CA: no more monkey

You know me, always on the lookout for positive, upbeat stories about convicted felons, and from the county of my birth no less:

Ex-cons get chance to turn it around with clean record

For much of his young life Amani Bullock had been straddling the line. Then he crossed over it. Landed in jail at 19. Did his time, returned to his home in Marin City. Sought God. Turned his life around.

But he still had a problem stemming from the 1990 bust for stealing to get the drugs and booze he needed for the life he was trapped in. A criminal record, a monkey on his back that kept him from getting to where he wanted to go: helping kids, sharing his hard-earned spotlight of redemption, letting them know about the ephemeral craziness of drug highs, showing them that a state of grace is there for the taking.

Now, because of a new program of the Marin County Public Defender's Office, Bullock's monkey is history, his record has vanished. So, since July, have the criminal records of more than 99 others in Marin, said Deputy Public Defender Elizabeth Berg.

What this means, she said, is that those people can now seek jobs, or promotions or more sensitive positions - like working with children, as in Bullock's case - because their past is no longer an intractable barrier to an improved life...

"Most of the 100 or so coming through have had employment but want a better job," she said. "They already have come a long way and now they want" something they cannot get with a record.

For example, she said, many who have fought and won a battle with drugs and alcohol "want to be (drug and alcohol abuse) counselors but do not want to be turned down from the job just because of a record."

When Berg talks of the program her voice is animated, her commitment infectious. "I love it," she said. "Most of the time we are delivering good news to people who deserve it, who should get a second chance."

I'm a big fan of just about any opportunity for ex-cons to turn it around. Yay, Elizabeth Berg! Good for our colleagues in Marvellous Marin! I hope they get lots of applications from ex-cons and aspiring p.d.'s alike.

Though when they said that the client's monkey is history, I hope that they didn't mean, you know, a real monkey.