TOPS hoping to make holidays bright for needy children, elderly
Photo
Jay Hare / jhare@dothaneagle.com
Jacob Williams and Anna Reynolds talk after Williams receives some food at Mama Tina’s House on Tuesday night. T.O.P.S. which sponsors the orginization will be sponsoring a variety of Christmas drives for local residents, including a drive to collect toys for the children of incarcerated parnts.
Jim Cook
Published: December 2, 2008
The Ordinary People Society is gearing up for Christmas, sponsoring programs to help needy children and the elderly during the holiday season.
TOPS is putting up an angel tree with the names of children of incarcerated or deceased parents and those whose families are in dire financial situations. The organization is also making up food baskets for the elderly.
Tina Glasgow, head of Mama Tina’s Mission House, said hard times have put an increased burden on charitable organizations this year.
“Yes, we fed more people in the past months than before and find more people in need of clothes (and) hygiene than ever before, and the homeless population has grown,” Glasgow said in an e-mail interview. “We strive to serve to deter the need to steal or engage in harm to another individual to survive.”
Local residents who wish to donate to TOPS’ Christmas programs can do so by bringing food or gifts to Mama Tina’s Mission House at 605 North Alice St. The organization is also looking for volunteers to help feed the needy and sort donations during the Christmas season and throughout the year.
TOPS recently participated with Love In Action ministries during the Thanksgiving holiday to deliver more than 350 meals to needy residents and to serve more than 200 meals at the mission house, Glasgow said.
TOPS got its start in 2001 in the parking lot of Wiregrass Commons Mall. The Rev. Kenneth Glasgow handed out Dante’s Pizza leftovers from the back of his mother’s car at closing time while doing outreach. Today, TOPS and Glasgow are involved in a number of activities including holding Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, providing food, clothing and shelter to the homeless and other activities.
Glasgow has become a nationally-known advocate for the poor and disadvantaged, and helped lead a controversial effort during the 2008 election season to restore voting rights to convicted felons serving time in Alabama’s prisons.
She is putting up an angel tree with the names of children of incarcerated or deceased parents and those whose families are in dire financial situations. The organization is also making up food baskets for the elderly.
Tina Glasgow, head of Mama Tina’s Mission House, said hard times have put an increased burden on charitable organizations this year.
“Yes, we fed more people in the past months than before and find more people in need of clothes (and) hygiene than ever before, and the homeless population has grown,” Glasgow said in an e-mail interview. “We strive to serve to deter the need to steal or engage in harm to another individual to survive.”
Local residents who wish to donate to TOPS’ Christmas programs can do so by bringing food or gifts to Mama Tina’s Mission House at 605 North Alice St. The organization is also looking for volunteers to help feed the needy and sort donations during the Christmas season and throughout the year.
TOPS recently participated with Love In Action ministries during the Thanksgiving holiday to deliver more than 350 meals to needy residents and to serve more than 200 meals at the mission house, Glasgow said.
TOPS got its start in 2001 in the parking lot of Wiregrass Commons Mall. The Rev. Kenneth Glasgow handed out Dante’s Pizza leftovers from the back of his mother’s car at closing time while doing outreach. Today, TOPS and Glasgow are involved in a number of activities including holding Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, providing food, clothing and shelter to the homeless and other activities.
Glasgow has become a nationally-known advocate for the poor and disadvantaged, and helped lead a controversial effort during the 2008 election season to restore voting rights to convicted felons serving time in Alabama’s prisons.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Dothan Man Votes for First time since 1970
Published: November 4, 2008
Ussery Knight strolled into the polling place at Doug Tew Recreation Center on Tuesday.
It was just before 5 p.m. and the lines were down. Knight grabbed his ballot, cast his vote for Barack Obama, and walked out. It marked the first time he had been able to vote in almost 40 years.
The last time Knight, 62, had the right to vote, gas was 36 cents per gallon, the Dow sat at 839, “Patton” was the big movie at the box office and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” was beginning a seven-year run on television.
It was 1970. Knight doesn’t even remember who he voted for that year.
About two years later, Knight was convicted of manslaughter, a Class A felony. He said he only served probation, but the felony conviction meant he forfeited the right to vote.
“I didn’t think I would ever be able to vote again,” Knight said. “Funny thing is, I was just getting back from Vietnam, fighting for freedom.”
But recently, Knight was watching television when he saw the Rev. Kenneth Glasgow, founder of The Ordinary People Society, talking about the restoration of voting rights for ex-felons. Glasgow has mounted a crusade throughout Alabama to help ex-felons regain the right to vote.
Knight followed up with Glasgow and filled out the necessary paperwork. A few weeks later, his right to vote had been restored.
“It was really easier than I thought it would be,” he said.
Knight said he voted for Obama because “I saw him on television and liked what he said.”
Now, Knight said he plans to vote every election.
“If you don’t have the right to vote and can get that right restored, you need to look into it,” he said.
Ussery Knight strolled into the polling place at Doug Tew Recreation Center on Tuesday.
It was just before 5 p.m. and the lines were down. Knight grabbed his ballot, cast his vote for Barack Obama, and walked out. It marked the first time he had been able to vote in almost 40 years.
The last time Knight, 62, had the right to vote, gas was 36 cents per gallon, the Dow sat at 839, “Patton” was the big movie at the box office and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” was beginning a seven-year run on television.
It was 1970. Knight doesn’t even remember who he voted for that year.
About two years later, Knight was convicted of manslaughter, a Class A felony. He said he only served probation, but the felony conviction meant he forfeited the right to vote.
“I didn’t think I would ever be able to vote again,” Knight said. “Funny thing is, I was just getting back from Vietnam, fighting for freedom.”
But recently, Knight was watching television when he saw the Rev. Kenneth Glasgow, founder of The Ordinary People Society, talking about the restoration of voting rights for ex-felons. Glasgow has mounted a crusade throughout Alabama to help ex-felons regain the right to vote.
Knight followed up with Glasgow and filled out the necessary paperwork. A few weeks later, his right to vote had been restored.
“It was really easier than I thought it would be,” he said.
Knight said he voted for Obama because “I saw him on television and liked what he said.”
Now, Knight said he plans to vote every election.
“If you don’t have the right to vote and can get that right restored, you need to look into it,” he said.
Friday, November 14, 2008
We have alot of work to do!
I don't want anyone to get confused since Obama is the president into thinking that now everything is going to be alright.
We have alot of work to do, now more than ever. The racism and biasness has and will become more prevalent. I just went through an ordeal yesterday continuing to fight for our voting rights and for some strange reason even though alot of us ex-felons voted, contributed and participated in gaining this monumental victory we are still not treated or seated in a state of equality. I'm truly becoming convinced that our moral ethics and values have taken a dive in the wrong direction. We have no regards for fellow human beings and their rights. It's amazing to me how we embrace a system that should've been set up to protect us and yet it has become our worst enemy. So I question you today what have we become and where do we go from here?
Whenever we can just take human life and call it the death penalty, but yet do not use all of our modern technology to prove without a shadow of a doubt that the person is guilty, what have we become? and don't you dare point the finger at someone else because we accept it as the norm, so what about us?
When we are supposedly moving in the right direction and don't open the doors for those who God has given the same rights as you and yet you still treat them as if they're not your equal, what have we become?
When we have these progressive organizations that fight for hauman rights, ex-felons, and etc. but yet there's not one of us who you supposedly represent on your board to help in the decision making. Oh you will hire us and give us a position but not an equal seat at the table.
When you have the funds to get alot of this progressive work done and know the groups and organizations out there who can get the job done and will not help or support them in order to enhance the process, I ask you again, what have we become?
When we allow those who we have put in office to tell us what we can get instead of telling them what we need and want, what have we become?
Have we gotten to the point where we have become co-conspiritors of our own oppression or are we really ready to do what needs to be done!
If you are, then look at your own reservations and apprehensions when it comes to others. Look at your organizations or groups and see are you really diverse. Look at your war chess and ask yourself have your really contributed all that you can to the issues you claim you're fighting. Have you given all you can give to society and humanity. And most of all have you been all that you can be in society, and allowed or given opportunity to others as much as you can so they can do the same?
Because then and only then have you truly become a HUMANE BEING!!!
We have alot of work to do, now more than ever. The racism and biasness has and will become more prevalent. I just went through an ordeal yesterday continuing to fight for our voting rights and for some strange reason even though alot of us ex-felons voted, contributed and participated in gaining this monumental victory we are still not treated or seated in a state of equality. I'm truly becoming convinced that our moral ethics and values have taken a dive in the wrong direction. We have no regards for fellow human beings and their rights. It's amazing to me how we embrace a system that should've been set up to protect us and yet it has become our worst enemy. So I question you today what have we become and where do we go from here?
Whenever we can just take human life and call it the death penalty, but yet do not use all of our modern technology to prove without a shadow of a doubt that the person is guilty, what have we become? and don't you dare point the finger at someone else because we accept it as the norm, so what about us?
When we are supposedly moving in the right direction and don't open the doors for those who God has given the same rights as you and yet you still treat them as if they're not your equal, what have we become?
When we have these progressive organizations that fight for hauman rights, ex-felons, and etc. but yet there's not one of us who you supposedly represent on your board to help in the decision making. Oh you will hire us and give us a position but not an equal seat at the table.
When you have the funds to get alot of this progressive work done and know the groups and organizations out there who can get the job done and will not help or support them in order to enhance the process, I ask you again, what have we become?
When we allow those who we have put in office to tell us what we can get instead of telling them what we need and want, what have we become?
Have we gotten to the point where we have become co-conspiritors of our own oppression or are we really ready to do what needs to be done!
If you are, then look at your own reservations and apprehensions when it comes to others. Look at your organizations or groups and see are you really diverse. Look at your war chess and ask yourself have your really contributed all that you can to the issues you claim you're fighting. Have you given all you can give to society and humanity. And most of all have you been all that you can be in society, and allowed or given opportunity to others as much as you can so they can do the same?
Because then and only then have you truly become a HUMANE BEING!!!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Somebody Say Restore!!!
NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE FUND SETTLES IMPORTANT VOTING RIGHTS CASE AND
ALLOWS VOTER EDUCATION EFFORT TO CONTINUE
(Tuesday, October 21, 2008 - New York, NY) Today, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) settled the lawsuit it filed against the Alabama Department of Corrections in federal court earlier this month on behalf of Reverend Kenneth Glasgow. Immediately after the lawsuit was filed, the parties began settlement discussions under which Reverend Glasgow last week resumed his non-partisan ministry to eligible voters currently incarcerated in the state’s correctional facilities.
The lawsuit was filed after the Alabama Department of Corrections cancelled Reverend Glasgow’s ministry following the Alabama Republican Party’s objection to his voter education activities.
“Now I can continue the ministry that God gave me: helping to give a voice to the voiceless by reaching out to people in Alabama’s correctional facilities who are eligible to vote,” said Reverend Glasgow. “The ministry is so critical because too many in Alabama’s correctional facilities who are eligible to vote don’t know it.”
While incarcerated six years ago, Reverend Glasgow joined a prison ministry that addressed the importance of personal and civic responsibility and restoration as personal virtues and as cornerstones for one’s community. He was struck by the prison ministry’s focus on exercising the right to vote as a means to restore an him to his community and vowed to give back by starting his own ministry. Upon his release in 2002, Reverend Glasgow founded The Ordinary People Society, a not-for-profit organization in Dothan, Alabama. In 2004, the Alabama Board of Pardons and Parole restored Reverend Glasgow’s voting rights.
