Tarra Simmons: From the Depths of Struggle to the Halls of Justice

When I talked with Tara Simmons, I knew I was hearing something special. Here’s someone who went from a 30-month prison sentence to the Washington State Legislature. But her path there wasn’t what you’d expect.

Growing Up in Chaos

Tara’s childhood was brutal in ways that shaped everything that followed. Her father was a crack addict, her mother was “a raging alcoholic for all my life and not really able to nurture me,” she told me. She bounced between the two of them, spending time in Stockton, California, where she was exposed to gang violence and drug deals before she was even ten years old.

“I have a scar on my ankle from when I fell when the police was chasing us,” Tara said. She was nine years old at the time. They were chasing her father, but she was with him. That’s the world she knew. Police weren’t helpers. They were part of the chaos.

By 13, she’d gotten her first violent offense charge for assault in the second degree. “I beat up a random girl just to kind of prove that I was tough and down with the gangs,” she explained. She broke the girl’s ribs. She was looking for belonging in all the wrong places, trying to fit in with peers who were in gangs because she didn’t have that sense of family anywhere else.

Finding a Different Path

At 14, Tara was living in a park when she got sick enough to end up in the hospital. That’s where she found out she was pregnant. A social worker helped her get on welfare, and on her 15th birthday, she signed the lease on a studio apartment for $300 a month.

“It was the first time I felt safe,” she told me. “I had a door that would close and lock and I was safe.”

Child protective services got involved, but they let her keep her baby with conditions. She had to get back in school, couldn’t have men at her apartment, couldn’t drink alcohol. “I was so in love with my baby that I would do anything,” she said. She completed all four years of high school in one year and graduated at 16. She was the first person in her entire family for generations to graduate from high school.

The Nursing Years and the Fall

Tara went to community college at 16, then transferred to university and became a registered nurse by 21. She bought a house. Her son was healthy and happy. From the outside, it looked like she’d overcome everything.

But underneath, she was still struggling with connection and belonging. She found herself drawn to the same type of men who reminded her of her old life, men who were abusive. When her father died and her aunt came over using methamphetamine, Tara tried it once and was immediately hooked.

“Within 10 months, I was in prison on a 30 month sentence,” she said. The drug destroyed her life that quickly. She was arrested three times in those 10 months for shoplifting, controlled buys of pain medication she was selling to get meth money, and possession charges.

Prison as Community

Something unexpected happened in prison. Tara found the community she’d been looking for her whole life. She started helping other women navigate their family law issues and custody cases. Law students came to the prison to help with legal education, and they told her something that seemed impossible at the time.

“You should think about going to law school,” they said. She thought they were crazy. “I don’t know any lawyers. They’re all kind of like rich people. I don’t relate to them,” she told them.

But they gave her a number for a law professor who helped people with criminal records become attorneys. She wrote it down, not knowing she’d need it later.

The Desperate Call That Changed Everything

When Tara got out of prison, reality hit hard. She was working at Burger King for $9 an hour, couldn’t afford housing or shoes for her kids, and they were garnishing her paycheck for fines and fees. She started thinking about selling drugs again, just to survive.

That desperation led her to dig out that piece of paper with the professor’s number. She also connected with Sean Hopwood, who had written a book called “The Law Man” about his own journey from prison to Georgetown Law professor. Sean helped her with her law school application and LSAT prep.

She got admitted to law school about a year and four months after getting out of prison. She was 35 years old and terrified.

Law School and the Bar Fight

Tara threw herself into law school while also becoming a powerful advocate in Olympia. The governor appointed her co-chair of the statewide reentry council while she was still a student. She graduated magna cum laude with the first Skadden fellowship her school had ever received in 30 years.

She had everything going for her when she went before the Washington State Bar’s character and fitness committee. She had 100 letters of support from sitting judges, prosecutors, legislators, and community members. Sean Hopwood had been admitted to the Washington bar two years earlier with a more serious criminal record.

Then came the devastating news. Six to three, they decided not to recommend her to sit for the bar exam.

“I was devastated. I was shocked because I thought there’s no way like I’ve done everything right,” she said.

The Supreme Court Victory

Here’s where Tara’s story shows what real resilience looks like. Giving up wasn’t an option. “My guiding light has been to give my kids a better life than I had,” she explained. “Giving up is not even an option.”

Sean Hopwood became her lawyer and filed a motion with the Washington State Supreme Court for review. The ACLU filed an amicus brief with support from criminal justice organizations across the nation and 54 law professors.

The oral argument was packed. The temple of justice was so crowded someone fainted. They had overflow seating outside. After the hearing, everyone expected to wait four or five months for a decision.

Instead, the Supreme Court gave Tara the greatest gift possible. That same day, they unanimously ordered that she be allowed to take the bar exam. It was unprecedented.

From Attorney to Legislator

After becoming an attorney, Tara continued her advocacy work. When her representative Sherry Appleton announced she was retiring, she told Tara she wouldn’t retire unless Tara agreed to run for the seat.

Tara was reluctant. She didn’t want the mudslinging of politics, didn’t want her past used against her. But she ran anyway and won, becoming Washington’s first formerly incarcerated state representative.

Today, she uses her position to break down barriers for others in reentry. The work she’s doing isn’t just about her own success. Every law she passes, every barrier she removes, creates a path for someone else who’s trying to rebuild their life after making mistakes.

Tara’s story shows that the people who’ve lived through the system’s failures are often the ones best equipped to fix it. She didn’t just overcome her nightmare. She’s using it to help others overcome theirs.