Appeals Court agrees with ACLU re Civil Rights Restoration

[Katarina]

Just received this in my email from the ACLU:

TALLAHASSEE, FL – In a unanimous decision today, the First
District Court of Appeal in Florida agreed with the American Civil
Liberties Union of Florida and ordered the Department of Corrections
to provide prisoners with the application for restoration of their
civil rights, including the right to vote, prior to their release
from supervision, and to assist in the preparation of the forms upon
request.

"We are pleased that the state of Florida has been ordered to assist
inmates who have completed their sentences in applying for a hearing
to request the restoration of their civil rights," said Randall C.
Berg, Jr., lead counsel for the plaintiffs. "There are nearly 600,000
persons who have been stripped of the right to vote in Florida and
who need to have their civil rights restored. Governor Bush could
end this oppression today if he would simply amend the Rules of
Executive Clemency to make restoration automatic. Governor Askew did
it in 1975, and in doing so saved the state millions of dollars being
wasted on processing civil rights restoration applications."

The ACLU of Florida, Florida Justice Institute and Florida Legal
Services jointly filed a lawsuit in 2001 challenging the state's
failure to comply with the law requiring the Department of
Corrections to assist offenders with the application form prior to
their release. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Florida
Conference of Black State Legislators, three Miami-based
organizations that work with ex-felons and several individuals with
past felony convictions.

"Basically, the court has ordered the state to do its job,"
said Brian Dennis, President of Brothers of the Same Mind, an
organizational plaintiff in the case that assists people with past
felony convictions in re-entering society. "This is a step in the
right direction, and one that has been needed for a long time."


Florida is one of only seven states that strip people of their civil
and voting rights following a felony conviction. Unless the Board of
Executive Clemency (consisting of the Governor and members of his
Cabinet) restores those rights, the ban lasts a lifetime. In
addition to the right to vote, people also lose their eligibility to
hold many state job licenses, which directly impacts their ability to
find meaningful employment and support their families.

"The question for the Governor now is whether the state will
stubbornly insist on maintaining its unjust and archaic system of
lifetime disfranchisement," said Howard Simon, Executive Director
of the ACLU of Florida. "The cost to the state of maintaining
Florida's voting ban has just increased dramatically."

During the lower court proceedings, Leon County Circuit Court Judge
P. Kevin Davey found that prison officials failed to assist 124,769
felons who were released between 1992 and 2001 as required by law.
He instructed the state to take steps to restore the civil and voting
rights of nearly 30,000 with past felony convictions, an estimated
portion of the 124,769 inmates who would likely qualify for the
restoration of civil and voting rights without a hearing before the
Board of Executive Clemency. But, Judge Davey stopped short of
blaming the DOC for skirting its legal obligation. He ruled that by
transmitting a computerized list of inmates to the Parole Commission,
prison officials were meeting their statutory obligations to assist
former felons.

In today's seven-page decision, the court ruled that:
"Although an "E-list" or "E-application" is
deemed the requisite application by the Office of the Governor, the
parties agreed at oral argument that 85% of all offenders must also
submit form ADM 1501A <"Application for Restoration of Civil[br />Rights"] to seek restoration of their civil rights. It is
undisputed that form ADM 1501A was not being provided to offenders
prior to their discharge." The court also ruled that the
Department of Corrections "is not complying with the requirement
of section 944.293 to provide `other forms required for the
restoration of civil rights' …"

The case, Florida Conference of Black State Legislators et al. v.
James Crosby, No. 1D03-3370, was filed in Leon County Circuit Court
in Tallahassee on behalf of Florida Conference of Black State
Legislators, People United to Lead the Struggle For Equality (PULSE),
Brothers of the Same Mind, Inner City Grass Roots Civic Coalition,
and the following individual plaintiffs with past felony convictions:
Reginald Greenlee, Joseph Brown, Milton McCloud and Hollis Horton.

In addition to Berg, Peter Siegel of the Florida Justice Institute
and Randall Marshall of the ACLU of Florida are serving as attorneys
in this case.

The opinion is available at http://www.aclufl.org/pdfs/Legal%20PDfs/FCBSL%20DCA%20opinion.pdf.

Alessandra Soler Meetze
Communications Director
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida
4500 Biscayne Blvd., Suite 340
Miami, FL 33137-3227