“Today’s settlement ensures the result that we sought and that Alabama’s constitution and laws require — eligible people in correctional facilities will be able to participate in Reverend Glasgow’s ministry and learn about their voting rights prior to close of registration for the upcoming November 4 general election,” said John Payton, LDF President and Director-Counsel.
Ryan P. Haygood, Co-Director of LDF’s Political Participation Group at LDF who represented Reverend Glasgow added: “This significant development strengthens the integrity of Alabama’s democratic processes by guaranteeing that eligible voters who seek to vote will have their voices heard.”
The NAACP Legal Defense Fund was joined in the lawsuit by Herman Johnson, of Wiggins, Childs, Quinn & Pantazis.
ALLOWS VOTER EDUCATION EFFORT TO CONTINUE
(Tuesday, October 21, 2008 - New York, NY) Today, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) settled the lawsuit it filed against the Alabama Department of Corrections in federal court earlier this month on behalf of Reverend Kenneth Glasgow. Immediately after the lawsuit was filed, the parties began settlement discussions under which Reverend Glasgow last week resumed his non-partisan ministry to eligible voters currently incarcerated in the state’s correctional facilities.
The lawsuit was filed after the Alabama Department of Corrections cancelled Reverend Glasgow’s ministry following the Alabama Republican Party’s objection to his voter education activities.
“Now I can continue the ministry that God gave me: helping to give a voice to the voiceless by reaching out to people in Alabama’s correctional facilities who are eligible to vote,” said Reverend Glasgow. “The ministry is so critical because too many in Alabama’s correctional facilities who are eligible to vote don’t know it.”
While incarcerated six years ago, Reverend Glasgow joined a prison ministry that addressed the importance of personal and civic responsibility and restoration as personal virtues and as cornerstones for one’s community. He was struck by the prison ministry’s focus on exercising the right to vote as a means to restore an him to his community and vowed to give back by starting his own ministry. Upon his release in 2002, Reverend Glasgow founded The Ordinary People Society, a not-for-profit organization in Dothan, Alabama. In 2004, the Alabama Board of Pardons and Parole restored Reverend Glasgow’s voting rights.
“Today’s settlement ensures the result that we sought and that Alabama’s constitution and laws require — eligible people in correctional facilities will be able to participate in Reverend Glasgow’s ministry and learn about their voting rights prior to close of registration for the upcoming November 4 general election,” said John Payton, LDF President and Director-Counsel.
Ryan P. Haygood, Co-Director of LDF’s Political Participation Group at LDF who represented Reverend Glasgow added: “This significant development strengthens the integrity of Alabama’s democratic processes by guaranteeing that eligible voters who seek to vote will have their voices heard.”
The NAACP Legal Defense Fund was joined in the lawsuit by Herman Johnson, of Wiggins, Childs, Quinn & Pantazis.
Monday, October 13, 2008
I'm not a Second Class Citizen, I'm a Second Chance Citizen
I'm not a Second Class Citizen, I'm a Second Chance Citizen
As I sit here and reflect on this last month's activities I don't know whether to be happy or just cry. Because I've went through so much and had so many things and people exposed.
I listened to God and committed myself to this work by His calling and I've wanted to quit so many times, and believe it or not now is definitely one of those times.
The blatant biasness, racism, and disrespect for humanity that I've witnessed in this issue of restoring People's lives by restoring their rights just overwhelmed me.
Maybe people just don't understand that when a person loses their right to vote they lose so much more of their life necessities. We can't get public housing, public assistance, student loans or pell grants to better educate ourselves, a business license, and housing and jobs are few and scarce for an ex-felon.
My real challenge is that this is supposed to be a religious, spiritual society that loves humanity and their neighbors, but for some reason those who have made a mistake are not considered citizens, neighbors, and less than human I guess. Yet these are our mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons, and daughters. People who we grew up with, and people we went to school with and know.
We are talking about fellow human beings who have made a mistake and committed a crime that does not involve Moral Turpitude.
This was a term used in slavery times in order to consider a person vile or defain, not a full citizen. Now here in 2008 over a hundred years later the underlying racism and biasness of those of us who call ourselves Christians, Muslims, Methodist, Baptist, etc. seeps out when we find out that a person that has made a mistake has the same rights we have if they have not committed a crime of Moral Turpitude
Yet we read the Bible, Quran and other religious books claiming that we love everybody and want to help restore people's lives, but now that the opportunity has come our prejudices come to the forefront.
Classism steps up and we say they shouldn't have the same rights that we have they made a mistake.
My question is" what if God was like that? What if He felt the same way? would any of us be here?
Have you ever ran a stop sign or red light? have you ever got sick and went to the hospital? Why do you think that God put in Matthew 25: 33-46 " have you visited those who are sick and in prison ". He put those two together, why?
Because he knew that those in prison were sick as well and needed ministering to.
When we went to the prisons we only targeted those with possession of drug charges only. Those who would be out in about a year or two anyway. It's cost effective to give a person treatment instead of incarceration. It cost taxpayers approximately $13,000 to $29,000 a year to house a person in prison, while it only cost us $4,300 to $8,000 a year to give them treatment depending on what state you live in, and cheaper than that for college.
We have 5.3 million people in the U.S. that are disenfranchised and in the State of Ala. we have 250,046 who have lost their rights!
If we are productive citizens then shouldn't we be producing productive citizens. Every seed produces of it's own kind so what's wrong with us.
Crimes not involving Moral Turpitude are non-violent victimless crimes that does not cause any hurt, harm, danger, and suffering to anyone else. ( as close of a definition we can come up with ).
These are people who have done things that hurt themselves.
If we truly wanted to diminish crime, diminish recidivism, diminish overcrowded prisons, and diminish parent less children, then we would start engaging those incarcerated into civic participation and transforming their mind before they get out of prison.
The renewing of the mind need to come before release from jail or prison, not after they are released with a bus ticket and $10. Because when they meet these obstacles and disappointments they have no structure or substance to hold on to.
Our children are dropping out of school at enormous rates and we spend more on prisons than on education, more on prisons than our elderly and our poor.
In 1901 when they wrote the Alabama Constitution they must've had a different perception of these crimes not involving Moral Turpitude than the people of today. Or did they have more respect for human life than we do now? But our forefathers seen this differently and most of them were Republicans, conservatives and devout men of God.Maybe we need to stop looking at human beings and look at HUMANITY!!!
After the Civil War in Oct 1864 the Sons of the Confederate went to Washington to get their rights restored and pardons for crimes of treason, and heinous acts committed to human beings ( Crimes of Moral Turpitude ), so why now when we talk about crimes not involving Moral Turpitude do we want to take people's rights hmmm!
There's always been some type of trick to keep us divided whether it was Jews and Gentiles, Black and White, and now Felon or Non Felon. When will the prejudices end or will they ever?
When an average citizen breaks the Law, they go to jail, but when those who suppose to uphold the Law break it, the people suffer and become the victims.
My cousin told me that I must realize that for 105 years anyone could have said something about this and a few did like; Dr. Rep. Yvonne Kennedy, Sen. Bobby Singleton, Ryan Haygood, Bryan Stevenson, Gabriel Sayegh, myself, and a few others. But most of those who could've didn't, so please don't get mad at those of us who do. This is a continuation of our struggle in this Civil Rights Movement and The Ministry of God.
If you're like me you have no choice but to fight for Fairness, and Equality no matter who or what the naysayers think or say!
However it is quite amusing to me when those who are against you and the work God gave you come out publicly like they were with you all the time, but wasn't anywhere around for the fight, and as a matter of fact tried to stop you and wouldn't help.
But I'm glad you see the light now, and God has opened your eyes and you're here now!
We've Came From The Back Of The Bus, To The Front Of The Prison,
The Struggle Continues!!!
and that proves to me that I'm not a
Second Class Citizen
but a
Second Chance Citizen!
As I sit here and reflect on this last month's activities I don't know whether to be happy or just cry. Because I've went through so much and had so many things and people exposed.
I listened to God and committed myself to this work by His calling and I've wanted to quit so many times, and believe it or not now is definitely one of those times.
The blatant biasness, racism, and disrespect for humanity that I've witnessed in this issue of restoring People's lives by restoring their rights just overwhelmed me.
Maybe people just don't understand that when a person loses their right to vote they lose so much more of their life necessities. We can't get public housing, public assistance, student loans or pell grants to better educate ourselves, a business license, and housing and jobs are few and scarce for an ex-felon.
My real challenge is that this is supposed to be a religious, spiritual society that loves humanity and their neighbors, but for some reason those who have made a mistake are not considered citizens, neighbors, and less than human I guess. Yet these are our mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons, and daughters. People who we grew up with, and people we went to school with and know.
We are talking about fellow human beings who have made a mistake and committed a crime that does not involve Moral Turpitude.
This was a term used in slavery times in order to consider a person vile or defain, not a full citizen. Now here in 2008 over a hundred years later the underlying racism and biasness of those of us who call ourselves Christians, Muslims, Methodist, Baptist, etc. seeps out when we find out that a person that has made a mistake has the same rights we have if they have not committed a crime of Moral Turpitude
Yet we read the Bible, Quran and other religious books claiming that we love everybody and want to help restore people's lives, but now that the opportunity has come our prejudices come to the forefront.
Classism steps up and we say they shouldn't have the same rights that we have they made a mistake.
My question is" what if God was like that? What if He felt the same way? would any of us be here?
Have you ever ran a stop sign or red light? have you ever got sick and went to the hospital? Why do you think that God put in Matthew 25: 33-46 " have you visited those who are sick and in prison ". He put those two together, why?
Because he knew that those in prison were sick as well and needed ministering to.
When we went to the prisons we only targeted those with possession of drug charges only. Those who would be out in about a year or two anyway. It's cost effective to give a person treatment instead of incarceration. It cost taxpayers approximately $13,000 to $29,000 a year to house a person in prison, while it only cost us $4,300 to $8,000 a year to give them treatment depending on what state you live in, and cheaper than that for college.
We have 5.3 million people in the U.S. that are disenfranchised and in the State of Ala. we have 250,046 who have lost their rights!
If we are productive citizens then shouldn't we be producing productive citizens. Every seed produces of it's own kind so what's wrong with us.
Crimes not involving Moral Turpitude are non-violent victimless crimes that does not cause any hurt, harm, danger, and suffering to anyone else. ( as close of a definition we can come up with ).
These are people who have done things that hurt themselves.
If we truly wanted to diminish crime, diminish recidivism, diminish overcrowded prisons, and diminish parent less children, then we would start engaging those incarcerated into civic participation and transforming their mind before they get out of prison.
The renewing of the mind need to come before release from jail or prison, not after they are released with a bus ticket and $10. Because when they meet these obstacles and disappointments they have no structure or substance to hold on to.
Our children are dropping out of school at enormous rates and we spend more on prisons than on education, more on prisons than our elderly and our poor.
In 1901 when they wrote the Alabama Constitution they must've had a different perception of these crimes not involving Moral Turpitude than the people of today. Or did they have more respect for human life than we do now? But our forefathers seen this differently and most of them were Republicans, conservatives and devout men of God.Maybe we need to stop looking at human beings and look at HUMANITY!!!
After the Civil War in Oct 1864 the Sons of the Confederate went to Washington to get their rights restored and pardons for crimes of treason, and heinous acts committed to human beings ( Crimes of Moral Turpitude ), so why now when we talk about crimes not involving Moral Turpitude do we want to take people's rights hmmm!
