The conference drew around 1,000 people, almost all of them system-impacted in some way, whether formerly incarcerated themselves or family members of formerly and currently incarcerated people. Asha Bandele, one of the hosts of the conference, said the FICPFM is unique among criminal-justice re- form movements because it is led by people who are directly affected by the criminal- justice system.
“As somebody who worked in funding, I saw the majority of criminal justice dollars be handed over to people who were not directly impacted. That would never be the case in any other movement,” she said. “You’re not going to organize the largest movement you need if you don’t have people who are directly impacted, because nobody else is going to have skin in the game.”

The conference featured an array of groups working on different aspects of criminal-justice reform, from family visitation to banning the box (prohibiting employers from asking about previous felony convictions on job applications). Groups representing formerly incarcerated women, LGBTQIA+ people and undocumented immigrants shared ideas and strategies at the conference.

On the second day of the conference, organizers bused attendees to a local community center, where they phone banked, sent mass text messages and went door-to-door asking people to vote yes on the amendment. Conference organizers said participants contacted over 80,000 voters in less than four hours.

Desmond Meade, the executive director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, has been instrumental in getting Amendment Four on the ballot. Meade, who is formerly incarcerated, said his wife ran for office last election cycle, and he wasn’t allowed to vote for her because of his felony conviction. He said that although he could move to another state in order to get his right to vote, he doesn’t believe people should have to move to gain their rights in 21st-century America. His conviction to stay in Florida and fight for voting rights for all Floridians was reinforced during a plane ride several years ago.

“What we know is that victims become offenders. Victims become perpetrators”

“When I looked out of the plane, I said somewhere down there’s an imaginary line that divides Florida from Georgia. And it reminds me of the days of slavery when all a slave had to do was cross an imaginary line to get to freedom,” Meade said. “And I said there is no way in Hell in the 2000s should any American citizen have to es- cape another state to experience their freedom and their democracy.”