More than 650,000 ex-offenders are released from prison every year, according to the Justice Department, and about two-thirds of people who have been incarcerated are likely to be rearrested within three years of their release.
Former felons Desmond Meade, president of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, left, and David Ayala, husband of State Attorney Aramis Ayala, celebrate with copies of their voter registration forms after they registered at the Supervisor of Elections office Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019, in Orlando, Fla. Former felons in Florida began registering for elections on Tuesday, when an amendment that restores their voting rights went into effect.
For Desmond Meade, 55, the executive director of the coalition, helping the estimated 30,000 prisoners released in Florida every year to return to society is a personal mission to change the narrative and carve a path of redemption for people who have been incarcerated. The coalition has worked with lawmakers, policymakers and corporations as a conduit between decision-makers and returning citizens vying for a second chance. In addition to campaigning for Amendment 4 and raising funds to pay for restitution, fines and fees, the group has partnered with Google to provide digital training skills for people impacted by incarceration, as well as created bail and legal defense funds for people unjustly arrested for voting.
“I faced hundreds upon hundreds of collateral consequences because of my previous felony convictions,” Meade reflected. “So, this was something that was personal. At first, you couldn't convince me that this wasn't more than just an African American issue. Because in my community, I'm just thinking there's only Black people that I'm seeing or hearing about.
“We felt that no politician, no matter what their political preferences were, should have that much power to decide which American citizens can vote and which American citizens can't vote. So, we created an alternative pathway, to where any American citizen who had made a mistake had an opportunity to be able to vote again without having to beg a politician for that,” Meade continued.
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