There's always been some type of trick to keep us divided whether it was Jews and Gentiles, Black and White, and now Felon or Non Felon. When will the prejudices end or will they ever?
When an average citizen breaks the Law, they go to jail, but when those who suppose to uphold the Law break it, the people suffer and become the victims.
My cousin told me that I must realize that for 105 years anyone could have said something about this and a few did like; Dr. Rep. Yvonne Kennedy, Sen. Bobby Singleton, Ryan Haygood, Bryan Stevenson, Gabriel Sayegh, myself, and a few others. But most of those who could've didn't, so please don't get mad at those of us who do. This is a continuation of our struggle in this Civil Rights Movement and The Ministry of God.
If you're like me you have no choice but to fight for Fairness, and Equality no matter who or what the naysayers think or say!
However it is quite amusing to me when those who are against you and the work God gave you come out publicly like they were with you all the time, but wasn't anywhere around for the fight, and as a matter of fact tried to stop you and wouldn't help.
But I'm glad you see the light now, and God has opened your eyes and you're here now!
We've Came From The Back Of The Bus, To The Front Of The Prison,
The Struggle Continues!!!
and that proves to me that I'm not a
Second Class Citizen
but a
Second Chance Citizen!
What T.O.P.S. Really Is
After talking to several people and taking our own little survey about our efforts of people's voting rights. Several of you informed me that some of those against it are not aware that this is our ministry, and we've been doing this since we started 7 years ago. Also that some have even went against those of us here who live in the Wiregrass who should've been supported. ( All Republicans don't agree ). Because our ministry is outreach oriented and we would dare be like others and use our clergical status for political gain here's a small synopsis of:
THE ORDINARY PEOPLE SOCIETY ( T.O.P.S. )
People must realize that every part of T.O.P.S. is ministry. There is a bad misconception that the ex-felon voting rights is for people who are criminals and not for the safety of victims, but it's exactly the opposite.
T.O.P.S. mission is to help those who have gotten on the wrong track in life by any and all circumstances that lead to an unproductive life.
Momma Tina's Mission House feeds the hungry and homeless who have no where to live or eat; on the surface, but there's a deeper meaning to this feeding: when you feed a person who's hungry or high on drugs, you diminish crime being committed by that hungry person. It says in the Bible do not fault a man if he steals cause he's hungry.
You see a person who's high when they eat, it curbs the high and causes them to come down off of the high, and usually they will result to sleeping or at least calming down enough to be ministered to and reasoned with. This starts the process of restoring a person's life. A mere introduction to a different way. Seeing someone who accepts them and that's willing to work with them even in their most despondant way.
Some of the most remarking things you could ever do to help a person get on the right path is to accept them just the way they are. For some it may be one of the first encounters of love and God that they've ever known.
Then there's the restoring of voting rights or should I say restoring of people's lives. Because alot of people don't know that when a person lose their voting rights there's a whole lot more that goes along with that. They cannot get public assistance, public housing, student loans ( to better educate themselves and do better ), business license, and not to mention a job, apartment, or house because of a felony conviction.
But when a person get their rights back there's a mental change that comes about. The Bible says that there must come a renewing of the mind and that's what happens when rights are restored ( Rom. 12: 1-3 ). A person who have never been a citizen or have been considered less than a citizen, now has a chance to be classified as, called a citizen, act like a citizen, and eventually becomes a productive citizen.
This too causes a person to relinquish acts of crime and consider themselves a part of society instead of an alien to society. So crime diminishes as well. In Galatians 6: 1 It says when a brother is taken away in a fault, we that are spiritual should restore such a one. Isaiah 61: 1 Feed the hungry, heal the broken hearted and set the captives free, and the opening of the prison to those that are bound. So we do this at T.O.P.S. by Rev. 12: 11 which says and they overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. We go into the prisons to set the captives free and give our testimony IT'S OUR MINISTRY! and I'm so glad that all of you in this area ( theWIREGRASS) know that and understand it!
The Drug War became a war on people and we spend more on incarceration than on treatment. So therefore we spend more to produce criminals than citizens!
Then T.O.P.S. does intervention and prevention with youth, and help the elderly, closing the generation gap, and allowing society to come together and close the divide. Especially in poor and poverty stricken neighborhoods.
To sum all of this up, every act of T.O.P.S. is MINISTRY and HARM REDUCTION!!!
Everytime we interact with the children and have an event it curbs the influence of the life they see on the streets. It causes their senses to get intrigued of this difference they see in the neighborhood that has forgotten it's neighbor and just become the HOOD!
Because it has been said by a young Doctor that these young people suffer from the same thing a soldier suffers from when he's at war, and that is post traumatic stress. So it's so much for them to see unity across racial, generational, and geographical divides even in communities and neighborhoods in small cities.
So we have our M&M Program which is monitoring and mentoring!
Whenever others come to this poverty stricken area that they normally would have never come to if there wasn't a T.O.P.S. ( Momma Tina's ). That provides a safe place for them to come and minister to those who may be considered less fortunate materially,but yet it brings together those who have had a greater divide. It brings all of us together on a mission from God and gives us an opportunity to be vessels for God. And even though some of us may think that we're feeding people to be a blessing, we may be getting a blessing by doing what God has truly asked us to do, and being ministered to while we're there.
So it takes us to the realization that T.O.P.S. is definitely for the victim first and doing this ministry to cause HARM REDUCTION in all aspects.
So therefore when Evergreen Pres. Church comes to feed in this area and those who donate, contribute and participate in our endeavors at T.O.P.S. to do what God has told us to do REMEMBER THE VICTIM COMES FIRST!!!
If WE HELP RESTORE PEOPLE LIVES IT DIMINISHES,CRIME, BROKEN FAMILIES,
HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT RATES, AND RESTORES OUR COMMUNITIES, CITIES, STATES, AND NATION.
In order for someone to come into our program they must first acknowledge and make ammends to their victims. Alot of people think that if a person hasn't committed a violent crime then there's no victim, but what about the mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter, and significant other.? we all have victims who we've hurt in the past, have we made ammends?
Have we truly looked at ourselves and been all that we can be to everyone we can be?
Have we truly given to those in need by doing what Matthew 25: 33-46 says!
Have we fed the hungry, clothed the naked, took in strangers, visited the sick and in prison?
When we do this, then and only then will WE NO LONGER SEE OF NEIGHBOR AS OUR NEIGHBOR, BUT WE'LL SEE OUR NEIGHBOR AS OURSELVES, AND BE JUST ORDINARY PEOPLE, DOING EXTRAORDINARY THINGS, BY THE POWER AND SPIRIT OF GOD,
NO WILL OF OUR OWN, ALL GLORY BELONGS TO HIM
THE ORDINARY PEOPLE SOCIETY ( T.O.P.S. )
People must realize that every part of T.O.P.S. is ministry. There is a bad misconception that the ex-felon voting rights is for people who are criminals and not for the safety of victims, but it's exactly the opposite.
T.O.P.S. mission is to help those who have gotten on the wrong track in life by any and all circumstances that lead to an unproductive life.
Momma Tina's Mission House feeds the hungry and homeless who have no where to live or eat; on the surface, but there's a deeper meaning to this feeding: when you feed a person who's hungry or high on drugs, you diminish crime being committed by that hungry person. It says in the Bible do not fault a man if he steals cause he's hungry.
You see a person who's high when they eat, it curbs the high and causes them to come down off of the high, and usually they will result to sleeping or at least calming down enough to be ministered to and reasoned with. This starts the process of restoring a person's life. A mere introduction to a different way. Seeing someone who accepts them and that's willing to work with them even in their most despondant way.
Some of the most remarking things you could ever do to help a person get on the right path is to accept them just the way they are. For some it may be one of the first encounters of love and God that they've ever known.
Then there's the restoring of voting rights or should I say restoring of people's lives. Because alot of people don't know that when a person lose their voting rights there's a whole lot more that goes along with that. They cannot get public assistance, public housing, student loans ( to better educate themselves and do better ), business license, and not to mention a job, apartment, or house because of a felony conviction.
But when a person get their rights back there's a mental change that comes about. The Bible says that there must come a renewing of the mind and that's what happens when rights are restored ( Rom. 12: 1-3 ). A person who have never been a citizen or have been considered less than a citizen, now has a chance to be classified as, called a citizen, act like a citizen, and eventually becomes a productive citizen.
This too causes a person to relinquish acts of crime and consider themselves a part of society instead of an alien to society. So crime diminishes as well. In Galatians 6: 1 It says when a brother is taken away in a fault, we that are spiritual should restore such a one. Isaiah 61: 1 Feed the hungry, heal the broken hearted and set the captives free, and the opening of the prison to those that are bound. So we do this at T.O.P.S. by Rev. 12: 11 which says and they overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. We go into the prisons to set the captives free and give our testimony IT'S OUR MINISTRY! and I'm so glad that all of you in this area ( theWIREGRASS) know that and understand it!
The Drug War became a war on people and we spend more on incarceration than on treatment. So therefore we spend more to produce criminals than citizens!
Then T.O.P.S. does intervention and prevention with youth, and help the elderly, closing the generation gap, and allowing society to come together and close the divide. Especially in poor and poverty stricken neighborhoods.
To sum all of this up, every act of T.O.P.S. is MINISTRY and HARM REDUCTION!!!
Everytime we interact with the children and have an event it curbs the influence of the life they see on the streets. It causes their senses to get intrigued of this difference they see in the neighborhood that has forgotten it's neighbor and just become the HOOD!
Because it has been said by a young Doctor that these young people suffer from the same thing a soldier suffers from when he's at war, and that is post traumatic stress. So it's so much for them to see unity across racial, generational, and geographical divides even in communities and neighborhoods in small cities.
So we have our M&M Program which is monitoring and mentoring!
Whenever others come to this poverty stricken area that they normally would have never come to if there wasn't a T.O.P.S. ( Momma Tina's ). That provides a safe place for them to come and minister to those who may be considered less fortunate materially,but yet it brings together those who have had a greater divide. It brings all of us together on a mission from God and gives us an opportunity to be vessels for God. And even though some of us may think that we're feeding people to be a blessing, we may be getting a blessing by doing what God has truly asked us to do, and being ministered to while we're there.
So it takes us to the realization that T.O.P.S. is definitely for the victim first and doing this ministry to cause HARM REDUCTION in all aspects.
So therefore when Evergreen Pres. Church comes to feed in this area and those who donate, contribute and participate in our endeavors at T.O.P.S. to do what God has told us to do REMEMBER THE VICTIM COMES FIRST!!!
If WE HELP RESTORE PEOPLE LIVES IT DIMINISHES,CRIME, BROKEN FAMILIES,
HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT RATES, AND RESTORES OUR COMMUNITIES, CITIES, STATES, AND NATION.
In order for someone to come into our program they must first acknowledge and make ammends to their victims. Alot of people think that if a person hasn't committed a violent crime then there's no victim, but what about the mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter, and significant other.? we all have victims who we've hurt in the past, have we made ammends?
Have we truly looked at ourselves and been all that we can be to everyone we can be?
Have we truly given to those in need by doing what Matthew 25: 33-46 says!
Have we fed the hungry, clothed the naked, took in strangers, visited the sick and in prison?
When we do this, then and only then will WE NO LONGER SEE OF NEIGHBOR AS OUR NEIGHBOR, BUT WE'LL SEE OUR NEIGHBOR AS OURSELVES, AND BE JUST ORDINARY PEOPLE, DOING EXTRAORDINARY THINGS, BY THE POWER AND SPIRIT OF GOD,
NO WILL OF OUR OWN, ALL GLORY BELONGS TO HIM
Monday, October 6, 2008
Who's The Victim Now!!!
