The first thing you notice about Jared Villery is his suits. Each day, he wears a different color that shines in the California summer sun. He has thirteen suits in rotation, many of which are made of Italian cloth, featuring a range of lush colors. From afar, you might think he’s an investment banker or a Hollywood power player.
But Jared is neither of those things. And he used to wear a different uniform for over 20 years, prison blues.
Today, Jared serves as the Expungement Program Manager at ARC, where he leads an effort to expunge past criminal records. While in prison in 2022, Villery learned about a new law that had just passed in California that would begin expunging past criminal records, even for those with past felony convictions. Villery knew it would be a “game changer.”
“There had been a form of expungement on the books for decades,” he explained, “but it was only for misdemeanors and felonies or wobblers that could be charged as misdemeanors. Very few people ever qualified,” he said about the prior expungement laws.
Once he was released from prison in 2024, he began volunteering at the ARC Expungement Project, which assists individuals with past convictions in expunging their records through the courts, because of a law passed in 2022, SB 731.
Now, Villery serves as the Expungement Program Manager at ARC, leading the organization’s legal work and collaborating with over 1,000 members across California to clear their records through the courts.
