By Jorge Valencia
The Roanoke Times
Roanoke’s top cop called for the restoration of voting rights of nonviolent felons Friday, the latest sign of the police department’s changing attitudes toward crime punishment. These sentiments match a statewide movement to restore nonviolent felons’ rights more easily, and recent emphasis by local police on community engagement. Gov. Bob McDonnell restored voting rights to 1,126 felons during his first year in office, according to Senate Document No. 2, a report he filed to the General Assembly in late February.
And new Roanoke Police Chief Chris Perkins is working on a program to confront drug dealers with rehabilitation or prison.
“When a young person becomes a felon, he spends the rest of his life overcoming a stigma,” Perkins said. “We are losing social capital.”
Perkins, who was named police chief in October, has given his department a new public face. He has reported swiftly on potentially improper officer behavior, has personally asked domestic violence victims to report abuse, and has communicated with citizens through online social networking sites.
In February, the police department publicized its intentions to import a crime-cutting program called the Drug Market Initiative from High Point, N.C. It purports to confront nonviolent drug dealers in a targeted part of the city and offer community help to make a legal living or otherwise lock them up. At a discussion at Virginia Western Community College on the restoration of voting rights Friday night, Perkins said that when felons who have paid for their crimes are not allowed to vote, they become disenfranchised and are more likely to return to crime.
“If you have been through the system, you should have the right to vote,” Roanoke Sheriff Octavia Johnson said.
Under the state constitution, residents convicted of a felony lose their right to vote, serve on a jury or own a gun. Only the governor can restore voting rights after a vetting process. McDonnell, a Republican who campaigned on implementing a speedy restoration-review process, is on track to restore voting rights to more felons than both of the Democrats who preceded him, according to The Washington Post and Richmond Times-Dispatch.
At least 39 states and the District of Columbia allow voting upon completion of a prison sentence. The discussion Friday night was sponsored by the advocacy group Voices for the Vote and Virginia Western’s Justice Club. Del. Onzlee Ware, D-Roanoke, and Roanoke Councilman Sherman Lea echoed their long-standing support for restoration of voting rights.
A group that included felons presented a play that through the characters of an inmate, a jail officer and family members gave a sketch of life in prison. The panel discussion followed. In a surreal moment, the man who played the inmate told Perkins during the panel discussion that Perkins had locked him up in 1995 on a drug trafficking charge.
The man, 42-year-old Derrick Perry, asked Perkins if he would get involved in Virginia CARES, which gives convicts transitional help and job training. In turn, Perkins invited Perry to participate in the Drug Market Initiative. Perry said he was recently released from his third jail sentence and that he had been turned down from jobs at H&R Block, the city’s department of Solid Waste Management and several hotels. He said he is studying water management at the college, paid by a federal grant.
“I don’t want to be at home doing nothing,” Perry said. “I want to give back.” Staff writer Michael Sluss contributed to this report.
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