Birmingham News Confusion reigns in Alabama over ex-felons' ability to vote
Monday, October 06, 2008
KIM CHANDLER
News staff writer
MONTGOMERY - When James Solomon went to register to vote earlier this year, he said he was told he couldn't vote because of a past conviction for cocaine possession.
That was in direct contrast to advice given by the Secretary of State's Office that drug possession is not a crime that strips someone of their voting rights.
"I just wanted to vote. When you got a felony, they treat you like you're nobody," said Solomon, an Enterprise welder and the widowed father of seven.
Less than a month shy of a historic election expected to bring record turnout, there still is uncertainty over who is eligible to vote in Alabama. State officials have given boards of registrars conflicting lists of felony convictions that bar a person from voting.
And registrars, already swamped with new voter applications, have the difficult task of sorting out who is and who isn't eligible to vote.
"We don't want to be in a multiple choice situation. You want to know the answer," Montgomery County Elections Director Trey Granger said.
A statewide computer system for the past 11 months has been noting convictions for more than 400 crimes that Gov. Bob Riley's administration deemed to be felonies of moral turpitude - even though officials with the Administrative Office of Courts said they were assured by Riley's office only a shorter list of 70 felonies developed by the attorney general's office were being checked.
"I know there is confusion. The computer system is flagging people who ought to be able to vote," said Kenneth Glasgow, a former drug offender turned pastor who works to help former felons to register to vote.
Secretary of State Beth Chapman said she's been trying to sort out the confusion through a series of conference calls and memos with county registrars over the past several months.
"They must first go to the AG's opinion. If that doesn't answer their question, they should seek guidance from their county attorney, their district attorney or my attorney," Chapman said, describing the advice her office has given local boards.
How big the problem is depends upon whom you ask.
"We don't know if it's a big, widespread problem. We're looking at a potential problem," said Adam Thompson, who oversees compliance with federal voting laws for Chapman. Thompson said his office found out last month that the lists hadn't been swapped, but Thompson said there are safeguards in place to make sure people eligible to vote can register.
Chapman for months has told county registrars to hand-check any convictions flagged by the computer system. Thompson said people who are denied voter registration are told they can appeal the decision.
Democratic Party Chairman Joe Turnham said he's concerned tens of thousands of would-be voters could have been affected.
"Absolutely, there has been confusion. I think a lot of damage has been done to a lot of people," Turnham said.
Turnham said he's also concerned people have been improperly purged from the voter rolls.
"We have less than three weeks now to find the people who have been disenfranchised and get them back on the rolls," Turnham said.
The dispute centers on the definition of a crime of "moral turpitude." The state constitution says people convicted of felony crimes of "moral turpitude" cannot vote until they get their rights restored, but it does not define the term.
Alabama Attorney General Troy King in a 2005 opinion named 28 felonies - which add up to about 70 crimes if each of the degrees of the offenses are counted - that have by statute or appellate decision been defined as crimes of moral turpitude.
Riley, serving as court-appointed chief of Alabama elections, in 2007 created a list of more than 400 disbarring felonies and gave it to Election Systems & Software, the company hired to create a voter registration database for the state. Riley's list includes crimes ranging from terrorism and homicide to starting a brush fire and drug possession.
AOC Legal Director Griffin Sikes Jr. said the governor had no legal authority to classify so many crimes as crimes of moral turpitude. Sikes said that, for months, the governor's office had assured the AOC that only the shorter list was being used, but Sikes found out last month those assurances were given "in error."
Riley Communications Director Jeff Emerson said the governor's office was forced to come up with its own list because the AOC initially refused to provide one.
Emerson said that, although the governor's office agreed to let the shorter list be used, it believes its own research is more comprehensive and accurate.
Emerson said that, until last month, crimes on both lists were being flagged by the computer system. Cost was a factor in not swapping the lists, he said.
"We were told to remove the larger list would be very, very expensive," Emerson said.
Emerson said new software is being added this month to make convictions clearer to the registrars. The change was planned and won't be a significant cost to the state, he said.
"If there is confusion out there, it will end it. It's designed to," said Emerson, who pointed out that local registrars had the ultimate authority in deciding who to deny registration, and those people were given the opportunity to appeal.
The disagreement over the felony lists isn't the only one of the state's voting procedures being challenged less than a month shy of the election. One lawsuit also has been filed on the behalf of three former inmates who weren't allowed to register to vote, and another has been filed on behalf of Glasgow's efforts to register inmates to vote absentee. The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law also said last week that it wants to seek records about voter roll purges in Alabama and another dozen states.
Walker County Board of Registrars Chairwoman Terra Tidwell said there has been confusion over which felons to exclude from voting, but things have improved because of communication from Chapman's office.
Flagged by computer:
Tidwell said she hand-checks convictions flagged by the computer.
Jefferson County Board of Registrars Chairwoman Nell Hunter said she has the county attorney check criminal records after a person is flagged by the computer system. Jefferson County attorney Theo Lawson said he uses neither the governor's list nor the attorney general's, but relies on his own research which, he said, is more thorough than either list.
"I look at these on a case-by-case basis," Lawson said.
But Lawson said it would be preferable if there were a single definitive list.
"Oh my goodness, it would make life much easier," Lawson said.
Chapman and a spokesman for King said the best way to correct the problem is for the Alabama Legislature to set the rules for when former felons can vote.
" I don't make the law. The registrars don't make the law. We just abide by the law. And sometimes the law is very unclear," Chapman said.
Monday, October 06, 2008
KIM CHANDLER
News staff writer
MONTGOMERY - When James Solomon went to register to vote earlier this year, he said he was told he couldn't vote because of a past conviction for cocaine possession.
That was in direct contrast to advice given by the Secretary of State's Office that drug possession is not a crime that strips someone of their voting rights.
"I just wanted to vote. When you got a felony, they treat you like you're nobody," said Solomon, an Enterprise welder and the widowed father of seven.
Less than a month shy of a historic election expected to bring record turnout, there still is uncertainty over who is eligible to vote in Alabama. State officials have given boards of registrars conflicting lists of felony convictions that bar a person from voting.
And registrars, already swamped with new voter applications, have the difficult task of sorting out who is and who isn't eligible to vote.
"We don't want to be in a multiple choice situation. You want to know the answer," Montgomery County Elections Director Trey Granger said.
A statewide computer system for the past 11 months has been noting convictions for more than 400 crimes that Gov. Bob Riley's administration deemed to be felonies of moral turpitude - even though officials with the Administrative Office of Courts said they were assured by Riley's office only a shorter list of 70 felonies developed by the attorney general's office were being checked.
"I know there is confusion. The computer system is flagging people who ought to be able to vote," said Kenneth Glasgow, a former drug offender turned pastor who works to help former felons to register to vote.
Secretary of State Beth Chapman said she's been trying to sort out the confusion through a series of conference calls and memos with county registrars over the past several months.
"They must first go to the AG's opinion. If that doesn't answer their question, they should seek guidance from their county attorney, their district attorney or my attorney," Chapman said, describing the advice her office has given local boards.
How big the problem is depends upon whom you ask.
"We don't know if it's a big, widespread problem. We're looking at a potential problem," said Adam Thompson, who oversees compliance with federal voting laws for Chapman. Thompson said his office found out last month that the lists hadn't been swapped, but Thompson said there are safeguards in place to make sure people eligible to vote can register.
Chapman for months has told county registrars to hand-check any convictions flagged by the computer system. Thompson said people who are denied voter registration are told they can appeal the decision.
Democratic Party Chairman Joe Turnham said he's concerned tens of thousands of would-be voters could have been affected.
"Absolutely, there has been confusion. I think a lot of damage has been done to a lot of people," Turnham said.
Turnham said he's also concerned people have been improperly purged from the voter rolls.
"We have less than three weeks now to find the people who have been disenfranchised and get them back on the rolls," Turnham said.
The dispute centers on the definition of a crime of "moral turpitude." The state constitution says people convicted of felony crimes of "moral turpitude" cannot vote until they get their rights restored, but it does not define the term.
Alabama Attorney General Troy King in a 2005 opinion named 28 felonies - which add up to about 70 crimes if each of the degrees of the offenses are counted - that have by statute or appellate decision been defined as crimes of moral turpitude.
Riley, serving as court-appointed chief of Alabama elections, in 2007 created a list of more than 400 disbarring felonies and gave it to Election Systems & Software, the company hired to create a voter registration database for the state. Riley's list includes crimes ranging from terrorism and homicide to starting a brush fire and drug possession.
AOC Legal Director Griffin Sikes Jr. said the governor had no legal authority to classify so many crimes as crimes of moral turpitude. Sikes said that, for months, the governor's office had assured the AOC that only the shorter list was being used, but Sikes found out last month those assurances were given "in error."
Riley Communications Director Jeff Emerson said the governor's office was forced to come up with its own list because the AOC initially refused to provide one.
Emerson said that, although the governor's office agreed to let the shorter list be used, it believes its own research is more comprehensive and accurate.
Emerson said that, until last month, crimes on both lists were being flagged by the computer system. Cost was a factor in not swapping the lists, he said.
"We were told to remove the larger list would be very, very expensive," Emerson said.
Emerson said new software is being added this month to make convictions clearer to the registrars. The change was planned and won't be a significant cost to the state, he said.
"If there is confusion out there, it will end it. It's designed to," said Emerson, who pointed out that local registrars had the ultimate authority in deciding who to deny registration, and those people were given the opportunity to appeal.
The disagreement over the felony lists isn't the only one of the state's voting procedures being challenged less than a month shy of the election. One lawsuit also has been filed on the behalf of three former inmates who weren't allowed to register to vote, and another has been filed on behalf of Glasgow's efforts to register inmates to vote absentee. The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law also said last week that it wants to seek records about voter roll purges in Alabama and another dozen states.
Walker County Board of Registrars Chairwoman Terra Tidwell said there has been confusion over which felons to exclude from voting, but things have improved because of communication from Chapman's office.
Flagged by computer:
Tidwell said she hand-checks convictions flagged by the computer.
Jefferson County Board of Registrars Chairwoman Nell Hunter said she has the county attorney check criminal records after a person is flagged by the computer system. Jefferson County attorney Theo Lawson said he uses neither the governor's list nor the attorney general's, but relies on his own research which, he said, is more thorough than either list.
"I look at these on a case-by-case basis," Lawson said.
But Lawson said it would be preferable if there were a single definitive list.
"Oh my goodness, it would make life much easier," Lawson said.
Chapman and a spokesman for King said the best way to correct the problem is for the Alabama Legislature to set the rules for when former felons can vote.
" I don't make the law. The registrars don't make the law. We just abide by the law. And sometimes the law is very unclear," Chapman said.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Alabama Denies Vote Based on List Compiled by Governor's Staff
FYI: from: National Organizational Coordinator
Ala. GOP governor's list bars vote to shopliftersBy JAY REEVES Associated Press Writer
Published: Friday, October 3, 2008 at 4:20 p.m. Last Modified: Friday, October 3, 2008 at 4:20 p.m.
A list of crimes compiled by the governor's office and used to disqualify Alabama voters includes hundreds of felonies - such as animal cruelty and shoplifting - not previously considered serious enough to cost convicted criminals their voting rights.
State court administrators say the list includes far too many offenses and has been wrongly used for months by county registrars to disqualify an undetermined number of state voters ahead of the Nov. 4 presidential election.
