Proposed bill would restore rights of former prisoners

Erica D. Johnson

Monday, Nov. 18, 2002 | 11:10 a.m.

A law passed in the 2001 Legislature allows felons who have completed their sentences to restore their civil rights -- to vote, serve on a jury and run for office.

Now Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, is spearheading an effort to streamline the process. She want to see civil rights automatically restored to felons once they have paid their debt to society and to make life for them in society easier in other ways.

Her proposed legislation also would eliminate the requirement that ex-felons register with police unless they are sex offenders and allow felons to get work cards.

She is working on a bill draft for the 2003 Legislature to make those changes.

Giunchigliani last week discussed the bill at a forum with interested legislators, city officials, prosecutors and law enforcement agents at the Grant Sawyer State Office Building, 555 E. Washington Ave.

Among the interested officials who attended were Las Vegas Councilman Lawrence Weekly, Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-Las Vegas, and Leonard Polk, a felon who has applied to have his rights restored.

"Everyone should have the right to vote," Polk said. "People need to be able to participate in their community."

Giunchigliani said losing the right to vote is just one of many barriers that prevent ex-felons from integrating back into society.

"Society is based on the fact that criminals go to prison pay off their debt," she said. "If you want people to stop feeling disenfranchised and become part of community again, a jumpstart to that is allowing people to vote and serve on juries."

But not everybody thinks leaving felons on the edge of society is a bad idea.

Ron Cornell, president of Families of Murder Victims, said felons should continue to be labeled as such because they still pose a threat.

Cornell, whose 16-year-old son was killed by a neighbor four years ago, said losing the right to vote is a reasonable consequence for a felony conviction.

"I'm tired of seeing the felons and the criminals getting all the breaks," he said. "When do people start thinking about victims' families who are left behind? My son took a bullet in the back from someone. Where was the fairness to him?" The bill could affect about 4,000 felons who are released from Nevada prisons each year, according to Lisa Morris, a senior management analyst for Las Vegas Neighborhood Services and administrator of a new program that helps felons reacclimate to society. About 65 percent of those return to Southern Nevada once released, she said.

Polk, twice a felon, is among those who would like to see the laws revised.

He has applied to have his rights reinstated after a 1992 conviction for coercion, after being charged with attempted sexual assault, for which he served five years' probation, according to the Parole and Probation Department, which reviews the applications. The district judges who sentenced the felons decide whether the rights will be restored.

He also was convicted for felony reckless driving in 1984 after a racing incident and served two years at the Southern Desert Correctional Center in Indian Springs. He was released a decade ago and has been through drug treatment. He plans to apply to have that record sealed.

He applied to have his rights reinstated on Nov. 6, so he was not able to vote.

"My hope is that it gets automatic where at least the right to vote is restored immediately," Polk said.

Another law Giunchigliani is eager to change is the requirement that all felons register with law enforcement within 48 hours of arriving in the state, a move police oppose.

Florida is the only other state that requires registration, Giunchigliani said.

There is no public purpose to making felons who are not sex offenders register, she said.

"Once they've paid their debt to society and proved themselves, there's no need to hound them," she said. "They've satisfied their probation, paid their victims and they're raising their families. I don't see the need to know who is a felon and who isn't."

But Stan Olsen, government liaison for Metro Police, said he thinks all felons should have to register with law enforcement.

Sex offenders are not the only felons who present a danger to the community, he said.

"They've stepped out of the norms of society and committed crimes against their community, some of them dangerous crimes," he said. "The issue is the protection of the public from the criminal element."

Just because someone has completed their prison sentence doesn't mean they won't re-offend, he said.

There are currently 1,200 repeat offenders in Metro's jurisdiction alone, Olsen said.

Repeat offenders constitute people who have three or more unrelated felony convictions, not including drug convictions.

Olsen said he is willing to talk to Giunchigliani about re-examining laws.

A law to automatically reinstate rights also is overdue, the assemblywoman said.

Nevada is one of only 15 states that don't automatically reinstate an ex-felon's rights upon release, Giunchigliani said.

The 2001 law did make it so felons would have to wait 10 to 15 years to ask to have their records sealed, depending on the seriousness of their crime. The law originally required a wait of 15 years.

Those convicted of gross misdemeanors now have to wait three to seven years, as opposed to five to 10 years.

When records are sealed, ex-felons can legally answer no when asked if they've been convicted of the felony.

While the advocates are working on restoring civil rights, their efforts have also resulted in the planned January opening of the Evolve Resource and Referral Center.

The center will provide vocational training, housing referral and substance abuse treatment to ex-felons.

"All these people are trying to get is a second chance," Morris said. " The goal is to successfully transition them back into the community and make them self-sufficient."

The federally funded center will be operated out of a city-owned facility in West Las Vegas, Morris said.

Polk said the program will benefit the entire community by helping to reduce the number of repeat offenders.

"The same people are going in and out of prison," he said. "The more you travel that road, the more dangerous you get. It's a vicious cycle. You either have to stop that revolving door or lock people up for life."