More than 100 felons ask Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet to restore their rights. About half of them get their wish.
By TAMARA LUSH
Published June 18, 2004
TALLAHASSEE - Jorge Lara was 16 when he was convicted of cocaine trafficking in a South Florida farming community.
He spent five years on probation, then tried to set his life straight. Lara became a firefighter, a mentor to at-risk migrant teens and a loving father.
Now 29, the Florida City man has never been able to vote, serve on a jury or obtain a professional license.
Until now.
On Thursday, Florida's Clemency Board - comprised of Gov. Jeb Bush and the state Cabinet - restored Lara's civil rights. With the stroke of a pen, Bush granted Lara a full pardon and absolved a $250,000 fine stemming from the cocaine charge.
"You won't regret this, governor," a weeping Lara told Bush and the cabinet.
More than 100 felons and their families had gathered in the cavernous Cabinet room in the basement of the state Capitol to plead for their civil rights, which every felon loses automatically. Many had tried to rebuild their lives, only to have the stigma of a felony follow them.
Lara was one of about 50 people who were given their rights back. Another 15 were told no. A few others were taken under advisement. Bush and the Cabinet meet four times a year to discuss such requests.
Thousands more are still waiting.
Before taking up any cases, Bush announced that the backlog had been dramatically reduced.
In June 2003, 36,606 cases were pending. Now, Bush said, the backlog is slightly more than 8,000.
"This has been a lot of work," Bush said.
In addition, Bush said, clemency employees reviewed 125,000 cases that are part of a lawsuit against the state concerning felons released from prison between 1992 and 2001. He said 22,000 of those were determined to be eligible to have their rights automatically restored; of those, 11,000 have had their rights restored.
Of the remaining 103,000, about half must have hearings to get their rights restored. The rest are not eligible for various reasons (some are dead, others are in prison again.)
In response to the governor's announcement, the American Civil Liberties Union called the move "a drop in the bucket" compared to the number of felons who still don't have their rights.
Last year, a Tallahassee judge ordered the state to assist prisoners who completed sentences between 1992 and 2001. The Department of Corrections had failed to provide them with the application required to regain their civil rights.
"Applications for civil rights have increased dramatically because of increased public awareness," Bush said.
Florida is one of seven states that does not automatically restore civil rights to people who have served their sentences on felony convictions.
Thousands of people were wrongly identified as felons in 2000 and removed from voting rolls. Elections supervisors now are struggling to verify a new list of 47,687 voters the state says are felons and should be removed from the voting rolls.
"The Florida process is very complex," said Marc Mauer, assistant director of the Sentencing Project, a Washington, D.C., group that studies prison and inmate issues.
Here's how it works: Felons who are released from prison or finish probation or parole can apply to have their civil rights restored. Some felons can have their rights restored automatically.
But those convicted of serious offenses such as drug trafficking, sex crimes, battery or DUI manslaughter must request a hearing before the Clemency Board.
The governor and the Cabinet - the agriculture commissioner, the state's chief financial officer and the attorney general - review the cases. The governor wields the most power under the state constitution: He can make decisions unilaterally regarding pardons and restoration of civil rights.
Which could be why, at Thursday's meeting, the governor's questions were more akin to a probation officer than the top politician of the nation's fourth largest state.
"You still drinking?" Bush asked one applicant, who answered no.
"I would urge you to stay sober," Bush said, before restoring the man's rights.
One man - the former mayor of a small, Brevard County community convicted of cocaine charges - was crying so much he was barely able to speak.
"I made very poor life decisions," Todd Deratany said. "I'm very sorry."
The state's executive clemency laws have remained virtually unchanged since 1868, when Florida lawmakers put the rules in place to deter ex-slaves from voting.
The law was relaxed briefly in the 1970s by Gov. Reubin Askew, but subsequent governors tightened the rules and added crimes that require a hearing.
Bush has streamlined the process, said Randy Berg, an attorney involved in last year's lawsuit.
Under Bush, the application shrank from 12 pages to one. Certified copies of sentencing orders are no longer required. Applications are available on the Internet.
But Berg said too many felons are not being heard.
"Florida now leads the nation in the number of people who are permanently disenfranchised," Berg said. "Seventeen percent of people disenfranchised in the U.S. live in Florida, and that's not including the people currently incarcerated."
Berg and other civil rights advocates estimate there are about 600,000 felons in Florida who do not have their civil rights.
"Jeb Bush professes to want to eliminate bureaucracy in government," Berg said. "He could do away with this bureaucratic process."
On Thursday, Bush said he has no plans to relax the rules.
"I'm confident with this process," he told reporters. "I think it's a fair process.'
Minutes earlier, a former felon echoed his words.
Lara and his family stood in the lobby, crying and hugging each other tight.
Lara wiped his eyes and turned to the television cameras.
"The system works," Lara said. "It was proven today. America is truly a land of opportunities."
- Tamara Lush can be reached at 727 893-8612 or at lush@sptimes.com
