Helping Others Find a Brighter Future After Incarceration

Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Alex Saiz. Read his story, and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.

Alex Saiz understands how challenging it is to get back on your feet when you have lived experience with the criminal legal system. But it wasn’t until he became directly involved with the Florida Justice Center that he came to understand just how much of an uphill battle that journey is.

A seasoned criminal defense attorney, Alex first met the founder of the Florida Justice Center, an organization that provides legal support and community education to people with experience in the criminal legal system, during the era of protests that occurred following the death of George Floyd. He agreed to sign on as the organization’s volunteer director of Legal Services and recognized that they could make significant progress by representing people in expungement motions. Realizing they could streamline the process of helping people get their criminal record expunged by using technology, the group started hosting legal clinics throughout the state, making the services available to anyone who needed them.

Alex views helping people get their records expunged as creating a brighter path for all members of their family. He cites data that demonstrates how the average person who gets a record sealed increases their income, therefore investing money into the community. It also benefits the children of people who face the stigma of having a criminal record, breaking the cycle and giving the next generation the opportunities they deserve.

Alex has seen a lot in his time at the Florida Justice Center, but he has high hopes for the future. He dreams of a time when the organization has an outpost in every major city in Florida. While his work helping people get their criminal records expunged is specific to his work as a lawyer, it’s also a great example of how everyone has a special skill that can be used to better someone else’s life. No matter what you do for a living, the willingness to help others is a valuable gift that can change someone’s life.

What inspires you to volunteer?

I’m one of those people who feel very lucky. I feel like I have advantages that other people don’t have, and I feel like many times in my life I got a benefit or received help from somebody who didn’t owe me anything. I want to give that same opportunity to other people. This is not one I’m very talkative about, but I’ve had many members of my family go to jail. In our country, when your parents go to jail, that stain kind of applies to you as well. Children of incarcerated people have a tougher way of life. I know that by helping a dad get his record sealed, or a mom get her record sealed, I’m going to help that next generation try to break these cycles. I was able to luck out, and I want to make it so that people who have parents who have been in custody before aren’t marked.

What inspired you to get started with this initiative?

It started up as a bail fund for protesters during the time of the George Floyd racial justice protests. I saw their organization, and I talked to the founder, Jonathan, and I wound up being his volunteer director of Legal Services. I told him they could be a lot more helpful to the community by representing people in expungement motions. In Florida, when you’re arrested, even if you’re found not guilty, your case still comes with a criminal charge. There’s still a record of your arrest. I advised him to help people by volunteering to do sealing and expungement of criminal records, because you have a lot of people who had their cases dismissed who are innocent. Every time they have to apply for a job, housing or education, they have to talk about this prior arrest. He wasn’t sure there was a need for that. But over the first three years, we had over 12,000 clients approach us.

Tell us about your volunteer role with the Florida Justice Center.

We’re averaging about 1,000 of these getting granted a year. Doing the math on that, you’re looking at $6 million invested in underserved communities every year. We realized that part of the problem was that lawyers were charging thousands of dollars for this easy service. But if we use technology to standardize the applications and motions, we saw that we could help thousands of people throughout the state. We started having legal clinics where we partnered with members of the community.

What are your long-term plans or goals for the organization?

There’s a statute that was passed to try to make sealing expungement automatic. I want to make this statewide, because if we do that, once your case gets dismissed, it’s off your record. And if we get to that level, we’re talking about a million people with criminal records in Florida.

I want to make sure I’m being clear. This isn’t a person who gets arrested, pleads guilty, gets found guilty at trial and is trying to escape their consequences. These are people who have criminal records, even though their charges were dismissed. Long term, I would like to see the implementation of the automatic sealing statute, where this could happen automatically for people. And separately, we want to expand our services so that we have a branch of our nonprofit in every major city in Florida.

What’s been the most rewarding part of your work?

I was a criminal defense lawyer for about 10 years before I joined here. I’m a little embarrassed to say that I didn’t understand the human element to the criminal justice system. Everyone in our organization is a returning citizen, meaning someone who has been to prison and turned their life around. They taught me a lot about how I was projecting myself. There are times when you meet with somebody and you explain that you’re a free lawyer here to answer their questions. There’s a certain level of gratitude that I really can’t even express.

Why is it important for others to get involved with causes they care about?

I believe that helping others does make the volunteer feel better. We live in difficult times. I’m not political, but there are a lot of things that are on the news that are very hard to see. When you go to a shelter and serve a meal, or when you volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, or when you volunteer at Special Olympics, you haven’t solved society’s problems, but you certainly don’t feel helpless.

When you spend six hours in a small town in Florida teaching criminal justice issues to 300 people who’ve never had a lawyer call them sir before, you feel like you’re making a difference. I never feel powerless. I feel like there is a solution that I can take part in. Also, I think that we all have a skill set, and that’s one of the things that I always advise people on. I always tell people, look for what you like.

Any advice for people who want to start volunteering?

The first thing I’d say is to think about what you care about. There are very few causes that I would look at and think you’re wasting your time. There’s always going to be an area where you can help. Find the thing that makes you passionate. At the end of the day, I feel like I’ve done something good for people.

What do you want people to learn from your story?

Never reach the point where you don’t think you can learn more. I was a tenured criminal defense lawyer when I started here. I’m the only lawyer for all those cases. I’m the only lawyer in our entire organization. I’ve learned more from the people I work with who don’t have law degrees than I ever expected. Be open to the idea that there’s always going to be a better way. Sometimes you benefit and learn more by putting yourself in uncomfortable situations.

Do you want to make a difference in your community like Alex? Find local volunteer opportunities.