Republican Gov. Bob Riley's office said it did nothing wrong, but Democrats say the move may cost tens of thousands of qualified voters their right to cast a ballot next month - a number large enough to sway the outcome of some races.
The secretary of state's office said it is trying to determine the size of the problem and fix it before Election Day. Officials haven't been able to determine exactly how many voters may be affected because of how new the information is and the huge number of disqualifying crimes involved.
"It's a very fast-moving issue that we were just hit with," said state elections official Adam Thompson.
With Riley serving as a federal judge's court-appointed overseer of Alabama's election system, legal aides to Riley last year compiled a list of 444 felonies they considered to be convictions of moral turpitude, which state law says are the only crimes that disqualify citizens from voting. Riley's office released a list of the crimes to The Associated Press late Thursday.
The governor's list includes about 70 felonies that court administrators and state attorneys general previously have said involve moral turpitude, including violent crimes like murder, robbery, rape, drug trafficking and numerous sex-related offenses.
But the governor's legal aides also classified about 370 other crimes as involving moral turpitude, including attempted arson, breaking and entering a vehicle, attempted burglary, criminal mischief, possession of burglary tools and burning a U.S. flag or cross.
The list also includes absentee balloting fraud, cruelty to a dog or cat, domestic violence, forgery, killing livestock illegally, leaving the scene of an accident with an injury, disrupting a funeral, ethics violations and conspiring to set an illegal brush fire.
The Administrative Office of Courts said the governor's office has no legal authority to classify so many crimes as involving moral turpitude.
After months of denying that the long list was being used to prevent some people from registering to vote and to strike others from voting, the governor's office last week admitted its list had been used in error, said Griffin Sikes, AOC legal director.
The mistake surfaced as a federal judge ended Riley's role as special master in charge of developing a computerized system for voter registration.
Civil libertarians and some Democrats have accused Republicans in Alabama and other states of attempting to suppress voter registration, but Riley spokesman Jeff Emerson said it was "ridiculous" to suggest Riley's office was part of such an effort.
Alabama's elections system has been plagued by confusion and lawsuits over the hazy definition of which felonies are "crimes of moral turpitude." Emerson said the governor's office was forced to come up with its own list because court administrators failed to compile one.
While court administrators and the attorney general's office have identified a relatively small number of crimes as involving moral turpitude based on state law and court rulings, Emerson said the shorter list is incomplete.
"Our legal staff ... put in hundreds of hours into researching both case law and statutory law to come up with a comprehensive list of crimes of moral turpitude," he said.
Republican Secretary of State Beth Chapman's office was placed in charge of voter registration after a court ended Riley's oversight.
Thompson, who oversees compliance with federal voting law for the secretary of state, said staffers learned of potential problems with the governor's list only this week from the Administrative Office of Courts.
"It's our goal to see that every eligible voter can cast a ballot on Election Day," he said.
Ala. GOP governor's list bars vote to shopliftersBy JAY REEVES Associated Press Writer
Published: Friday, October 3, 2008 at 4:20 p.m. Last Modified: Friday, October 3, 2008 at 4:20 p.m.
A list of crimes compiled by the governor's office and used to disqualify Alabama voters includes hundreds of felonies - such as animal cruelty and shoplifting - not previously considered serious enough to cost convicted criminals their voting rights.
State court administrators say the list includes far too many offenses and has been wrongly used for months by county registrars to disqualify an undetermined number of state voters ahead of the Nov. 4 presidential election.
Republican Gov. Bob Riley's office said it did nothing wrong, but Democrats say the move may cost tens of thousands of qualified voters their right to cast a ballot next month - a number large enough to sway the outcome of some races.
The secretary of state's office said it is trying to determine the size of the problem and fix it before Election Day. Officials haven't been able to determine exactly how many voters may be affected because of how new the information is and the huge number of disqualifying crimes involved.
"It's a very fast-moving issue that we were just hit with," said state elections official Adam Thompson.
With Riley serving as a federal judge's court-appointed overseer of Alabama's election system, legal aides to Riley last year compiled a list of 444 felonies they considered to be convictions of moral turpitude, which state law says are the only crimes that disqualify citizens from voting. Riley's office released a list of the crimes to The Associated Press late Thursday.
The governor's list includes about 70 felonies that court administrators and state attorneys general previously have said involve moral turpitude, including violent crimes like murder, robbery, rape, drug trafficking and numerous sex-related offenses.
But the governor's legal aides also classified about 370 other crimes as involving moral turpitude, including attempted arson, breaking and entering a vehicle, attempted burglary, criminal mischief, possession of burglary tools and burning a U.S. flag or cross.
The list also includes absentee balloting fraud, cruelty to a dog or cat, domestic violence, forgery, killing livestock illegally, leaving the scene of an accident with an injury, disrupting a funeral, ethics violations and conspiring to set an illegal brush fire.
The Administrative Office of Courts said the governor's office has no legal authority to classify so many crimes as involving moral turpitude.
After months of denying that the long list was being used to prevent some people from registering to vote and to strike others from voting, the governor's office last week admitted its list had been used in error, said Griffin Sikes, AOC legal director.
The mistake surfaced as a federal judge ended Riley's role as special master in charge of developing a computerized system for voter registration.
Civil libertarians and some Democrats have accused Republicans in Alabama and other states of attempting to suppress voter registration, but Riley spokesman Jeff Emerson said it was "ridiculous" to suggest Riley's office was part of such an effort.
Alabama's elections system has been plagued by confusion and lawsuits over the hazy definition of which felonies are "crimes of moral turpitude." Emerson said the governor's office was forced to come up with its own list because court administrators failed to compile one.
While court administrators and the attorney general's office have identified a relatively small number of crimes as involving moral turpitude based on state law and court rulings, Emerson said the shorter list is incomplete.
"Our legal staff ... put in hundreds of hours into researching both case law and statutory law to come up with a comprehensive list of crimes of moral turpitude," he said.
Republican Secretary of State Beth Chapman's office was placed in charge of voter registration after a court ended Riley's oversight.
Thompson, who oversees compliance with federal voting law for the secretary of state, said staffers learned of potential problems with the governor's list only this week from the Administrative Office of Courts.
"It's our goal to see that every eligible voter can cast a ballot on Election Day," he said.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Fighting For The Ministry ( People's Rights )
Tuesday, September 30, 2008 - New York , NY ) The NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) filed a lawsuit today in federal court on behalf of Reverend Kenneth Glasgow to allow him to resume registering eligible voters currently incarcerated in Alabama ’s correctional facilities.
With just 24 days remaining before voter registration closes to citizens seeking to participate in the November 4 elections, the lawsuit challenges the decision of Richard Allen, Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections, to rescind Reverend Glasgow’s access to incarcerated individuals who are eligible to vote under Alabama law.
“With less than a month before the close of voter registration in Alabama , the Commissioner is effectively denying the franchise to eligible voters. This is an egregious attempt to hamper the democratic process in the State of Alabama ,” said John Payton, LDF President and Director-Counsel.
Commissioner Allen initially provided enthusiastic support for Reverend Glasgow’s ministry of hope, reconciliation and redemption to Alabama’s inmates through activities that include voting, and established specific procedures by which non-partisan voter registration activities could be conducted safely and effectively. He not only directed the wardens of all Alabama correctional institutions to facilitate Reverend Glasgow’s entry, but provided a list to Reverend Glasgow of more than 6,000 inmates convicted only of simple drug possession crimes, offenses for which one does not lose his or her voting rights under Alabama ’s constitution and laws. Most on the list are unaware of their eligibility to register to vote.
However, as soon as news spread about the success of Reverend Glasgow’s ministry and his assistance helping eligible inmates register to vote, Commissioner Allen reversed course. While many applauded Reverend Glasgow’s attempt to minister to inmates and assist their rehabilitation through political participation, the Chair of the Alabama Republican Party wrote a letter to the Commissioner stating that it “was in full support of increasing the amount of registered voters in the state,” but not those “who have committed crimes and are currently incarcerated in the penal system,” even though some are eligible to register.
The Commissioner then swiftly prohibited Reverend Glasgow from continuing to conduct his non-partisan voter registration activities for incarcerated, but eligible, Alabamians. This course of action is a textbook case of viewpoint discrimination – excluding a speaker from a forum because of disagreement with his opinion or ideology – that violates the First Amendment.
“Unlike the Commissioner,” Rev. Glasgow responded, “my actions are not influenced by a political party’s agenda. My prison ministry is focused not on politics, but on restoring people’s lives. Since I have personally benefited from this type of ministry, it is my calling to help inmates with their re-entry back into society and their families.”
While incarcerated more than six years ago, Reverend Glasgow became involved in a prison ministry that addressed the importance of spirituality, personal responsibility, civic responsibility, forgiveness and restoration — both as personal virtues and as cornerstones for one’s community. Reverend Glasgow was particularly struck by the prison ministry’s focus on exercising the right to vote as a means to restore an offender to his community and vowed to give back by starting his own ministry. Upon his release in 2002, Rev. Glasgow remained true to his word and founded The Ordinary People Society, a faith-based ministry headquartered in Dothan , Alabama . In 2004, the Alabama Board of Pardons and Parole restored Rev. Glasgow’s voting rights.
“Reverend Glasgow’s ministry has carefully observed Alabama’s voting laws and every procedure established by the Commissioner to offer non-partisan assistance to eligible voters in Alabama’s penal system, most of whom do not know they have retained their voting rights,” said Ryan P. Haygood, Co-Director of LDF’s Political Participation Group. “The Commissioner’s decision to cancel this important effort is arbitrary and unconstitutional. The time to remedy these constitutional violations is now.”
###
ABOUT LDF
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) is America 's legal counsel on issues of race. Through advocacy and litigation, LDF focuses on issues of education, voter protection, economic justice and criminal justice. We encourage students to embark on careers in the public interest through scholarships and internship programs. LDF pursues racial justice to move our nation toward a society that fulfills the promise of equality for all.
With just 24 days remaining before voter registration closes to citizens seeking to participate in the November 4 elections, the lawsuit challenges the decision of Richard Allen, Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections, to rescind Reverend Glasgow’s access to incarcerated individuals who are eligible to vote under Alabama law.
“With less than a month before the close of voter registration in Alabama , the Commissioner is effectively denying the franchise to eligible voters. This is an egregious attempt to hamper the democratic process in the State of Alabama ,” said John Payton, LDF President and Director-Counsel.
Commissioner Allen initially provided enthusiastic support for Reverend Glasgow’s ministry of hope, reconciliation and redemption to Alabama’s inmates through activities that include voting, and established specific procedures by which non-partisan voter registration activities could be conducted safely and effectively. He not only directed the wardens of all Alabama correctional institutions to facilitate Reverend Glasgow’s entry, but provided a list to Reverend Glasgow of more than 6,000 inmates convicted only of simple drug possession crimes, offenses for which one does not lose his or her voting rights under Alabama ’s constitution and laws. Most on the list are unaware of their eligibility to register to vote.
However, as soon as news spread about the success of Reverend Glasgow’s ministry and his assistance helping eligible inmates register to vote, Commissioner Allen reversed course. While many applauded Reverend Glasgow’s attempt to minister to inmates and assist their rehabilitation through political participation, the Chair of the Alabama Republican Party wrote a letter to the Commissioner stating that it “was in full support of increasing the amount of registered voters in the state,” but not those “who have committed crimes and are currently incarcerated in the penal system,” even though some are eligible to register.
