Ella Baker Center for Human Rights

Voting rights for people with criminal convictions

July 30, 2018 by Mylan Gerbeyesus

Who in California currently has the right to vote?

Eligible voters are citizens of the United States, 18 years of age or older as of Election Day.

But, what if you’ve been arrested or have a conviction?

“Many Californians mistakenly believe a criminal conviction keeps them from voting. Politicians bet on that fact to win elections,” according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

So, let’s set the record straight. You are eligible to vote if you:

Are awaiting trial or are on trial for any crime;

Are in jail for a misdemeanor;

Are serving a county jail sentence under Realignment (AB 109);

Are on probation, even if you are in jail as a condition of your probation;

Are awaiting a judge’s decision on a probation violation;

Are completing your mandatory supervision or post-release community supervision;

Have completed parole;

Are a person with a juvenile wardship adjudication.

In 2016, Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB 2466, known as “The Voting Rights Clarification.”

The bill granted “more than 50,000 people under mandatory and post-release community supervision” the right to vote, according to the ACLU.

Under the new law, anyone convicted of a felony, who is not currently in state or federal prison or on parole, is allowed to vote.

The only time you cannot vote while in county jail is if you are awaiting transfer to state or federal prison; in jail for a parole violation or serving a state prison sentence under contract with a county jail; or you are currently found mentally incompetent to vote by a court.

In order to vote from jail, a voter registration form must be requested, completed, filled out, and an application to vote-by-mail must be requested from jail staff or from a county clerk. Once submitted, your county election official will process and mail you a Voter Notification Card, and you will receive a vote-by-mail ballot in the mail prior to the next election.

You may register to vote if you are 18 or over and if you are a juvenile court commitment (not an adult court conviction), to the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ). Counselors could answer any questions.

The ability to vote is restored once a sentence is completed.

Online voter registration is at http://registertovote.ca.gov/ or print the voter registration form and send it in by mail. You can also register at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) when you are signing up for a driver’s license or ID card. According to the DMV, “the deadline to register [to vote] is by 11:59:59 on the 15th day before the Election Day.”

The next election in California will be held on Nov. 6.

“Drug-overdose deaths drove a decline in U.S. life expectancy in 2016 for the second year in a row…” THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Dec. 21, 2017

If you are eligible and haven’t already registered to vote please do! Encourage family members and friends to register and vote too. There are a number of criminal justice reform bills on the ballot that directly affect you and your family.

Ella Baker Center for Human Rights can be reached at 1970 Broadway, Suite 1125, Oakland, CA 94612.

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CA bills aim to reform law for juveniles and adults

June 11, 2018 by San Quentin News Contributer

Inmate being escorted from his cell
in the San Quentin Adjustment Center

Sacramento, CA —On April 4, the California Senate Public Safety Committee voted to pass Senate Bills 1392 and 1393, half of the Equity and Justice Package, authored by Sen. Holly J. Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) and Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens). The two Senate leaders are joint authors on bills that together seek major justice reforms for juveniles and adults.

“Mass incarceration is a massive moral failure and policy failure. It’s a moral failure because we now know that it is injurious to families and to the economies of low-income communities, and that its violence has been directed overwhelmingly at Black men and Black women, Latinos and Latinas,” Mitchell said,” according to a press release by Californians for a Responsible Budget (CURB). “As a matter of public policy, paying for long prison sentences is the worst use of public safety dollars. We must stop wasting taxpayer dollars on a failed policy.”

“According to a RAND analysis, every $1 invested in such [inmate] education generates at least $4 in economic return,” reports Fast Company.

“The state typically spends $71,000 a year to house an inmate. It costs about $5,000 total to help put one [incarcerated] student through community college”, reports Fast Company.

The passage out of committee comes in the wake of the California legislature passing two historic sentencing reform measures in 2017: SB 180 (The Repeal of Ineffective Sentencing Enhancements) authored by Mitchell, which repealed the three-year sentence enhancement for prior drug convictions; and SB 620, authored by Senator Steven Bradford (D-Gardena), allowing judges to strike unwarranted gun sentence enhancements.

SB 1392, the Repeal Ineffective Sentencing Enhancements (RISE) Act of 2018, authored by Mitchell, repeals California’s one-year sentence enhancement for prior felony convictions and passed with a 5 to 1 vote. SB 1392 would repeal one of the most commonly used sentencing enhancements that adds one year for each previous prison or felony jail term, which impacted one-third of people convicted in 2017.

The Los Angles Police Department (LAPD) doled out almost $81 million in the last fiscal year to settle lawsuits, the Los Angeles Times reported.

SB 1393, the Fair and Just Sentencing Reform Act of 2018, reinstates judicial discretion to the application of the five-year sentence enhancement for each prior serious felony at the time when a person is currently charged with a serious felony. This bill passed the committee with a 5 to 1 vote. According to data from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), there are about 100,000 years’ worth of the five-year enhancement applied to people currently under CDCR custody.

“…the number of privately held firearms in America has nearly doubled in the last two decades, while the number of gun murders per capita was cut in half.” Reason Magazine December 2017 REASON.COM

According to the Public Policy Institute of California, “California has more than 100 separate code sections that enhance sentences” based on a person’s current offense and/or record of prior convictions. As of 2016, 79 percent of people under CDCR custody had some kind of sentence enhancement attached to their base sentence; 25 percent had three or more enhancements stacked on.

