CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) -- Students at the University of Virginia Law School are helping people in the community, who are returning to life after being incarcerated, with a job fair re-entry program.

“Incarceration in the United States is becoming a norm as opposed to an exception, over eight percent of the United States, it’s estimated, are living with felony convictions, which means we have tens of millions of more people, families, friends, colleagues, people in our community who are directly impacted by incarceration,” said Kelly Orians, the Director of the Decarceration and Community Reentry Clinic. 

The job fair has students surveying formerly incarcerated people in the area to learn about their biggest concerns about adapting to life after prison.

From there, the students in the school’s Decarceration and Community Reentry Clinic can help them tackle the issues that can lead them back to prison. 

“Even after people leave prison, we don’t do enough to sort of support them and find out how we can help them remain integrated in society, what do you need, what do your families need,” said Abigail Scheper, one of the starters of the Reentry Legal Helpline project. 

Since the start of this project, students have surveyed close to 60 people and from that, they were able to create about a dozen modules to train students on these legal issues.

But some students have a personal connection to this project that makes it more meaningful than just helping out strangers.

“Growing up, I had some family members who spent time in incarceration, so seeing the challenges that they faced, coming home, was a huge part of why I was super excited when Professor Orians came to me and wanted to start this clinic,” said Whitney Carter, one of the starters of the Reentry Legal Helpline project. 

Through this project, students are able to see the change they are making not just in the community but in their future one day.

Because of this survey, UVA Law School is collaborating with the Office of the Commonwealth, among many other law figures in our town, on a record-sealing event.

Through this, people in the community can get charges off their records to ease obstacles when transitioning back into normal life.