The Commissioner then swiftly prohibited Reverend Glasgow from continuing to conduct his non-partisan voter registration activities for incarcerated, but eligible, Alabamians. This course of action is a textbook case of viewpoint discrimination – excluding a speaker from a forum because of disagreement with his opinion or ideology – that violates the First Amendment.
“Unlike the Commissioner,” Rev. Glasgow responded, “my actions are not influenced by a political party’s agenda. My prison ministry is focused not on politics, but on restoring people’s lives. Since I have personally benefited from this type of ministry, it is my calling to help inmates with their re-entry back into society and their families.”
While incarcerated more than six years ago, Reverend Glasgow became involved in a prison ministry that addressed the importance of spirituality, personal responsibility, civic responsibility, forgiveness and restoration — both as personal virtues and as cornerstones for one’s community. Reverend Glasgow was particularly struck by the prison ministry’s focus on exercising the right to vote as a means to restore an offender to his community and vowed to give back by starting his own ministry. Upon his release in 2002, Rev. Glasgow remained true to his word and founded The Ordinary People Society, a faith-based ministry headquartered in Dothan , Alabama . In 2004, the Alabama Board of Pardons and Parole restored Rev. Glasgow’s voting rights.
“Reverend Glasgow’s ministry has carefully observed Alabama’s voting laws and every procedure established by the Commissioner to offer non-partisan assistance to eligible voters in Alabama’s penal system, most of whom do not know they have retained their voting rights,” said Ryan P. Haygood, Co-Director of LDF’s Political Participation Group. “The Commissioner’s decision to cancel this important effort is arbitrary and unconstitutional. The time to remedy these constitutional violations is now.”
###
ABOUT LDF
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) is America 's legal counsel on issues of race. Through advocacy and litigation, LDF focuses on issues of education, voter protection, economic justice and criminal justice. We encourage students to embark on careers in the public interest through scholarships and internship programs. LDF pursues racial justice to move our nation toward a society that fulfills the promise of equality for all.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
GOP opposes letting prisoners register to vote
9/18/2008, 5:53 p.m. ET
By JAY REEVES
The Associated Press
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The Alabama Republican Party opposes a drive to register inmates to vote so they can cast absentee ballots from inside state prisons, with the state GOP chief saying Thursday there needs to be safeguards against voter fraud.
State Rep. Mike Hubbard, chairman of the party, told Corrections Commissioner Richard Allen in a letter delivered by e-mail that the party supports the idea of registering more people to vote, but not when it comes to prisoners.
"Furthermore, I have concerns about potential issues with how this effort is being monitored to ensure no form of voter fraud occurs," Hubbard wrote. He asked Allen to outline the prison system's plans for preventing fraud.
Prison spokesman Brian Corbett said the commissioner was working on a response and declined further comment.
Hubbard's letter came two days after The Associated Press reported that a coalition of groups led by a community activist, the Rev. Kenneth Glasgow, began registering inmates to vote in state lockups this week. Nearly 80 filled out registration forms in two days.
Glasgow, a Democrat from Dothan who served time for robbery and drug convictions, said no one with the state has told him to stop registering inmates. He plans to continue the effort with other members of the coalition, which he said includes Republicans and Democrats.
"I think they're more worried about me being a Democrat than anything," said Glasgow. "The chairman of the Republican Party and the chairman of the Democratic Party can go in there with me and monitor it to make sure it's nonpartisan."
Glasgow, a pastor, intends to turn in the registration forms and return to the lockups later to make sure inmates mail in absentee forms. He said the project is about human rights and preparing prisoners to return to society, not politics.
"We're just doing what the Bible says, visiting people in prison and ministering to them," he said.
About 3,000 people could be eligible to vote from inside Alabama prisons, Glasgow said, and he plans to register as many as possible in coming weeks.
Alabama law prohibits felons convicted of "crimes of moral turpitude" from voting unless they have had their rights restored. State law doesn't define such crimes, but court opinions have said they include major offenses like murder, robbery and rape plus some lesser offenses, like taking a stolen car across state lines.
Glasgow's drive is concentrating on registering prisoners who have been convicted only of drug possession, which an attorney general's opinion issued in 2005 did not define as a crime of moral turpitude.
Confusion over which crimes involve "moral turpitude" has led to litigation seeking the restoration of prisoners' voting rights.
By JAY REEVES
The Associated Press
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The Alabama Republican Party opposes a drive to register inmates to vote so they can cast absentee ballots from inside state prisons, with the state GOP chief saying Thursday there needs to be safeguards against voter fraud.
State Rep. Mike Hubbard, chairman of the party, told Corrections Commissioner Richard Allen in a letter delivered by e-mail that the party supports the idea of registering more people to vote, but not when it comes to prisoners.
"Furthermore, I have concerns about potential issues with how this effort is being monitored to ensure no form of voter fraud occurs," Hubbard wrote. He asked Allen to outline the prison system's plans for preventing fraud.
Prison spokesman Brian Corbett said the commissioner was working on a response and declined further comment.
Hubbard's letter came two days after The Associated Press reported that a coalition of groups led by a community activist, the Rev. Kenneth Glasgow, began registering inmates to vote in state lockups this week. Nearly 80 filled out registration forms in two days.
Glasgow, a Democrat from Dothan who served time for robbery and drug convictions, said no one with the state has told him to stop registering inmates. He plans to continue the effort with other members of the coalition, which he said includes Republicans and Democrats.
"I think they're more worried about me being a Democrat than anything," said Glasgow. "The chairman of the Republican Party and the chairman of the Democratic Party can go in there with me and monitor it to make sure it's nonpartisan."
Glasgow, a pastor, intends to turn in the registration forms and return to the lockups later to make sure inmates mail in absentee forms. He said the project is about human rights and preparing prisoners to return to society, not politics.
"We're just doing what the Bible says, visiting people in prison and ministering to them," he said.
About 3,000 people could be eligible to vote from inside Alabama prisons, Glasgow said, and he plans to register as many as possible in coming weeks.
Alabama law prohibits felons convicted of "crimes of moral turpitude" from voting unless they have had their rights restored. State law doesn't define such crimes, but court opinions have said they include major offenses like murder, robbery and rape plus some lesser offenses, like taking a stolen car across state lines.
Glasgow's drive is concentrating on registering prisoners who have been convicted only of drug possession, which an attorney general's opinion issued in 2005 did not define as a crime of moral turpitude.
Confusion over which crimes involve "moral turpitude" has led to litigation seeking the restoration of prisoners' voting rights.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
State inmates register to vote in prison
By Jay ReevesThe Associated Press
(photo by Jay Reeves)
BIRMINGHAM -- Alabama inmates are registering to vote from prison in a precedent-setting effort organized by activist groups with the blessing of state corrections officials.
Nearly 80 prisoners had filled out registration forms during drives at two lockups, and organizers plan to help them and hundreds more obtain absentee ballots in time to vote in the presidential election on Nov. 4.
Laura Schley, 34, has eight months left on a four-year sentence for illegal possession of prescription drugs. She had a hard time believing she was registering Tuesday at the Birmingham Work Release Center.
"It just blew my mind," said Schley, who was wearing prison whites. "My voting rights are very important to me and have been ever since I was 18."
The state attorney general's office issued an opinion seven years ago that inmates could vote from inside prison using absentee ballots. But confusion and lawsuits followed over which felons had that right because of a murky phrase in state law.
Corrections spokesman Brian Corbett said no one previously had registered prisoners to vote in Alabama.
"It's something that we support and authorized for them to do," said Corbett.
The drive is led by Kenneth Glasgow of Dothan, who served 14 years on robbery and drug charges and is now a pastor. Glasgow said restoring voting rights is essential to returning felons to society.
"What we're interested in is not so much the politics but the restoration of people's lives," Glasgow said.
Glasgow is state coordinator of a coalition that includes the Drug Policy Alliance, which advocates reforms including a move toward treatment rather than prison time for drug users.
Angela Wright, in the work-release center for cocaine possession, said she has to study before casting her vote for either Republican John McCain or Democrat Barack Obama for president.
"I haven't really even been paying attention because I figured it was a lost cause," Wright said after filling out a registration form.
Studies have estimated that more than 250,000 Alabama residents are barred from voting because of criminal records.
State law says those convicted of crimes of "moral turpitude" can't vote unless they have their rights restored by the state. The law does not state exactly which crimes are bad enough to make that list. Turpitude is defined as "baseness, vileness, depravity."
The state attorney general's office has said those offenses include murder, rape, multiple sex and obscenity offenses, burglary, robbery, forgery, conspiracy to commit fraud, aggravated assault, drug sales, bigamy, impeachment, treason and transporting stolen vehicles out of state.
Others convicted of lesser crimes such as possession of small amounts of drugs, battery or attempted burglary are eligible to vote, even from inside prison.
Glasgow, who coordinates a coalition of eight prisoners rights groups, is registering inmates convicted only of drug possession. He previously registered hundreds in county jails across the state.
Many convicted on drug charges also were sentenced for other crimes. Prison system statistics don't indicate how many inmates are behind bars only for drug possession.
Glasgow believes about 3,000 people could be eligible to vote from inside Alabama prisons, and he plans to register as many as possible in coming weeks.
Completed voter registration forms will be sent to the secretary of state's office and volunteers will return to state lockups to make sure prisoners cast their absentee ballots.
A Jefferson County judge in 2006 ordered the state to let all convicted felons vote because the law failed to define offenses or moral turpitude, but the Alabama Supreme Court overturned the decision.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
How Troy King helped expose the moral turpitude issue in Alabama
If you want to know about Troy King's finding's on moral turpitude, check out the letter he wrote to Bill Segrest, Commissioner of the Board of Pardon's and Parole back in 2005. This ruling was later clarified by Judge Vance in a ruling on Gooden v. Worley.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Voting Rights Tour
Contact: Rev. Ken Glasgow 334-791-2433
Gabriel Sayegh 646-335-2264
September 12, 2008
Advocates Launch Historic Drive to Register Eligible Alabama Voters, Including Those Convicted of Felony Drug Possession
Families, Formerly Incarcerated People, Religious Leaders, Treatment and Sentencing Experts Declare: Don’t Criminalize People with Drug Problems, Provide Treatment and Restoration
Voter Drive to Include Town Hall Events In Five Cities Across Alabama:
“Voter Disfranchisement and The War On Drugs:
What’s Civil Right’s Got to Do With It?”
In Alabama, nearly 250,000 people have been stripped their voting rights due to a felony conviction. But in a 2006 court ruling in Alabama, a judge found that only those persons convicted of felonies of “moral turpitude” lose their right to vote. The judge found that certain felonies—such as drug possession—do not constitute crimes of moral turpitude, and therefore individuals convicted of those crimes do not lose their right to vote, even during incarceration.
Alabama-based The Ordinary People’s Society and their national partner the Drug Policy Alliance estimate that over 50,000 people convicted of non-moral turpitude felonies in Alabama have been wrongly denied their right to vote, or believe they do not have that right due to a conviction. An additional 6 – 7,000 more people currently incarcerated in Alabama state prisons may also be eligible to vote.
Join Dothan-based The Ordinary People’s Society and their national partner the Drug Policy Alliance on their statewide tour to discuss Alabama’s drug war and its impact on democracy.
What: “Voter Disfranchisement and the War On Drugs: What’s Civil Right’s Got to Do With It?”
When: 9/15 – 9/19. Each event begins at 6 p.m .
Where: 9/15 in Huntsville; 9/16 in Birmingham; 9/17 in Mobile; 9/18 in Dothan; 9/19 in Montgomery. Each event begins at 6 p.m. Call for event locations.
