie eventually realized that the legal empowerment strategies that she and others employed in their work in African countries could be used here in the United States as a supplement to traditional legal aid.   

Photo by Mallory MacDonald

7. How did you end up with your Company name?

Debbie liked the play on words-the double meaning-when using "conviction" in the name. Since many of the population that we serve are formerly incarcerated individuals, the phrase has real meaning for the people that we help and for those who work for our organization.

8. What is something people may not know about you?

Some members of our team are formerly incarcerated and some members of our team are not.

9. What is one food/drink you can't go without?

As a team: COFFEE.

10. With what does a perfect weekend start and end?

Start: Our team loves to sleep in, do yoga, have a delicious brunch, tackle some deep cleaning, and spend quality time with our kids

End: Play video games, drink a glass of wine while watching a show, or (allegedly) smoking a big fat bowl.

( although not everyone loves to do all of those things :) )

Photo by Mallory MacDonald