Applying for a job. Opening a bank account. Cashing a check. Picking up a prescription.
To do any of those tasks, you need an ID. But for people leaving prison — especially those who’ve been behind bars for many years — that’s not an item they typically have.
Leaders with the state’s Department of Correction are putting a new focus on this issue.Last year, they launched a mobile unit in partnership with the state’s Registry of Motor Vehicles, where prisoners can get their photos and signatures processed for ID cards before their release. Supporters of the program say it is a lifeline for people re-entering society.
Hamza, whose full name is Joshua Berrios, used the program several months ago.
“They called me and a bunch of other fellas, and we went into this building,” he recalled. “They took our picture — asked if we was OK with the picture — and they said that this is going to be our picture for our Mass. ID. And we’ll get our Mass. ID once we left the facility, and that they would hold it for us.”
Hamza had been in prison for 15 years. Now he’s working two part-time jobs and a full-time job.
“If I didn’t have my ID or any form of identification, then I would not be holding a job. So that’s very essential, right?” he said. “Not only was I able to open a bank account, but also to land three jobs in the matter of five and a half months.”
The new mobile unit builds off the “enhanced state ID program,” a two-year-old agreement between the DOC and RMV to streamline getting new legal identification for incarcerated people. Before, the state’s prison system still helped get IDs in people’s hands, but the program was limited and could only help people who already had prior identification from the RMV. The deployment of a mobile unit last March was a leap forward because it can collect signatures and photos from prisoners in the final few months before their release.
Advocates and leaders with the Department of Correction agree: Having an ID is key to restarting your life as you leave prison. DOC Commissioner Shawn Jenkins says he’s proud of the collaboration with the RMV and the progress they’ve made.
He laid out three key pieces to getting people on their feet once they’re released and keeping them from going back to prison: housing, employment and health care.
“In order to make those things work, people need an ID. You need an ID for payroll purposes when you’re working; you need an ID to live, right? And you need an ID — I got asked for an ID today to pick up a prescription,” Jenkins said.
Last year, nearly 700 IDs were issued through the RMV-DOC partnership, including more than 200 via the mobile unit. That’s a huge leap up from several years ago. None of these figures account for prisoners who still have valid IDs, or those who didn’t want one.
But with nearly 1,600 people released from DOC prisons last year, many still see lots of work to do. State Sen. Jamie Eldridge, a member of the Criminal Justice Reform Caucus, said getting more IDs into people’s hands is “very positive news.” Still, he says many people run into roadblocks, for example, someone who was born in another country and can’t get their birth certificate.
“There’s always going to be some gaps. And I will say, having gone to many criminal justice reform events, I do often meet someone who says, ‘Unfortunately, the system didn’t work. There was some gap.’ And the person still does not have an ID.
“I know the commitment is there,” Eldridge continued. “What I say to any returning citizen who’s had a problem and does not still have an ID is: email myself, email the administration. And we’ll try to get this straightened out and find out: What was the specific reason why someone did not get an ID?”
The senator also wants to see the program made law, instead of just policy, so that corrections officers will have to exhaust more avenues to get legal identification to prisoners. He believes part of the problem is the culture among people who work in prisons, saying that they don’t view it as their responsibility to help people who are incarcerated.
“I appreciate the work of the administration, creating this contract between the DOC and RMV,” Eldridge said. “But is it time, finally, for the Legislature to weigh in and say: ‘No, this is actually a right. And the DOC and RMV and their staff need to make every possible effort to make sure every single returning citizen gets a state ID.’”
