Formerly incarcerated lawmaker reflects on breaking down barriers after prison

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• Geoff Bennett:

  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 Wise:

  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.

• Man:

  I have signed the orders vacating the felony convictions. And so the relief you're seeking, Ms. Simmons, is granted. Congratulations.

• State Rep. Tarra Simmons (D-WA):

  It is like true liberation. Everything that I do in my life going forward is — 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 Wise:

  All of these things you couldn't do before.

• State Rep. Tarra Simmons:

  Yes. Yes.

  This is my two boys.

• Cat Wise:

  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.

• State Rep. Tarra Simmons:

  I was exposed to a lot of violence when I was young. I was sexually abused. I grew up in poverty. And 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 Wise:

  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.

• State Rep. Tarra Simmons:

  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 Wise:

  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.

• State Rep. Tarra Simmons:

  Within 10 months of trying the methamphetamine, I had been arrested three times, I had left my family and lived homeless, and was — I completely ruined my entire life.

• Cat Wise:

  Simmons was eventually charged with five felonies, including for theft, drugs, and having a gun in her car. She served 20 months in prison.

• State Rep. Tarra Simmons:

  Incarceration really added another layer of trauma, because I already had no self-worth, no self-esteem.

• Cat Wise:

  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.

• State Rep. Tarra Simmons:

  I always thought that lawyers were these super elite, like, untouchable people. But they reassured me. They said, no, you can be like us, be like social justice lawyers. I'm like, what?

• Cat Wise:

  After being released, Simmons enrolled at Seattle University School of Law and 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.

• State Rep. Tarra Simmons:

  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 Wise:

  They actually said that?

• State Rep. Tarra Simmons:

  They said those things, Yes.

• Cat Wise:

  How did that feel?

• State Rep. Tarra Simmons:

  Well, at the time, it felt completely traumatizing. I had taken out over $200,000 in loans to go to school. I had done everything right.

• Cat Wise:

  Simmons appealed the Bar Association's decision to the state Supreme Court.

• Shon Hopwood, Attorney:

  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 Wise:

  She was represented by Shon Hopwood, himself a formerly incarcerated lawyer, and within hours of hearing the case, the court ruled in her favor.

• State Rep. Tarra Simmons:

  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 Wise:

  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.

• State Rep. Tarra Simmons:

  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 have changed.

• State Sen. Drew Hansen (D-WA):

  It really matters to have at least one person in the room when you're making decisions who has lived the life.

• Cat Wise:

  Senator Drew Hansen worked closely with Tarra Simmons when she was advocating for the very bill that allowed her to recently vacate her convictions.

• Gov. Jay Inslee (D-WA):

  I want to thank Representative Hansen and Tarra Simmons, who's here.

• Cat Wise:

  They became colleagues in the state House after her victory.

• State Sen. Drew Hansen:

  Representative Simmons' 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, while she spent time in prison. It is transformative. It changes the entire conversation.

• Cat Wise:

  Simmons also continues to work with the nonprofit she co-founded in law school, Civil Survival, which supports people impacted by the criminal justice system, including helping vacate or clear past convictions.

  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 Eichhorn, Civil Survival Client:

  I got sent off to prison and was just there for like five or six months, not too long. But, yes, so I got out. And that's really hard to get a job.

• Cat Wise:

  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 Eichhorn:

  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?

• State Rep. Tarra Simmons:

  I am hopeful that they're going to move it up.

• Cat Wise:

  Simmons is helping her friend apply for a pardon to erase that record.

• State Rep. Tarra Simmons:

  You know, you make one bad decision, you 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 Wise:

  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 Eichhorn:

  I used to think they were all aliens.

  (Laughter)

• Sarah Eichhorn:

  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 Wise:

  For Tarra Simmons, imparting what she knows to help others like herself has become her calling.

• State Rep. Tarra Simmons:

  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, fortunately, my job today allows me to break down some of those barriers for them.

• Cat Wise:

  Barriers that 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.