US states deprive formerly incarcerated people of their rights – DW – 27.10.2024

George Hawkins was incarcerated when he was 17 and sentenced to 13 years in prison until May 2023. Now 32, he is one of more than 300,000 residents of the southern state of Virginia who are disenfranchised or denied the right to an education. vote – due to a prior conviction for a felony.

“It’s not fair,” said Hawkins, sitting in a cafe in Richmond, Virginia, on a sunny autumn day. “I am part of my community, part of society. I pay taxes. I do everything a citizen does, and I obey those who govern me. But I have no say in the world I live in.”

His voice was calm; He spoke like a man who repeated these lines over and over again.

Voters will go to the polls on November 5 to elect the US president. They will also decide who will represent them in Congress and city councils, who will hold the highest government offices, and who will sit on local school boards.

Across the United States, people previously convicted of felonies are barred from participating in this democratic ceremony, even after completing their sentences.

“These men and women are moving from lockup to lockup,” said Christa Ellison, executive director of Freedom Over Everything, an organization that advocates for the rights of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people in Virginia.

Ellison and Hawkins were meeting for breakfast with fellow activist Hassan Shabazz.

‘Like a ruler’

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) estimates that US states ban a total of 4.6 million people from voting due to prior convictions. Each state has its own law about who stays out of the process when its citizens go to the polls.

In states like California and Minnesota, only currently incarcerated people are not allowed to vote. Those who have completed their sentences will be able to return to the polls.

Virginia is the state with the strictest regulations. Anyone convicted of a felony is generally prohibited from voting. People who have completed their sentences and paid related fines will be able to submit requests to the governor, currently Republican Glenn Youngkin, who decides on a case-by-case basis whether their voting rights will be restored.

In 2023, a spokesperson said Youngkin “firmly believes in the importance of second chances for Virginians who make mistakes but strive to move forward as active members of our citizens.” At the time of this article’s publication, Youngkin’s office had not yet responded to DW’s latest request for comment on its current stance on voting rights.

Just days after completing his sentence for attempted murder, Hawkins demanded the restoration of his voting rights. “I was rejected so quickly I didn’t know what it was,” she said. “As soon as I received this, I applied again. This time I was told I was not eligible.”

Hawkins took the matter to court, but his case was dismissed this August. District Judge John A. Gibney Jr. ruled that although Youngkin’s method of receiving petitions and deciding how to decide them without explanation was not transparent “just like a monarch,” he did not violate any laws.

There are no clear criteria

Only Youngkin knows what determines who is allowed to vote again and who is not. Petitions are rejected without any justification.

“We can make educated guesses,” ACLU Virginia policy director Chris Kaiser told DW. “People who commit violent crimes may be less likely to have their voting rights restored,” Kaiser said. “But there is no clear criteria.”

When it comes to restoring the right to vote after incarceration, some states have laws that distinguish between violent and nonviolent crimes. Hawkins said that wasn’t fair. “Behind the wall we are all the same,” he said. “We eat the same food. We use the same toilets. You don’t know what the next guy is facing unless you ask. And his mother cried the same way my mother cried.”

The Kaiser was equally unimpressed by this distinction. “Some crimes are so terrible that people are sentenced to life imprisonment. As for others, this is not the Middle Ages anymore,” he said. “When people pay off their debt, they can rejoin society.”

When formerly incarcerated people feel welcome in their communities and able to participate in social life, crime is much less likely to happen again, he said. Everyone can benefit from this.

fight the law

Shabazz has been successful in his bid to once again become a fully voting member of society upon his release in 2022 following a 23 1/2-year prison sentence. In prison, Shabazz became what is popularly referred to as a prison lawyer, informally assisting other incarcerated people with legal matters. He is also a licensed attorney.

His rights were restored to him at a time when it was relatively easier for formerly incarcerated people to do so. Ralph Northam, Virginia’s Democratic governor from 2018 to 2022, determined that the rights of all formerly incarcerated people who have completed their prison sentences would be restored.

“I went home, went to a website, logged in and entered my name into the system,” the 48-year-old actor said. “Then I got my rights back.”

Once elected, Youngkin made reinstatement even more difficult.

A racist law?

Nearly 1 in 10 voting-age black people in Virginia are disenfranchised because of prior convictions.

Currently, 5.3 percent of Black Americans are disenfranchised by such laws, a rate 3.5 times higher than that of non-Black Americans, Kaiser said.

“This distorts all of our voters,” he said. “Black Americans do not commit crimes at higher rates than white Americans. There is an unfair racial disparity in our criminal justice system.”

Hawkins, his quiet voice rising, said Virginia’s refusal to restore voting rights sent him a clear message: “Society is still saying, ‘We don’t want you to have a say, George. You’re still not welcome, you still don’t matter.'”

“I never voted,” Hawkins said. “As an adult, I want the right and the choice to have a say. I matter.”

This article was originally written in German.