Law

Organizations Call for Restoration of Civil Rights, Removal of Employment Barricades

Tallahassee – Representatives of the ACLU of Florida and other organizations joined lawmakers today in Tallahassee to urge the Board of Executive Clemency, the Governor and Legislature to act on pending bills and take other steps to restore civil rights to more than 90,000 Floridians and remove obstacles to their employment.

“There are thousands of others …who have repaid their debts to society and have become productive tax-paying citizens – Floridians who have done all that was asked of them, yet they still cannot have their rights restored,” said Desmond Meade, a law school student who is waiting to have his rights restored following a felony conviction. “I am here to ask the question, ‘What more do we have to do?’”

Meade, who is also the President of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, joined Joyce Hamilton Henry, ACLU of Florida, West Central Regional Director and Dale Landry, President Tallahassee Branch of the NAACP in calling for swift action to restore civil rights to Meade and the estimated 90,000 Floridians in caught in the administrative backlog of unprocessed applications.

Floridians requesting restoration of their civil rights must petition the newly seated Board of Executive Clemency which consists of the member of the elected Florida. More than 90,000 have restoration applications pending. The new Board convened their first meeting today.

“Failure to act – whether it be by the Clemency Board or the Legislature – leaves these people on hold, unable to get jobs and fully rejoin our community,” said Landry. “Leaders have known about this problem for years now and it’s time for leaders to lead and make it happen. The Bottom Line: Failure to correct this and provide a means for people to legally meet their basic needs increases the threat to public safety. ”

In addition to the social penalty of being convicted, ex-offenders are barred under Florida law from receiving occupational licenses until their rights are restored. This coming Legislative session the House and Senate will consider the “Jim King Keep Florida Working Act” which would “de-couple” convictions from issuing occupational licenses.

The bills (SB146/HB449) are sponsored by Senator Chris Smith (D-Oakland Park) and Representative Dwayne Taylor (D-Daytona Beach) who participated in the press conference.

“Governor Jeb Bush’s ex-offender Task Force called for de-coupling in 2006, Governor Crist supported it and Governor Rick Scott’s transition team included it in their recommendations,” said Rep. Taylor. “It’s time for the Legislature to pass this reasonable reform.”

“Employment is a key component to preventing crime. We can either try to get ex-offenders jobs and careers so they can cash paychecks and pay taxes or taxpayers can keep spinning the revolving door of our prison system,” said Sen. Smith. “If we want Floridians to get to work, we should not stand between anyone and a job.”

Governor Scott’s Law and Order Transition Team recommended the legislature “review and revise Florida’s employment restrictions for ex-offenders” citing “there is no consistency or predictability in the rules, laws or policies that impose these restrictions” and “most restrictions are not closely related to the safety, trust and responsibly required of the job.”

“It’s long been proven that a good job is one of the real keys to keeping people out of the criminal justice system,” said ACLU’s Hamilton Henry. “Releasing people from prison but blocking them from real jobs is the opposite of what Florida needs to do.”

Also filed for consideration by the Legislature this year are proposed amendments to the Florida Constitution (HJR51/SJR538) which would reinstate voting rights for convicted felons who have completed their sentences.

The House sponsor of HJR51, Rep. Ari Porth (D-Coral Springs), also spoke on his proposal, “These Floridians pay taxes and are expected to be model citizens and yet we don’t let them have a voice in the democratic process of electing the people who are supposed to represent us all. It’s wrong.”

Despite the legislative proposals and restoration backlog, neither the Board of Executive Clemency nor the Scott Administration have offered a public plan to address the problem.

To assist ex-offenders in making their petitions and simplify the application process, participants unveiled www.RestoreRights.org – a project of the ACLU and the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition.

“The problem is easy to solve but ignoring it won’t make it go away,” Hamilton Henry said. “Florida needs an automatic restoration process. We also need the Board of Executive Clemency to immediately tell Floridians how they will deal with the growing administrative backlog of people who just want to move ahead with their lives.”

“The United States military grants waivers to ex-offenders, trains them, arms them and sends them overseas to defend us,” said Meade. “But the state of Florida won’t let any serve on a jury or get a license to be a bartender. The policy makes no sense.”

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