Connecticut has wiped about 50,000 past convictions from people's criminal records, launching an automatic erasure process after years of delays.
The development marks an end to a slew of challenges that hindered state officials from effectively implementing Connecticut's Clean Slate Law.
The law requires the state to automatically erase most old, low-level convictions from people's records after seven years for eligible misdemeanors, or 10 years for eligible felony convictions. Sex crimes and family violence crimes are not eligible for erasure under the law.
"Connecticut’s groundbreaking Clean Slate initiative will lead to new opportunities for housing, education and employment for thousands of Connecticut residents who are eligible for erasure," said Rob Blanchard, a spokesperson for Gov. Ned Lamont.
Lamont, a Democrat, signed the law in 2021. Most erasures were supposed to begin by January 2023, but two years later, as of April 2025, only about 13,000 people had eligible criminal records erased.
“It was stuck at 13,000 for a long time, and as of last week, they felt the system worked well enough to move forward,” said Rick Green, a spokesperson for the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP).
Green said that more than 100,000 people are expected to see erasures in the coming weeks.
Software quality assurance company iLab Consultants was a key component in getting the system fixed, Green said. State officials hired the outside contractor a year ago to help get them back on track.
“My understanding is iLab was helping a lot with checking the software and checking the systems," Green said. "They had to run all these checks to make sure it worked since the data was coming from all locations – paper, old computer systems."
Proponents of the policy said they’re elated automatic erasures have finally resumed.
“This is something we've been working on for a long time," said Philip Kent, a member of advocacy organization Congregations Organized for a New Connecticut (CONECT). "I don't know that it's fully set in actually, the sort of magnitude of this."
The group met with state officials regularly to discuss progress implementing the law.
Kent said the law will assist thousands of people with criminal records who, despite serving time, face hurdles in accessing secure employment, housing and education.
“Connecticut being the second chance state, this type of legislation really works, and I think that is going to be amazing to help drive future policy decisions,” he said.
The state encountered myriad technical issues when trying to implement the law. The process was also delayed as lawmakers expanded the types of crimes eligible for erasure.
In December 2023, Lamont announced that the state’s information technology systems were ready to put the law into full effect, but the state missed its target because of aging computer systems and major data quality issues.
In September 2024, the state hired iLab Consultants, an outside software quality assurance company to help fix the data issues. A project invoice from the time shows the state was scheduled to pay nearly $500,000 for the company's services.
Separately, the state spent at least $8 million to upgrade technology at several agencies. Most recently, DESPP, which is overseeing the law’s implementation, was approved in April for $10 million in state bond funding to put toward the project.
DESPP Commissioner Ronnell Higgins said then that the additional funding was necessary for the department to deliver on its promise to erase the criminal records of the estimated 119,000 people in Connecticut believed to be eligible.
“This was likely the most complex IT project that the state of Connecticut has ever taken on,” Higgins told lawmakers in February.
Higgins is expected to speak with community members and advocates on Sunday an event hosted by CONECT.
