Clinton man with prison past runs for Maryland House seat
A Clinton Democrat is asking District 25 voters to weigh prison, reentry and public safety as he seeks one of three House seats in a crowded primary.
Joseph Tolbert III is trying to turn a prison past into a legislative future in one of Prince George’s County’s most crowded races. The Clinton resident was on the ballot in the June 23 Democratic primary for one of three Maryland House seats in District 25, where voters were choosing among familiar names and newer challengers for representation in communities from District Heights and Suitland to Largo, Upper Marlboro, Clinton and Temple Hills.
Tolbert’s campaign centers on the idea that a serious criminal record can still lead to public service. Maryland Matters reported that a judge sentenced him to 20 years in prison at age 17 in connection with a drive-by shooting, and that the FBI later arrested him at age 35 on drug trafficking charges. Those experiences, Tolbert has said through his campaign and interviews, shaped his view of how laws are made and who they affect, after he studied while incarcerated and took paralegal and correspondence classes.
That message lands in a county where reentry policy is already part of the local political conversation. Prince George’s County amended its fair-criminal-record-screening law in 2024 and renamed it the Access to Employment for Returning Citizens, limiting when employers can ask about or use certain criminal-history information. At the state level, the Maryland Department of Labor’s Re-Entry Initiative offers job resources, employment assistance and referral services for people with criminal backgrounds. Tolbert is betting that those policies reflect a broader shift in how voters think about second chances, work and public safety.
His platform does not stop at reentry. Tolbert has said he wants state oversight of data centers so growth is more responsible and communities are protected, a significant issue in a county where development pressure and land use have become flashpoints. Prince George’s County created a Qualified Data Center Task Force in 2025 to study the impact of those facilities on energy demand, taxes, the environment and quality of life after residents raised concerns about a proposal in Landover. Maryland Matters’ voter guide also said Tolbert wants stronger consequences for violators of domestic-violence protective orders and for students who assault school staff.
The race itself underscores how hard it will be to break through. District 25 is currently represented by Kent Roberson, Denise Roberts and Karen Toles, and Ballotpedia listed Tolbert alongside Angela Angel, Antoine Thompson and Anthony Tilghman in the Democratic primary. Tolbert’s own work history includes jobs at Hilton and DC Central Kitchen, a profile that shows how he rebuilt his life before asking voters to trust him with a seat in the House of Delegates. In District 25, the test is whether redemption can become governance.
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