This girl right here?
She's lost, she's hurting, she's dark,
she's in so much pain.
But the beautiful thing is, is that she's dead.
She's buried, and I don't visit her grave.
I've had my friend killed in front of me,
and shot at, I've been taken at gunpoint,
and humiliated by rival gang members.
I've had over 29 staples placed on my head.
I don't even know who she is.
I don't even look like her anymore.
This is what redemption looks like.
I want justice, but more than that,
I don't want anyone else to have to go through this.
I know how the judicial system needs to change because I've been impacted by it
[Male] This false dichotomy, you have to either
be tough on crime, or soft on crime.
I think the real measure on crime is,
are you being smart on crime, or dumb on crime?
The state of Florida tends to get looked at
as a sort of political petri dish.
National news outlets swoop in every election cycle
to see how the state will vote,
but if you go beyond the local polling lines,
and into the homes and workplaces of some Floridians,
you'll find that quite a few of them
can't vote even if they wanted to.
That's because if you're convicted of a felony
in the state of Florida, you lose your voting rights
for life and that affects nearly one in 10 Floridians.
This year, there's an amendment on the Florida
midterm ballot that could change that.
Amendment Four would automatically restore the voting rights
for Floridians with convicted felonies,
except for murder or sex crimes,
after they completed their sentences.
A massive voting rights restoration like that
could have a big impact on elections.
Four of the last five presidential elections
have been decided by less than 300,000 votes
in Florida.
[News Anchor] NBC News s now taking Florida
out of Vice President Gore's column,
and putting it back in the Too-Close-To-Call.
Amendment Four's passage
would restore voting rights for an estimated
1.5 million Floridians,
and in an increasingly polarized country and state,
the effort has a pretty strong backing
across the political spectrum.
I lost my voting eligibilities for life,
before I ever had the opportunity
to even exercise my voting eligibility.
Not mature enough to vote,
but mature enough to lose it for life.
One of the people working to restore
these voting rights, including his own, is Angel Sanchez,
a former gang member from Miami,
who did 12 years in Florida State Prison
for attempted murders and robberies.
Now, he's living just down the street
from the very wall he hid behind
to avoid shootouts as a teen, only this time,
he's living a much different life.
Once I got to prison
my case drew me to the law library,
and it is sitting in the law library
that I discovered a passion for the law.
I would get old Introduction to Business books,
and sit in there in prison looking through these books
I would see pictures of kids my age
sitting on the grass with their book bags,
and I envision myself being one of those kids.
It was almost like seeing a parallel world
of what I could be and what I really was.
I went from a defendant in that courtroom,
to a judicial intern in that courtroom.
I got to walk in with the judge
when they would say all rise.
Her in her robe, me in my suit, in the same courtroom,
where I used to once walk in in a inmate jumpsuit,
and in handcuffs and shackles
As the law stands now, Angel won't be able to take
the Florida Bar exam to actually become a lawyer
after law school, unless his civil rights are restored.
I started law school optimistic,
knowing that despite the reality,
something, and someone, will see the work that I'm doing,
and say, I'm gonna help, and that something,
that someone, has been< Amendment 4
If you don't face your fear, it's going to stop you for the rest of your life
I am Coral Nichols and I am the co-founder
and vice president of Empower to Change, Incorporated.
Empower to Change is a non profit organization that is
a diversion program that works with the judicial system,
homelessness, human trafficking victims,
re-entry from prison to help reduce the cycle of recidivism.
Before Coral was running a non-profit,
she spent five years in Florida State Prison for grand theft and fraud
And before that, she voted in every presidential election
she was able to.
Now because she lives in Florida, she's not allowed to vote.
We are all born with a need to belong.
That's why you have a lot of young kids who go into gangs.
Voting gives voice to people.
You belong to society
You belong to culture.
So when my voice matters then I have a buy-in
in the community.
Floridians for a Sensible Voting Rights policy is a
non profit advocating against Amendment Four.
Voting restrictions for people with felony convictions
aren't as strict in the rest of the country.
There's no standard set of laws.
So states are left to come up with their own processes.
Maine and Vermont let people vote even if they're in prison.
While Iowa and Kentucky restrict everyone with a
felony conviction.
