BREAKING DOWN

COLLATERAL SANCTIONS

What are Collateral Sanctions?

Collateral sanctions, also called invisible barriers, after-time penalties, or post-sentence punishments, are legal restrictions that continue long after a person has served their time.

In Ohio, there are 2,679 such sanctions at the state and federal level affecting tens of thousands of Ohioans.

Collateral sanctions can block access to:

    • Over 1,250 Ohio laws create employment-related collateral sanctions. 614 affect occupational licensing, and 331 restrict public or business employment.

    • The healthcare, education, public sector, real estate, construction, and childcare fields are most impacted.

    • Licensing boards often deny applications even for unrelated felonies. Ohio’s Fresh Start Act (2020) was passed to challenge such blanket bans.

  • Ohio sanctions include suspensions of housing eligibility and private landlord denials.

  • Convictions can disqualify Ohioans from receiving federal and state student aid and loans, especially for financial crimes or drug offenses.

  • Felony convictions in Ohio result in loss of voting rights (not the right to vote), ineligibility for jury duty, and other civic penalties that are only restored through pardon or rights-restoration processes.

    • Ohio’s 775+ collateral sanctions include suspensions of driver’s licenses (for child support and drug offenses), loss of public benefits, and restrictions on parenting or adoption rights.

    • In 2018, it was estimated Ohioans lost over $3.4 billion in wages due to these barriers, which also limit access to insurance and safety nets.

Why It Matters in Ohio

  • Over 1 million Ohioans have felony convictions.

  • 1 in 3 adults in Ohio has a criminal record.

  • Collateral sanctions keep people locked out of jobs, housing, and education, leading to poverty, instability, and recidivism.

  • These invisible penalties transform a brief sentence into a lifelong punishment, harming individuals, families, and communities.

BFO’s Mission to End Permanent Punishment

At Building Freedom Ohio, we believe justice is about restoring full citizenship. So we:

  1. Uplift the impact. Through research, storytelling, and public events, we expose how collateral sanctions hurt Ohio families.

  2. Mobilize impacted leaders. Through FILM (Felony Impacted Liberation Movement), those who’ve experienced these barriers become advocates to lead change.

  3. Champion policy reform. We lobby lawmakers, support legislation, and build pressure to remove harmful bans on employment, licensing, housing, and voting.

  4. Advance community solutions. We work with employers, colleges, housing providers, and local governments to adopt second-chance policies and ban-the-box protections.

Join Us in Redefining Justice

Collateral sanctions shape the future of families, communities, schools, and jobs in every Ohio county. At Building Freedom Ohio, we’re dedicated to tearing down these invisible barriers—one policy, one city, one life at a time.