Who: Rev. Kenneth Glasgow. Founder and Executive Director, The Ordinary People’s Society (TOPS). (Dothan, AL)
Daris Johnson. Director, TOPS Young People’s Project. (Enterprise, AL)
Gabriel Sayegh. Director, Organizing and Policy Project, Drug Policy Alliance (New York, NY)
Alabama is facing a crisis. The state has the 6th highest rate of incarceration in the U.S. A prison system designed for 12,500 people now holds nearly 30,000. As a result of the drug war, non-violent drug offenses make up approximately 30% of all felony convictions in Alabama, and people convicted of non-violent drug and property offenses comprise nearly half of the state’s prison population. Nearly 50% of prisoners are serving prison time for a drug related crime. And over 250,000 people are barred from voting due to felony disfranchisement laws. A recent court ruling, however, found that people convicted of drug possession, among other offenses, do not lose their right to vote. This change could have an impact on nearly 70,000 Alabamians, including nearly 10,000 currently incarcerated in state prisons.
While drug use is equal across all racial groups, Black people are incarcerated for drug crimes at higher rates than whites. Blacks make up only 26% of Alabama’s population, but are nearly 60% of the prison population. And nearly every For every white person in an Alabama jail, there are about 4 Black people.
Alabama is spending millions to incarcerated people when treatment is more effective and far cheaper. The average cost to keep a person in prison in Alabama is almost $13,000 per year. The average cost of a full treatment program per client is approximately $4,300. Over time, the savings from treatment are significant: Studies by the RAND Corporation have show that every additional dollar invested in substance abuse treatment saves taxpayers $7.46 in societal costs.
“We’ve got to start restoring people’s lives, by providing treatment, by restoring the right to vote,” said Reverend Kenneth Glasgow, Executive Director of The Ordinary People’s Society and state coordinator of the New Bottom Line Campaign. “When a person get’s a felony conviction, they can lose more than their voting rights, they can lose public assistance, public housing, financial aid for school. The drug war became a war on people and we spend more on incarceration than on treatment. Why do we spend more on producing criminals than producing citizens? We need a new bottom line.”
In 2005, according to the Office of Applied Studies, Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services, the substance abuse statistics for the state of Alabama stated:
Alcohol
• 246,000 people had alcohol dependency
• Total admissions for alcohol rehabilitation and treatment was 2,427
• Less than 1% (actually.009%) of Alabamians received treatment for alcohol
Other Drug Abuse
• 113,000 people had drug dependency other than alcohol
• Total admissions for drug rehabilitation and treatment was 12,645
• 11% of those needing treatment were provided with treatment
Gabriel Sayegh 646-335-2264
September 12, 2008
Advocates Launch Historic Drive to Register Eligible Alabama Voters, Including Those Convicted of Felony Drug Possession
Families, Formerly Incarcerated People, Religious Leaders, Treatment and Sentencing Experts Declare: Don’t Criminalize People with Drug Problems, Provide Treatment and Restoration
Voter Drive to Include Town Hall Events In Five Cities Across Alabama:
“Voter Disfranchisement and The War On Drugs:
What’s Civil Right’s Got to Do With It?”
In Alabama, nearly 250,000 people have been stripped their voting rights due to a felony conviction. But in a 2006 court ruling in Alabama, a judge found that only those persons convicted of felonies of “moral turpitude” lose their right to vote. The judge found that certain felonies—such as drug possession—do not constitute crimes of moral turpitude, and therefore individuals convicted of those crimes do not lose their right to vote, even during incarceration.
Alabama-based The Ordinary People’s Society and their national partner the Drug Policy Alliance estimate that over 50,000 people convicted of non-moral turpitude felonies in Alabama have been wrongly denied their right to vote, or believe they do not have that right due to a conviction. An additional 6 – 7,000 more people currently incarcerated in Alabama state prisons may also be eligible to vote.
Join Dothan-based The Ordinary People’s Society and their national partner the Drug Policy Alliance on their statewide tour to discuss Alabama’s drug war and its impact on democracy.
What: “Voter Disfranchisement and the War On Drugs: What’s Civil Right’s Got to Do With It?”
When: 9/15 – 9/19. Each event begins at 6 p.m .
Where: 9/15 in Huntsville; 9/16 in Birmingham; 9/17 in Mobile; 9/18 in Dothan; 9/19 in Montgomery. Each event begins at 6 p.m. Call for event locations.
Who: Rev. Kenneth Glasgow. Founder and Executive Director, The Ordinary People’s Society (TOPS). (Dothan, AL)
Daris Johnson. Director, TOPS Young People’s Project. (Enterprise, AL)
Gabriel Sayegh. Director, Organizing and Policy Project, Drug Policy Alliance (New York, NY)
Alabama is facing a crisis. The state has the 6th highest rate of incarceration in the U.S. A prison system designed for 12,500 people now holds nearly 30,000. As a result of the drug war, non-violent drug offenses make up approximately 30% of all felony convictions in Alabama, and people convicted of non-violent drug and property offenses comprise nearly half of the state’s prison population. Nearly 50% of prisoners are serving prison time for a drug related crime. And over 250,000 people are barred from voting due to felony disfranchisement laws. A recent court ruling, however, found that people convicted of drug possession, among other offenses, do not lose their right to vote. This change could have an impact on nearly 70,000 Alabamians, including nearly 10,000 currently incarcerated in state prisons.
While drug use is equal across all racial groups, Black people are incarcerated for drug crimes at higher rates than whites. Blacks make up only 26% of Alabama’s population, but are nearly 60% of the prison population. And nearly every For every white person in an Alabama jail, there are about 4 Black people.
Alabama is spending millions to incarcerated people when treatment is more effective and far cheaper. The average cost to keep a person in prison in Alabama is almost $13,000 per year. The average cost of a full treatment program per client is approximately $4,300. Over time, the savings from treatment are significant: Studies by the RAND Corporation have show that every additional dollar invested in substance abuse treatment saves taxpayers $7.46 in societal costs.
“We’ve got to start restoring people’s lives, by providing treatment, by restoring the right to vote,” said Reverend Kenneth Glasgow, Executive Director of The Ordinary People’s Society and state coordinator of the New Bottom Line Campaign. “When a person get’s a felony conviction, they can lose more than their voting rights, they can lose public assistance, public housing, financial aid for school. The drug war became a war on people and we spend more on incarceration than on treatment. Why do we spend more on producing criminals than producing citizens? We need a new bottom line.”
In 2005, according to the Office of Applied Studies, Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services, the substance abuse statistics for the state of Alabama stated:
Alcohol
• 246,000 people had alcohol dependency
• Total admissions for alcohol rehabilitation and treatment was 2,427
• Less than 1% (actually.009%) of Alabamians received treatment for alcohol
Other Drug Abuse
• 113,000 people had drug dependency other than alcohol
• Total admissions for drug rehabilitation and treatment was 12,645
• 11% of those needing treatment were provided with treatment
Thursday, August 14, 2008
State's felon voting law still unclear
State's felon voting law still unclear
(online link here)
By Markeshia Ricks
When Alabama made it easier for certain felons to regain the right to vote, it was hailed as a victory.
But the law designed to make it easier for them to regain their voting rights has caused confusion and lawsuits -- because only crimes involving "moral turpitude" include disenfranchisement as part of the penalty.
The state has no definitive list of which specific crimes cost a person their voting rights and which don't, and it's not likely to get one before the November elections.
Like most states, Alabama restricts the rights of felons to vote. The Sentencing Project estimates some 250,000 people in the state are ineligible to vote because of a felony conviction.
The new law was supposed to make it easier for felons who had done their time to regain their voting rights. Though an advocate for felon voting rights said the situation has improved since the law went into effect in 1993, the phone still rings off the hook every election year at the pardons and parole board with people asking questions.
Sarah Still, former manager of the state's Pardon Unit, said the state Board of Pardons and Paroles is flooded with felon-voting questions during every major election cycle, particularly after big voter registration drives.
More than 5,500 people have had their voting rights restored under the new process, and 220 had requests pending at the end of July. Another 327 received pardons between the beginning of the year and the end of July.
David Sadler, a national advocate and a felon who lost his voting rights for a drug-possession conviction when he was 18, said the Alabama bill that passed was watered down, "but it helped us get a foot through the door."
But many of the calls fielded by Pardons and Paroles officials come from felons who have had their voter registration rejected -- even though they never lost their right to vote. "Since we found out about the moral turpitude issue there has been a lot of confusion," Still said.
You say tomato
Under a 1996 amendment of the Alabama Constitution, felons convicted of crimes involving "moral turpitude" lost their voting rights until they were restored through the pardons process. Though the Alabama Supreme Court defined moral turpitude in 1916 as an act that is "immoral itself, regardless of the fact whether it is punishable by law," the state Legislature has never defined which crimes fall under this definition.
In 2003, the state passed a new law that allowed any person who lost their right to vote to use an expedited process to get their voting rights restored if they completed their sentence, paid all fines and had no pending felony charges. The new process takes 45 to 90 days to complete.
However, people who are convicted of murder, rape, sodomy and other sexual crimes can't use the new process to get their rights restored. Still said a person who commits these crimes would have to go through the more rigorous pardon process and that can take a year or more.
But what the law still leaves unresolved is which crimes are disenfranchising and which ones are not.
Attorney General Troy King said he tried to clear up some of the confusion by issuing an opinion that included a list of offenses that would disqualify felons from using the new process, and which ones wouldn't. King's lists, which add some crimes that the Legislature's list did not, are based on cases that involved moral turpitude, he said.
"That's been one of the most frustrating aspects of this whole thing," he said. "It wasn't me trying to keep people from voting, it was Nancy Worley who was going to keep all convicted felons from voting."
In 2005, then-Secretary of State Worley directed the boards of registrars in the state to treat every felony conviction as one involving moral turpitude, resulting in a lawsuit brought by the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund. The judge sided with the plaintiffs and declared the state's disenfranchisement law null and void until the Legislature defined the moral turpitude clause. But the Alabama Supreme Court overturned the judge's decision, saying that the case had nothing to do with the clause.
King's attempt to provide some clarity resulted in a lawsuit brought by the ACLU of Alabama against him and current Secretary of State Beth Chapman. The suit alleges that King's list of disqualifying felonies and Chapman's directive to boards of registrars to follow that list goes beyond what the law intends.
The ACLU believes that the crimes listed by the Legislature are the disenfranchising crimes, or those involving moral turpitude.
"We're arguing that the attorney general has the authority to interpret the law, not make it," said Sam Brooke, law fellow for the ACLU of Alabama. "The list that the attorney general produced goes beyond what the Legislature intended, and is not valid for registrars to rely on."
But the attorney general's list is being relied on. George Noblin, chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Registrars, said the board checks felon registrants against the attorney general's list, and notifies a person if they are disqualified according to that list.
"Of course it's not a complete list," he said. "I think it is something that the Legislature is eventually going to have to specify a more complete list."
Wait and see
While the efforts to sort it all out rage on, plenty of people like Karen Carr are moving through the system, hoping to get their rights back in time for the November election.
Carr was convicted of first-degree robbery more than 10 years ago, and she's been out of prison for more than four. While her crime is not on the list of crimes that the state Legislature said are ineligible for the speedier process, it is on the attorney general's list.
"When I was a young adult, no one explained to me the importance of your voice," she said. "But now that I've had the opportunity to grow and mature and learn the legislative process, I see the importance of having a vote.
"My thing is, what is it that makes you less of a person because you have a felony?"
Carr said what she found out when she got out of prison was that there are restrictions on where you could live, work and whether you can vote if you are a felon.
