Post-sentence barriers prevent returning citizens from creating stable lives
Iowa ranks among the worst states for financial and voting rights burdens.
“Let the punishment fit the crime.” - W.S. Gilbert, The Mikado
The U.S. justice system recognizes that each criminal act is different, that the nature of the criminal, the victim, and the crime affect what punishments are proportionate and appropriate to each act. Accordingly, we entrust the judge and jury to consider the evidence and determine whether mercy, prison time, or another sentence is appropriate to each case.
In theory, people who complete their carefully selected sentences — excessive though they frequently are — have the freedom to return to society and build new lives. In practice, however, they encounter thousands of post-sentence barriers that are largely invisible to the general public. The American Bar Association estimates that some 44,000 state and federal laws and regulations impede returning citizens from creating stable lives (working, driving, finding housing), fulfilling civic duties (voting, holding public office, serving on juries and in the military), and bettering themselves (accessing and paying for higher education).
Some of these barriers are important protections for the public —- a convicted child sex abuser should not teach kindergarten — but many have no discernible connection to the crime committed. What is the point of keeping someone who has served time for shoplifting from having a place to live?
These arbitrary barriers extend punishments indefinitely, violating the principle that judges and juries are best positioned to fit consequences to individual crimes. They make it harder for returning citizens to move on, harder for victims to receive restitution, and harder for the rest of us to welcome those citizens back to society. In the words of Commissioner David Kladney of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, we “fail to acknowledge the overwhelming evidence that reducing collateral consequences reduces recidivism and keeps the public safe” when we support these barriers to reintegration.
Given the gargantuan costs of imprisonment and the benefits of a smooth transition out of incarceration, you might think that the government would have a strong system to guide returning citizens around these hurdles. You would be wrong. Our post-prison “system” is a loose coalition of social services, nonprofits, and faith-based organizations that have their work cut out for them.
Unfortunately, Iowa ranks among the worst states for financial and voting rights burdens.
Being arrested here, regardless of guilt or conviction, can be shockingly expensive. County jails charge room and board. Iowa defendants pay the costs for their public defenders, even though public defenders are provided only to people who cannot afford an attorney. Then Iowa defendants must pay the costs of holding court. Even without restitution, these fees can add up to tens of thousands of dollars of court debt, levels similar to student loans or mortgages, but with enormous difficulties in getting jobs to repay them.
Further piling on, Iowa is one of two states that automatically strip the right to vote from everyone convicted of a felony, for life. Although there is a process for restoring voting rights, this means that crimes like keying a car (vandalism) or shoplifting can permanently end citizens’ right to vote.
Voting is a central right in America. What justifies this indiscriminate, lifelong penalty?
Governor Reynolds agrees that there is no justification and has proposed amending the Iowa constitution to end automatic felony disenfranchisement. The amendment passed the House almost unanimously but has yet to advance through the Senate judiciary committee. Some state senators would like to see the amendment require that all court debt and restitution be repaid before voting rights can be restored.
Given our system’s financial burdens on defendants, it appears that these senators want well-off returning citizens to vote, but not poor ones. Pay to play democracy is not acceptable. Make sure to contact your state senator and say so.
To learn more about the barriers our fellow Iowans face to reentering our community and how you can help, consider attending the Inside Out Homecoming Reentry Summit this coming Thursday and Friday.
Kelcey Patrick-Ferree and Shannon Patrick live in Iowa.
Originally published in the Iowa City Press-Citizen on October 11, 2019.