“Having $39,000 in fines doesn’t affect somebody who doesn’t care. It doesn’t affect a junkie in a basement shooting up. . . . But for somebody like me, doing everything they are supposed to be doing, and owes more in legal financial obligations than in student loans, and can’t buy a house, can’t help send their children to college, can’t do more than get by.”
Through storytelling and legal empowerment, Living with Conviction: Sentenced to Debt for Life in Washington State partners with formerly incarcerated individuals to advocate for the end of onerous legal financial obligations (LFOs). Learn more about LFOs in Washington and read the stories of formerly incarcerated Washingtonians facing the impacts of court imposed fines and fees here.