In partnership with pro-bono counsel at Salahi PC, CLJC filed a class-action lawsuit against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) for failing to provide the legally required $200 gate money to people released from prison. Filed in September 2024, this landmark case seeks to recover money owed to hundreds of thousands of people released from California prisons over the past 30 years who were denied crucial financial support needed to rebuild their lives after incarceration.
In August 2025, plaintiffs filed a First Amended Complaint adding two additional named plaintiffs and three new causes of action. In April 2026, the court issued a major ruling in plaintiffs’ favor, allowing the case to move forward. The court allowed plaintiffs’ core claims to proceed and denied CDCR’s motion to strike the class allegations — preserving the possibility of relief for the hundreds of thousands of people affected by CDCR’s unlawful conduct stretching back more than three decades.
The case is still ongoing, but it has already achieved significant impact. As a result of the case, CDCR has already stopped deducting transportation and apparel costs from people’s gate money and has changed the decades-old regulation at issue in the case.