Local nonprofit works to close ‘justice gap’

Middle Georgia Justice is a small nonprofit that helps close the “justice gap” by providing legal services to those who cannot afford it, including family and divorce law services, probate and title law and criminal history relief.

Bill Adams, president of Middle GA Justice and a former state court judge, runs the nonprofit’s criminal history relief program, which helps clean up the records of residents using various legal remedies.

“The breadth of what we do is stabilize families, clear up titles to homes, put people in a position to get a better job,” he said. “If all those things are working, the individuals we serve benefit their families, their neighborhoods and in fact the entire community.”

In Georgia, the recidivism rate, or percentage of individuals who reoffend, is around 27%, according to the state parole board, “well below that of the nation.” Nationally, a report from the U.S. Department of Justice found that 49% of persons released in 2008 were sentenced again within three years of their release.

Adams said the legal system can be very hard to navigate and legal problems don’t just go away, they “fester and create a lot of stress.”

Adams and his team restrict, or clean up, any arrests and charges they can under Georgia law so they do not show up on Code E reports, which is what gets sent to employers when they request background checks. 

Middle GA Justice also utilizes what’s known as retroactive first offender rule, which upon petition, scrubs a conviction from someone’s record after they successfully complete their first sentence.

Adams said the nonprofit is also there to guide folks through legal processes, and most of the courthouse is sympathetic to what they’re trying to do with the criminal history relief.

“Fundamentally, Georgia Law provides some remedy for folks with criminal history issues, and we help them get them because it’d be hard to do it without folks who know their way around the system,” he said.

Middle GA Justice works with the Macon Reentry Coalition, a group of providers that connects formerly incarcerated individuals with services in Macon. The coalition meets monthly to network and feature one of the providers.

Todd Robinson, CEO of the Macon Reentry Coalition, said it can be hard for people to find resources once they’re released from prison, and the three biggest challenges are finding housing, transportation and employment.

Robinson said the criminal history relief services from Middle GA Justice are “tremendous” to not only clean up their record, but also inform folks about their voting rights.

“The more pressure someone has coming out of prison or coming out of jail, the more  needs they have they can’t resolve, the more likely it is they’re going return to prison,” he said. 

Middle GA Justice received $65,000 from Macon Violence Prevention as part of their round of 2024 grants. 

The money, Adams said, will go toward paying for their two staff members on the criminal history relief, as just this year they have gone through hundreds of interviews.

“Folks just feel like they’re getting kicked in the teeth all the time,” he said. “It’s kind of nice when the legal system helps them overcome something like that.”