2025 Lifer School

Saturday, February 1 | 9:00 am PST | Oakland, CA

Join us for our annual Lifer School—an all-day educational symposium for advocates and community members who are supporting people navigating the parole process in California.

At Lifer School, you'll hear from experts with both lived and professional experience in the California parole system. Our workshops will cover everything from an overview of the parole process, to how to support a loved one in it, to ways to get involved in parole-related policy efforts and more. You'll gain practical tips for preparing for parole hearings and collaborating effectively with BPH attorneys—all within a trauma-informed and healing-focused framework.

This year, we’re thrilled to introduce a new track for attorneys to learn the specifics of representing clients and habeas petitions, as well as an interactive focus workshop about UnCommon Law’s upcoming guide to challenging parole denials in court without a lawyer—designed for community members but open to everyone!

Lifer School will run all day, from 9:00 am - 5:00 pm. Lunch is provided!

If you are formerly incarcerated and on parole and need any assistance in gaining permission from your Parole Office to attend the event, please contact info@uncommonlaw.org for assistance.

UCL’s application for California MCLE credit is pending approval. Pending Bar approval, up to 5.25 credits will be awarded.

Register today

Free and donation ticket options are available.

Can’t make it in person?

While we will not be live-streaming this event, if you are unable to attend in person, please email info@uncommonlaw.org, and we will provide you with a video-recorded series of the workshops after the event to ensure you can still access the valuable insights and resources.

Saturday, February 1, 9:00 am - 4:30 pm | MetWest High School - Dolores Huerta Campus

9:00 am - Arrival and Registration

9:15 am - Welcome

9:45 am - Introduction to the Parole Process

11:00 am - Break

11:15 am - Mock Hearing Demonstration

12:15 pm - Lunch

1:00 pm - Workshop Session #1

2:00 pm - Break

2:15 pm - Workshop Session #2

3:15 pm - Break

3:30 pm - Closing Panel with former clients and Q&A session

4:30 - Event ends

At The Ahimsa Collective, they are committed to replacing systems of punishment with practices rooted in healing, compassion, and love. They embrace anti-racist, anti-carceral, and anti-oppressive frameworks and honor the unique agency, cultural contexts, and diverse paths of healing for each individual. Their work is community-centered, amplifying the wisdom and liberation of those with lived experience, and intersects with movements such as restorative justice, reentry, indigenous peacemaking, and land-based healing. They aim to strengthen communities—not systems—acting with the patience of a thousand years and the urgency of tomorrow.

Project Avary believes in the power of community and relationships full of welcome and belonging to both heal and to empower growth. They bring children of incarcerated parents together within a community where younger children connect with peers, older teen leaders, and alumni counselors and mentors—many of whom have personal experience with parental incarceration. They call this community the “Avary Family”. Within the Avary Family, they provide a culture where youth feel loved and cared for, where they know they deeply matter, and where they are surrounded by a long-term community of adult and peer mentors who see and honor their nobility and their highest potential. They do this through fun outdoor activities such as summer camp, weekend retreats, surfing, backpacking, horseback riding and zip lines, etc.

Transitions Clinic Network supports a national network of primary care clinics, including 21 sites in California, dedicated to improving the health and reentry outcomes for individuals returning from incarceration. TCN programs integrate formerly incarcerated community health workers (CHWs) into primary care teams to engage patients returning from incarceration and transform health systems from within. TCN also operates a Reentry Health Hub to facilitate post-release linkages to community health systems through a clinical referral system as well as a CHW-led reentry health hotline. To find out more about our organization, visit transitionsclinic.org or email tcninfo@ucsf.edu. If you need reentry health support call our hotline at 510-606-6400.