"Society says when you get out of prison, 'Do the right thing. Be a law abiding citizen,'" she said. "But you can't pay taxes if you don't work, you can't work if people won't hire you, and the only places you can afford to live are drug-infested neighborhoods where people don't care."
The Rev. Kenneth Glasgow, a felon voting rights advocate, said folks like Carr who have turned their lives around are the reason why restoring voting rights is so important.
"When you restore the right to vote you are restoring peoples' lives," said Glasgow, who heads up a Dothan-based ministry called The Ordinary People Society. "In restoring their lives, we restore families, we restore the community and society as a whole. This is what humanity is all about."
Glasgow's ministry has gone into prisons to educate people about their voting rights and to make sure that they register to vote.
When he's not busy with his shuttle service business, David Sadler is doing the same thing.
After working with legislators to get the law passed five years ago, Sadler said he's doubtful that felon-voting rights will be taken up in the state Legislature again anytime soon.
He said education for everyone involved in the process from the person being released from prison to voter registrars is what's important now.
"We must change how we think about the process of re-entry into society," he said.
(online link here)
By Markeshia Ricks
When Alabama made it easier for certain felons to regain the right to vote, it was hailed as a victory.
But the law designed to make it easier for them to regain their voting rights has caused confusion and lawsuits -- because only crimes involving "moral turpitude" include disenfranchisement as part of the penalty.
The state has no definitive list of which specific crimes cost a person their voting rights and which don't, and it's not likely to get one before the November elections.
Like most states, Alabama restricts the rights of felons to vote. The Sentencing Project estimates some 250,000 people in the state are ineligible to vote because of a felony conviction.
The new law was supposed to make it easier for felons who had done their time to regain their voting rights. Though an advocate for felon voting rights said the situation has improved since the law went into effect in 1993, the phone still rings off the hook every election year at the pardons and parole board with people asking questions.
Sarah Still, former manager of the state's Pardon Unit, said the state Board of Pardons and Paroles is flooded with felon-voting questions during every major election cycle, particularly after big voter registration drives.
More than 5,500 people have had their voting rights restored under the new process, and 220 had requests pending at the end of July. Another 327 received pardons between the beginning of the year and the end of July.
David Sadler, a national advocate and a felon who lost his voting rights for a drug-possession conviction when he was 18, said the Alabama bill that passed was watered down, "but it helped us get a foot through the door."
But many of the calls fielded by Pardons and Paroles officials come from felons who have had their voter registration rejected -- even though they never lost their right to vote. "Since we found out about the moral turpitude issue there has been a lot of confusion," Still said.
You say tomato
Under a 1996 amendment of the Alabama Constitution, felons convicted of crimes involving "moral turpitude" lost their voting rights until they were restored through the pardons process. Though the Alabama Supreme Court defined moral turpitude in 1916 as an act that is "immoral itself, regardless of the fact whether it is punishable by law," the state Legislature has never defined which crimes fall under this definition.
In 2003, the state passed a new law that allowed any person who lost their right to vote to use an expedited process to get their voting rights restored if they completed their sentence, paid all fines and had no pending felony charges. The new process takes 45 to 90 days to complete.
However, people who are convicted of murder, rape, sodomy and other sexual crimes can't use the new process to get their rights restored. Still said a person who commits these crimes would have to go through the more rigorous pardon process and that can take a year or more.
But what the law still leaves unresolved is which crimes are disenfranchising and which ones are not.
Attorney General Troy King said he tried to clear up some of the confusion by issuing an opinion that included a list of offenses that would disqualify felons from using the new process, and which ones wouldn't. King's lists, which add some crimes that the Legislature's list did not, are based on cases that involved moral turpitude, he said.
"That's been one of the most frustrating aspects of this whole thing," he said. "It wasn't me trying to keep people from voting, it was Nancy Worley who was going to keep all convicted felons from voting."
In 2005, then-Secretary of State Worley directed the boards of registrars in the state to treat every felony conviction as one involving moral turpitude, resulting in a lawsuit brought by the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund. The judge sided with the plaintiffs and declared the state's disenfranchisement law null and void until the Legislature defined the moral turpitude clause. But the Alabama Supreme Court overturned the judge's decision, saying that the case had nothing to do with the clause.
King's attempt to provide some clarity resulted in a lawsuit brought by the ACLU of Alabama against him and current Secretary of State Beth Chapman. The suit alleges that King's list of disqualifying felonies and Chapman's directive to boards of registrars to follow that list goes beyond what the law intends.
The ACLU believes that the crimes listed by the Legislature are the disenfranchising crimes, or those involving moral turpitude.
"We're arguing that the attorney general has the authority to interpret the law, not make it," said Sam Brooke, law fellow for the ACLU of Alabama. "The list that the attorney general produced goes beyond what the Legislature intended, and is not valid for registrars to rely on."
But the attorney general's list is being relied on. George Noblin, chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Registrars, said the board checks felon registrants against the attorney general's list, and notifies a person if they are disqualified according to that list.
"Of course it's not a complete list," he said. "I think it is something that the Legislature is eventually going to have to specify a more complete list."
Wait and see
While the efforts to sort it all out rage on, plenty of people like Karen Carr are moving through the system, hoping to get their rights back in time for the November election.
Carr was convicted of first-degree robbery more than 10 years ago, and she's been out of prison for more than four. While her crime is not on the list of crimes that the state Legislature said are ineligible for the speedier process, it is on the attorney general's list.
"When I was a young adult, no one explained to me the importance of your voice," she said. "But now that I've had the opportunity to grow and mature and learn the legislative process, I see the importance of having a vote.
"My thing is, what is it that makes you less of a person because you have a felony?"
Carr said what she found out when she got out of prison was that there are restrictions on where you could live, work and whether you can vote if you are a felon.
"Society says when you get out of prison, 'Do the right thing. Be a law abiding citizen,'" she said. "But you can't pay taxes if you don't work, you can't work if people won't hire you, and the only places you can afford to live are drug-infested neighborhoods where people don't care."
The Rev. Kenneth Glasgow, a felon voting rights advocate, said folks like Carr who have turned their lives around are the reason why restoring voting rights is so important.
"When you restore the right to vote you are restoring peoples' lives," said Glasgow, who heads up a Dothan-based ministry called The Ordinary People Society. "In restoring their lives, we restore families, we restore the community and society as a whole. This is what humanity is all about."
Glasgow's ministry has gone into prisons to educate people about their voting rights and to make sure that they register to vote.
When he's not busy with his shuttle service business, David Sadler is doing the same thing.
After working with legislators to get the law passed five years ago, Sadler said he's doubtful that felon-voting rights will be taken up in the state Legislature again anytime soon.
He said education for everyone involved in the process from the person being released from prison to voter registrars is what's important now.
"We must change how we think about the process of re-entry into society," he said.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Wiregrass-Area Non-Profit Makes Social Advocacy a TOP Priority
By Kelly Tabor
Published: July 4, 2008
online version here:
Perhaps the strongest weapon in the fight against HIV/AIDS and the endless cycle of poverty is the grassroots effort to put a face on social issues. Advocates Larry Bryant and Pastor Kenneth Glasgow want that face seen on a national level.
“We offer supportive services, housing, medical, HIV services,” Glasgow said. “We always give 100 percent back to the neighborhoods.”
Glasgow and his team of volunteers run the T.O.P.S. organization (The Ordinary People Society), a faith-based non-profit that focuses on mentoring and monitoring at-risk youth and serving underprivileged residents of the South. The group has 18 branches in Alabama and has been recognized by advocates in the country’s capitol.
“We have a soup kitchen, Momma Tina’s Mission House, and we feed 150 people a day,” said Daris Johnson, a volunteer with TOPS.
Larry Bryant, of the Washington, D.C. non-profit group Housing Works, said there is an epidemic in the South where people are homeless and hungry, low-income, addicted to drugs, and incarcerated parents leave behind neglected children. When mixed together they brew a society of dependence that’s uneducated.
“Alabama is one of the states that is ineffective in reaching the population,” said Bryant, who has been HIV positive for 22 years. “We’ve seen the epidemic change and grow, but the way people down here are treated has stayed the same.”
Bryant said he and others have set up town hall meetings across the state in an effort to stop what he said is a stigma and fear that prevents the education of people.
He recalled the story of a Mobile-area mother who took her family to an RV park in Silver Hill last Fourth of July. Her 2-year-old adopted son swam in a pool with other kids as the parents sat and chatted. When she mentioned that her son happened to be HIV positive, the other parents panicked and pulled their children out of the pool. Outraged, people from across the country organized a “Swim-In” in protest.
“We’re defending our lives and we shouldn’t have to do that,” Bryant said. “If we don’t act, it’s like we’re just waiting for the next epidemic.”
Bryant has planned for a coalition to attend the first presidential debate in Oxford, Miss.
“We need to demand that the next president have a comprehensive national plan,” Bryant said. “People with influence can make the most change.”
While many states still oppose needle exchange programs, and push for abstinence-only teaching, Bryant is optimistic about the progress that can be made when people stop rationalizing that if it doesn’t affect them, it is not their problem.
“There are many communities where ‘just say no’ is not an option,” Bryant said. “We hope people don’t stop fighting.”
Published: July 4, 2008
online version here:
Perhaps the strongest weapon in the fight against HIV/AIDS and the endless cycle of poverty is the grassroots effort to put a face on social issues. Advocates Larry Bryant and Pastor Kenneth Glasgow want that face seen on a national level.
“We offer supportive services, housing, medical, HIV services,” Glasgow said. “We always give 100 percent back to the neighborhoods.”
Glasgow and his team of volunteers run the T.O.P.S. organization (The Ordinary People Society), a faith-based non-profit that focuses on mentoring and monitoring at-risk youth and serving underprivileged residents of the South. The group has 18 branches in Alabama and has been recognized by advocates in the country’s capitol.
“We have a soup kitchen, Momma Tina’s Mission House, and we feed 150 people a day,” said Daris Johnson, a volunteer with TOPS.
Larry Bryant, of the Washington, D.C. non-profit group Housing Works, said there is an epidemic in the South where people are homeless and hungry, low-income, addicted to drugs, and incarcerated parents leave behind neglected children. When mixed together they brew a society of dependence that’s uneducated.
“Alabama is one of the states that is ineffective in reaching the population,” said Bryant, who has been HIV positive for 22 years. “We’ve seen the epidemic change and grow, but the way people down here are treated has stayed the same.”
Bryant said he and others have set up town hall meetings across the state in an effort to stop what he said is a stigma and fear that prevents the education of people.
He recalled the story of a Mobile-area mother who took her family to an RV park in Silver Hill last Fourth of July. Her 2-year-old adopted son swam in a pool with other kids as the parents sat and chatted. When she mentioned that her son happened to be HIV positive, the other parents panicked and pulled their children out of the pool. Outraged, people from across the country organized a “Swim-In” in protest.
“We’re defending our lives and we shouldn’t have to do that,” Bryant said. “If we don’t act, it’s like we’re just waiting for the next epidemic.”
Bryant has planned for a coalition to attend the first presidential debate in Oxford, Miss.
“We need to demand that the next president have a comprehensive national plan,” Bryant said. “People with influence can make the most change.”
While many states still oppose needle exchange programs, and push for abstinence-only teaching, Bryant is optimistic about the progress that can be made when people stop rationalizing that if it doesn’t affect them, it is not their problem.
“There are many communities where ‘just say no’ is not an option,” Bryant said. “We hope people don’t stop fighting.”
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