First graduate of groundbreaking post-conviction program gets a chance at redemption

In September 2021, Carlton Ford was led into Springfield District Court in handcuffs. He had just spent 18 months in jail after police found him sleeping in his car with a loaded gun. He could have pleaded guilty and accepted the felony, walking out of the court on time served. Instead, Ford chose a more arduous path that isn’t open to most young men incarcerated in the United States.

He pled guilty and joined the Emerging Adult Court of Hope, the nation’s only post-conviction court of its kind, which offers high-risk youth 18 to 24 the opportunity to stay out of prison, go through intensive programs, and if they meet a laundry list of requirements, end with a clean record.

Ford is its first graduate, celebrated in a ceremony at the Hampden County Courthouse Thursday.

“I feel good. I feel excited,” Ford told GBH News. “It’s another chapter closing. I can open another chapter in my book of life and continue with a new one.”

Back in September 2021, Ford’s defense attorney said he had made a “foolish” decision to obtain a firearm to protect himself while living on the streets, even if it was just kept in his car and not used against anyone.

That day, Judge Kevin Maltby told Ford, “You’re choosing to take the harder path by going through this program, than the easy path of just pleading out time served maybe, but having that felony on your record, which in the long-term, only serves to hamper what you want to do with your life.”

Unlike any other model

The court launched just as the pandemic began, and its four phases are anticipated to take participants 18 months to two years to complete. Ford did it in 15 months. The program currently has eight men, and is open to women. The hope is to expand to over two dozen people, and help any other jurisdictions that want to try something similar to succeed.

The goal is to steer high-risk young adults away from the correctional system, where they’re more likely to reoffend. Instead, they’re offered a chance for something different. The ultimate goal is to have their records expunged and sealed — if they make it through.

Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni, and the nonprofit Roca, which works with high-risk youth, launched the Emerging Adult Court of Hope, known as EACH, in March 2020. Gulluni began referring young men whose cases stood out to be considered by the court.

Gulluni called the program a “labor of love,” and said the aim is to turn young lives around so they never recidivate.

“I've said this from the beginning, it's not a handout, it's a hand up,” he said. "It's like, 'Hey, we're here to help you, help yourself and invest in your future.'"

Gulluni, as the county’s DA, makes the final decision on who is offered the chance to join EACH. Prosecutors at his office flag cases of candidates who don’t have significant gang ties or who have a limited record. Background checks are extensive.

The young person also has to commit to the program. Ford doesn’t talk much about his life before the car incident, but described it as being “out on the streets, smoking weed, and breaking the law.”

Ford spent a lot of time in jail reflecting. ‘“I was just thinking, ‘If I continue on this path that it will not be good.’” He knew he was done with his time in jail, but heard about the EACH court from his attorney. “I needed a change. They could diminish my felony to a misdemeanor. That didn’t sound bad,” he said.

Unlike pretrial diversion programs, young adults are admitted into EACH after pleading guilty and being convicted of high-level offenses — in Ford’s case, gun charges. The programming is extensive, including mandated therapy and punctual arrival at Roca every morning at 6:45 for a transitional employment program.

The first months of the job program and therapy, Ford said, were “a little annoying,” but then he got the hang of it. “It’s really for the benefit of yourself,” he said. “It taught me to think about how to deal with stress and different types of scenarios and basically how to do good.”

Youth with unstable housing and health insurance get help securing that. Ford stayed with an uncle but got Roca's help signing up for insurance.

Later in the program, participants access work and educational opportunities through partnerships EACH has. Employers tell Roca and probation officers how the young men are doing and any issues that arise — late arrival, insubordination, poor performance. They have to take drug tests.

If Ford messed up significantly and violated the terms of his probation, he could have faced the maximum suspended sentence of two years with the Department of Correction. It was a risk, especially with so many people keeping tabs on his life.

The program hasn’t been without its challenges. Two people who were enrolled have been re-incarcerated, said Gulluni. Another participant, David Ballard, was shot and killed in December. “We’ve definitely had failures, and we always anticipated that,” the district attorney said.

Some rules for the program changed as organizers learned of what could be most beneficial to participants. Curfew was moved from 10 p.m. to 9 p.m., and the participant has to have a GPS monitor during the first two phases of the program. Participants also have to be 100% drug and alcohol-free, since some participants were smoking marijuana in excess.

Success story

Ford went through a transitional employment program where he did landscaping, snow removal, painting and demolition work for organizations Roca has contracts with. He was allowed to apply to other jobs later in the program, so he worked at commercial driving operator Western Express, and also has a job at plastic manufacturer Meredith-Springfield.

If an EACH participant doesn’t keep their outside job, or shirks their schedule, that’s considered a relapse, and they get sent back to the transitional employment program. There, they can be fired and rehired multiple times, just like in the standard job market.

But Ford held on. “Every employer that has employed him — the feedback has been 'Great employee. Great, phenomenal, does a good job,'” Maltby said of the weekly reports he got from Roca.

Solomon Baymon, executive director of Roca in Western Massachusetts, said he has seen Ford evolve during his tenure in the program. “He went from never smiling to always smiling,” Baymon said, adding that Ford learned how to ask for help. “He's definitely equipped himself with a lot more tools that's going to help him to be successful.”

Toward the end of his program, Ford took a monthlong course to get a commercial driver’s license. Roca worked with him to improve confidence in job interviews and “articulating his qualifications,” Baymon said. A partnership with MassHire and Roca funded his $5,000 commercial driver's license class. Ford passed the test.

Gulluni remembers that Saturday when a Roca caseworker and Ford called him.

“He was audibly excited. He was joyous. And that call was really, you know, a moment for me to be like, wow. I mean, you know, Carlton is doing it,” Gulluni said. “I was just so proud of him and so happy for him. We’ve seen that maturation, that transformation in him.”

EACH will likely have more graduates in the next three to six months, said Jim Leydon, spokesman for Hampden County District Attorney’s office. There’s talk within the trial court system of potentially replicating it in other counties.

Baymon, who was previously a deputy warden in Connecticut, said he wants to see the program expand.

“I see this as only the beginning. I feel like this is a great opportunity for young men in the center of urban violence that just made some mistakes, that just need more structure, some accountability, and resources around them,” he said.

But for now, Carlton Ford is in his second month as a commercial driver, delivering water and groceries for Western Express, with hopes for future career advancement. “Getting my CDL was a huge accomplishment for me because now I've found what I like to do,” he said. “I don't got to be in the streets doing what I was doing to get some money. I can just do it legally,” he said.

The court wants to recognize the achievement. Later today, Ford will tell of his weekly progress, as will a Roca representative and his probation officer. There will be an honor guard, singing of the national anthem, speeches from everyone who has watched him grow, and he will be graduated from the program. There will be a celebration after.

His record will be cleared through a court motion, and he will be able to apply for expungement and record sealing after. Maltby said the criminal charges will be dismissed and there will be no conviction on Ford’s record.