Give Florida's ex-felons a reason to stay straight
Palm Beach Post, March 1, 2007

Restoring rights quickly is revisited: Gov. Crist now says he is open to excluding released felons whose crimes were violent.
St. Petersburg Times, March 2, 2007

Giving ex-offenders a chance to make good
Tallahassee Democrat, February 26, 2007

Crist: I'll restore felons' rights
St. Petersburg Times, February 22, 2007

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Florida Rights Restoration Coalition Calls for State to Lift Barriers to Civil Rights Restoration

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
February 28, 2008

CONTACT:
Muslima Lewis, Racial Justice Project Director, ACLU of Florida, 786-363-2729 or mlewis@aclufl.org; or Brian Kettenring, Head Organizer, Florida ACORN, 727-692-7215 (cell) or fieldrdso@acorn.org; or Mark Schlakman, FSU Center for the Advancement of Human Rights, 850-644-4614, (office/direct), 850-766-2146 (cell), or mschlakman@admin.fsu.edu  

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – At a news conference today, the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition called for the Florida legislature and the executive branch to implement comprehensive measures that would lift occupational licensing restrictions imposed on individuals with past felony convictions and to work toward truly automatic and comprehensive civil rights restoration reform.

Many Floridians convicted of a felony who have completed their sentences are denied the right to vote for the rest of their lives unless they are granted restoration of their civil rights by the Governor and Cabinet sitting as the Clemency Board, including the fundamental right to vote, eligibility to serve on a jury and the right to hold public office. Also, due to many restrictions imposed by statute, regulation or agency practice, citizens with past felony convictions are ineligible for certain state-issued occupational licenses until their civil rights are restored.

Mark Schlakman, senior program director, FSU Center for the Advancement of Human Rights and former special counsel to Governor Lawton Chiles, has provided CFO Alex Sink, at her request, with a concise overview regarding the extent to which the rights restoration process is impacted by such employment restrictions and proposing ways for the Clemency Board to achieve more comprehensive reform. Schlakman spoke to those issues in today’s press conference.

With nearly 1 million disfranchised citizens, Florida accounts for nearly 20% of the nation’s approximately 5.3 million disfranchised citizens.  Florida is one of only three states where a felony conviction can result in a permanent, lifetime ban on voting rights.

Governor Crist and the Board of Executive Clemency took an important step to change the antiquated policy of disfranchising citizens with past felony convictions in April 2007 when the Clemency Board enacted clemency rule changes to streamline the restoration of civil rights (RCR) process for certain offenders. However, further reforms must be accomplished so that civil rights restoration is truly automatic and paperwork-free for all Florida citizens upon completion of all non-monetary terms of sentence.

Another key hurdle for restoration of voting rights for citizens with past felony convictions is payment of restitution as a precondition. Further reform is needed in this area. While restitution should be paid when ordered by a court, it can often be difficult for this population to secure meaningful employment – often because they cannot obtain an occupational license – and thus pay back their restitution until their rights have been restored. The Department of Corrections has estimated that 40% of the ineligible citizens with past felony convictions are affected by the restitution precondition.

“The FRRC maintains that payment of restitution should not be a precondition to civil rights restoration. Civil rights need to be restored and barriers to employment removed first, so that applicants are able to secure meaningful employment and pay court-ordered restitution obligations,” said Muslima Lewis, Senior Staff Attorney and Racial Justice Project Director, ACLU of Florida, a founding member of the FRRC.

For individuals seeking assistance to restore their civil rights please call the FRRC toll free at: 877 826 8682 or 877-U-COUNT-2.

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