The only way for someone to get their civil right's
restored in those states is to plead your case
to the Governor.
In Florida, this process can take up to seven years
to even apply, and your chances of being approved
depend on who the Governor is at the time.
[Governor] I deny full pardon.
Under former Governor Charlie Crist, more than 155,000
offenders in Florida had their rights restored.
But under current Governor Rick Scott, that number was just
over 3,000 between 2011 and 2017.
Governor Rick Scott's office did not respond to CNBC's
request for comment.
While Angel and Coral are focused on the big picture,
fighting to restore millions of people's right to vote, some of the people they're fighting for are still just
taking it day by day
One man just got out of jail and started his first day
at ETC.
Meanwhile, Leila was about 30 days into the program when
we met her, and she's working on securing a steady job.
So when you're talking to somebody and they say,
well I'm gonna run a background check,
then you say okay, well I want you to know that yes,
I've made some poor choices.
Don't say you made mistakes because they weren't mistakes,
they were poor choices.
Because there's a level of ownership that you have to take.
You did that.
But what I'm doing right now is I'm working a program,
I'm actively involved in changing my life.
So you want me on your team because I have purpose
and I'm working really hard to change my life
and I would be an asset for you.
Yes, my name is Leila Tice.
Okay.
L-E-I, yes.
Girl, this is Ellen.
Hey, how you doing?
Oh that was kind of funny.
We were actually friends in jail and she had a way bigger
charge than me but that's kinda encouraging too because
now I know that if she has a job there,
then I know I can get a job there.
Landing an interview may seem like a small feat
to some but Leila's job search is part of a larger
argument for voting rights restoration.
According to the Washington Economics Group
passing Amendment Four would be more than just a
restoration of Civil Rights.
It could give the state of Florida a $365 million boost
to its economy.
The study looked at two major factors:
recidivism, which is when someone returns to prison
and household income in Florida
It points to data showing the recidivism rate for those
who are granted their rights back is lower than the overall
population of released inmates
Of course in Florida's system whether under Crist or Scott
those granted clemency are part of a much more selective
group compared to everyone with felony convictions.
But if people are less likely to go back to prison
after their rights are restored, they'll be saving
tax payers the $20,000 a year it costs to incarcerate
someone in Florida.
Plus, they'll be out participating in the economy.
I was surprised by the change because I thought it was
strong and then we went back and did more research and look
and see nationwide what has happened.
And the numbers are there.
No question that this is positive.
I wouldn't say that this is the silver bullet
that will change everything,
but it's certainly a low hanging fruit.
If Amendment Four passes they'll have the potential
to change policies that make it harder for former felons
to get hired.
We could do things like ban the box, which would simply
mean that I get to get in front of an employer and show them
who Coral Nichols is instead of a box on an application
that says I'm a convicted felon.
One example of one of these possible positive outcomes
is Matt Farina.
He went through the Empower to Change program
and now he's a manager at a local burger joint.
I've been in the court system since I was
17 years old.
There's not too many people that have more felonies
than I've had and made more mistakes than I've had.
They'll tell you, if he can do it there's definitely hope
for a lot of people.
Now you know, I'm making enough money to support my family
and actually in a position where I can hire people
that started out like myself, which is a pretty big deal
for me.
Getting my rights restored as far as voting and stuff
like that, it's a big deal.
I'd like to have a say in what's going on.
have kids in this world, too.
Navigating the world of employment with a felony
conviction is complicated
I used to be afraid that speaking that I was a
convicted felon and the words Empower to Change would
be in shame, and that I would harm it
And all the good that it means
- I was crying myself to sleep on a top bunk in a homeless
shelter saying, this wasn't the plan.
I couldn't get a job, no one would hire me.
But I kept trying, kept trying.
A gentleman offered me a part time job.
The only thing to show in my resume was my prison jobs.
- I'm not a fluke of society.
I am not some special case that did it that other people
can't either.
I know lots of people who have changed, that have decided
to be a part of the solution instead of the problem.
- I'm exceptional because people have made
exceptions for me.
And I think if we have a system that doesn't depend on
exceptions but rather on making exceptional stories
the norm, we'll have more stories like mine.