geoff: Tarra Simmons is the
first formerly incarcerated
state legislator in Washington
state.
She went from teen mother to
felon to lawyer, and now a state
representative.
As special correspondent cat
wise reports, she overcame
barriers that she and many other
people face after serving time
in prison.
This story is part of our
series, "Searching for justice."
Cat: In a courthouse in kitsap
county, across Puget Sound from
Seattle, Tarra Simmons recently
shed a title that's burdened her
for more than two decades --
convicted felon.
>> I have signed the orders
vacating the felony convictions.
And so the relief you're seeking
is granted.
Congratulations.
Tarra: It is like a true
liberation.
Everything that I do in my life
going forward, the opportunities
I have, are based on my own
merit.
And I can't wait to have
grandbabies so I can volunteer
in their schools.
Cat: All of these things you
couldn't do before.
Tarra: Yes.
Cat: Today, Simmons is a state
representative, a lawyer, mother
of two adult children, and the
founding director a nonprofit.
But her journey to this point
was long and difficult.
Tarra: I was exposed to a lot of
violence when I was young, I was
sexually abused.
I grew up in poverty.
By the time I was 13 years old,
I was dropped out of school
completely I was homeless.
I was trafficked.
I ended up pregnant at 14.
Cat: As a teen mom, Simmons was
connected to social services,
graduated from high school at
16, and enrolled in community
college.
She went on to get a nursing
degree.
But just a couple years later,
Simmons pled guilty to second
degree assault for her
involvement in an attack on a
man she had been involved with.
Tarra: My first felony
conviction was related to
meeting a gentleman who sexually
assaulted me.
And then three days later, my
friends and family beat him up.
And that really, really changed
the course of my life.
Cat: Years later, an injury from
a fall led to a prescription for
painkillers, which led to a
substance use disorder, and an
addiction to meth.
Tarra: Within ten months of
trying the methamphetamine, I
had been arrested three times.
I had left my family and lived
homeless.
And I completely ruined my
entire life.
Cat: Simmons was eventually
charged with five felonies,
including for theft, drugs, and
having a gun in her car.
She served 20 months in prison.
Tarra: Incarceration really
added another layer of trauma
because I already had no
self-worth, no self-esteem.
Cat: But it was in prison that
Simmons decided to set out on a
new path after being released,
thanks to a group of volunteer
law students who encouraged her
to become a lawyer herself.
Tarra: I always thought that
lawyers were these super elite,
like untouchable people, you
know.
But they reassured me and said
no, you can be like us, be like
social justice lawyers.
I'm like, what?
Cat: After being released,
Simmons enrolled at Seattle
university school of law.
She graduated with honors in
2017, but soon after hit a major
snag.
The Washington state bar
association ruled that she
couldn't take the exam to be a
lawyer because of her criminal
background.
Tarra: The volunteer character
and fitness board thought that I
felt too entitled to take the
bar exam and that I was too
proud of my accomplishments.
Cat: They actually said those
things?
Tarra: Yes.
Cat: How did that feel?
Tarra: Well, at the time, it
felt completely traumatizing.
I had taken out, you know, over
$200,000 in loans to go to
school.
I had done everything right.
Cat: Simmons appealed the bar
association's decision to the
state supreme court.
>> If rehabilitation is the
touchstone of present character,
which I think this court should
hold, then Ms.
Simmons, really makes her record
of rehabilitation an easy case
for the court.
Cat: She was represented by Shon
Hopwood, himself a formerly
incarcerated lawyer, and within
hours of hearing the case, the
court unanimously ruled in her
favor.
Tarra: I just started crying.
I could not believe it.
And the fact that they did it so
quickly.
And it was unanimous was really
validating.
Cat: Simmons became a fixture in
Olympia, the state capital, as
an advocate serving on the state
reentry council, and supporting
legislation to ease barriers for
formerly incarcerated people.
In 2020 she was elected to the
state legislature.
Tarra: There always had to be
one person that went first to
break those ceilings, right.
To make it more normal.
And so that's why I live my life
so transparently, because I feel
like I'm normalizing it for
other people who don't have to
live in shame anymore about
their past and can say, yes, I
did those things and I've
changed.
>> It really matters to have at
least one person in the room
when you're making decisions who
has lived the life.
Cat: Senator drew Hansen worked
closely with Tarra Simmons when
she was advocating for the very
bill that allowed her to
recently vacate her convictions.
They became colleagues in the
state house after her victory.
>> Her perspective on drug
treatment and drug policy is
extraordinarily valuable because
she's in long term recovery.
You're making a decision about
what is going on in the prisons
she spent time in prison.
,It is transformative and it
changes the entire conversation.
Cat: Simmons also continues to
work with the non profit she
cofounded in law school, civil
survival, which supports people
impacted by the criminal justice
system, including helping vacate
or clear past convictions.
>> How are you?
Cat: Sarah Eichhorn is one of
her clients.
They met in prison when Simmons
was incarcerated and Eichhorn
was volunteering to help people
with substance use issues.
Eichhorn had been incarcerated
herself after an altercation
during a supervised visit with
her son when she was a teenager,
a time when she was battling
drug addiction.
Sarah: I got sent off to prison
and was just there for like five
or six months, not too long.
But yeah, so I got out.
And that's really hard to get a
job.
Cat: For the last 18 years,
Eichhorn has not had any run ins
with the law, but her felony
record has been a big obstacle.
Sarah: I feel like I have to
kind of live on the fringe a
little bit still.
I would love to not have to
explain my worst day ever, my
son's worst day ever to anyone
again.
You know.
Cat: Simmons is helping her
friend apply for a pardon, to
erase that record.
Tarra: You know, you make one
bad decision, make one mistake,
and that does define you.
And it's unfortunate because you
can make hundreds, thousands,
millions of good decisions since
then and still be discriminated
against to meet your basic human
needs.
Cat: Eichhorn says she's still a
bit amazed that she's seen her
friend go from prison, to law
school, to the state capital.
Sarah: I used to think they were
all aliens, you know what I
mean?
Like politicians and stuff.
But she really is a normal
person.
And people don't know what they
don't know.
Cat: For Simmons imparting what
, she knows to help others like
herself has become her calling.
Tarra: Not everybody's going to
get into law and politics like
me or even into advocacy.
But I just want people to have
the opportunities to do whatever
it is that they want to do.
And, you know, fortunately, my
job today allows me to break
down some of those barriers for
them.
Cat: Barriers that Tarra Simmons
hopes will continue to fall in
Washington state, and around the
country for formerly
incarcerated people.
For the pbs newshour, I'm cat
wise in Bremerton, Washington.
♪♪