Florida Rights Restoration Coalition Calls for True Reform of Rights Restoration Process

Current Legislative Measures Don’t Address Underlying Problem

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, May 3, 2006

CONTACTS:
Muslima Lewis, Esq., Director, ACLU Racial Justice Project, 305-576-2337, ext. 18
Marian Bacon White, FRRC President, 561-844-0836

MIAMI – The Florida Legislature this week unanimously approved a bill to ease the voting and civil rights restoration process for people with felony convictions. The Florida Rights Restoration Coalition applauds the Legislature’s action and the Governor’s recent Executive Order designed to smooth the re-entry of former prisoners into the community.

“We are pleased that the state legislature has shown a willingness to assist individuals with prior felony convictions to regain their voting and civil rights,” said Marian Bacon White, President of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and President of the 11th Episcopal District Lay Organization of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. “However, this legislation and a recent Executive Order do not go far enough and ignore the underlying problem. The solution is to change the Constitution to automatically restore voting and civil rights to people who have rejoined our communities after completing their sentences.”

Many of the 600,000 ex-offenders living in Florida continue to be deprived of their basic civil rights - including the right to vote, serve on a jury and hold public office, as well as the right to work. Florida is one of only three U.S. states that denies all ex-felons their voting and civil rights making it difficult for them to re-integrate as productive members of society.

The recently passed legislation (SB 0432/HB 55) requires county correctional facilities to provide inmates leaving the facility with rights restoration applications. State correctional facilities are already required to provide this assistance to persons leaving those state facilities. The Executive Order (06-89) addresses another symptom of disenfranchisement: the denial of work licenses to people who have completed criminal sentences.

The Florida Rights Restoration Coalition is concerned that, if enacted, the legislation will substantially increase the current backlog of about 13,000 applications for rights restoration, as more applications are filed by individuals leaving county correctional facilities. “This legislation is a ‘retail’ solution to a ‘wholesale’ problem. There are over 600,000 people in Florida who are disenfranchised. All the legislation will do is put more people in line requesting hearings, with only about 200 applicants being heard each year. This is not going to solve the problem,” said Muslima Lewis, FRRC member and Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida’s Racial Justice Project.

The Coalition adds that while the long-term solution is to amend the Constitution, the short-term solution would be an immediate vote by the Governor and two members of his cabinet to remove the list of “disqualifying factors” from Clemency Rule 9A. Governor Askew did this in 1975, and it totally eliminated the backlog, allowing previously disenfranchised individuals in Florida to vote and become fully integrated into their communities as productive citizens.

“Together, the clemency assistance legislation and the Executive Order may allow more people to get their voting and civil rights restored,” said White. “However, as long as this state legislature and governor continue to refuse to seek a real solution by supporting measures that would remove the voting and civil rights ban from our constitution, we must recognize the legislation and Executive Order for what they are: band-aids, but not a cure of the underlying problem. The Florida Rights Restoration Coalition will continue to fight to remove the 137-year old voting and civil rights ban from the state constitution.”

About the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition
The Florida Rights Restoration Coalition is a non-partisan statewide coalition of nearly 40 local, state and national organizations committed to constitutional reform to end the disenfranchisement of persons with past felony convictions and restoration of the essential rights to which they are entitled. The Florida Rights Restoration Coalition is a state partner in the national Right to Vote campaign.