Proponents of the measures argue that these policies will help restore balance in the judicial process, address extreme sentences, and reduce racial disparities in the criminal justice system by preventing people from having their sentences doubled or tripled because of enhancements and reducing jail overcrowding and wasteful spending on incarceration. The bill’s co-sponsors and community members who have experienced extreme sentencing celebrate the passage of this bill out of the Public Safety Committee as a step toward victory for families and communities who have faced separation and destabilization for too long as a result of ineffective “tough on crime” policies that disproportionately target people of color.

“Tennessee is 17.1 percent Black, but Blacks make up 69 percent of all drug-free school zone offenders…” REASON Magazine, January 2018

“These bills are a long overdue step toward restoring fairness in our courtrooms,” said Romarilyn Ralston, of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners. “They recognize the critical importance of reunifying parents with their children, which is key to sustaining healthy communities.”

“The outcome of today’s hearing builds on the growing momentum in California to enact criminal justice reforms that divest from ineffective mass incarceration policies and invest in community-based solutions like mental health care, education and substance-use treatment.” said Amber-Rose Howard of CURB. California voters have also shown their support for such reforms by voting for Propositions 47, 64 and 57, and advocates laud lawmakers for demonstrating their commitment to following the will of the people by enacting legislation that prioritizes safety instead of punishment.

Co-sponsors of the legislation include ACLU of California, Californians United for a Responsible Budget, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, Drug Policy Alliance, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Friends Committee on Legislation California, Pillars of the Community, Tides Advocacy, Women’s Foundation of CA, Women’s Policy Institute, California Coalition for Women Prisoners, and Legal Services for Prisoners with Children. Euhernandez@drugpolicy.org

Shaka Senghor visits prison to speak about change

January 21, 2018 by Kevin Sawyer

Jessica Jackson-Sloan and Shaka Senghor in the SQ newsroom

Shaka Senghor, 45, a consulting producer for Oprah Winfrey’s new program, Released, which debuted on the OWN cable television network, visited San Quentin State Prison in November 2017.

Senghor said he wants to collaborate with men in prison. He knows about incarceration because he served time, 19 years in prison for second-degree murder in Michigan. Seven of those years were in solitary confinement.

“I spent two decades with these men,” said Senghor. “Friends don’t leave friends behind.”

He said there’s no turning back to that past life, but “I had to come to see the brothers in (San Quentin). That’s important to me.”

Dressed in all black, wearing neatly groomed dreadlocks and a closely trimmed gray beard, he entered the prison’s media center recognizing that the men there were doing “serious stuff,” in a positive way.

“Tennessee is 17.1 percent Black, but Blacks make up 69 percent of all drug-free school zone offenders…” REASON Magazine, January 2018

“Guys in here have some kind of responsibility for what they send home,” said Senghor, adding that recidivism hurts their efforts. “Our biggest battle is when one guy gets out and f**** up.” That, he said, reflects on everyone who is incarcerated. Still, he likes working with people who “get it.”

Senghor also collaborates with Van Jones, of #CUT50, whom he met at MIT’s media lab during a fellowship. He said they sometimes discuss the spiritual aspect of their work. “Van always wants to know how we can get better.”

Recently, Senghor, Jones and Michelle Alexander, attorney and author of The New Jim Crow, spoke at the Ella Baker Center in Oakland, California. “This raises the importance of men and women coming home,” he said. “It’s about accountability to keep ourselves sharp.”

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“The premiere episode of Released follows three black former inmates who each committed different offenses but face similar experiences of fighting to stay out of prison after being released,” the Huffington Post reported.

The episode follows the journey of Sam Johnson and Kevin Carr, recently paroled from San Quentin State Prison, and explores how they reconnect with their families after years of incarceration.

Senghor said he never imagined that he would do this kind of work. “Some days it seems all surreal.”

Not too long ago, Senghor was invited to Germany to visit a prison with a contingent of prison activists and wardens. He admitted to having prejudices going to a German prison—thinking of Auschwitz—but when he arrived he said it was “mind blowing” because it wasn’t an “antagonistic atmosphere.”

According to Senghor, German prisoners are allowed to go out into society and return to the prison to serve their sentences. He said in Germany, prisoners are treated like citizens.

“If this is happening in Germany, what can we do here?” Senghor said. He said in Germany, they have “life-long sentences” where people are not sentenced to die in prison.

One poignant experience he recounted was discussing his years of confinement in U.S. prisons with a German prison warden. Upon hearing that Senghor spent seven years in solitary confinement, the warden cried, “We would never do that to one of our citizens.”

Senghor wrote the book Writing My Wrongs: Life, Death, and Redemption in an American Prison, which has appeared on The New York Times best-seller list. “Sometimes it’s emotionally draining when you have to reflect on your worst moment,” he said. “It’s about my journey and growing up on the streets of Detroit. It’s also about going to prison and coming out on the other side.”

Senghor had many interesting stories to share with the men at San Quentin. He spoke of meeting President Obama when he was invited to the White House. Initially, he was not allowed in because of his criminal record. However, Jones spoke up, mentioning that Senghor was forced to stay outside. Jones then looked directly at the president.

Senghor said “they scrambled to get me in.” Later, the White House apologized and changed its policy.

“I always keep (my) book with me when I’m traveling,” Senghor said. When he met Obama, however—who he said is “super cool and cares about the issues,”—he didn’t have a copy of his book. It didn’t help when Obama said, “So, I heard you wrote a book.” (He was able to send him a copy later.)

Senghor recalled reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X in prison and imagining getting Oprah to read one of his own books.

Commenting on his writing and his connection with Released, Senghor said, “I believe I have a voice in this space, and I have a responsibility to say something positive. You can’t get through tough times without having someone inspire it.”

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