The Second Chance Federation will help people reduce fines, recover their driver’s licenses, and restore their ability to vote.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. โ A new nonprofit law firm launched Friday in Charlotte aimed at restoring rights for people who have been in prison.
Theย Second Chance Federation will help formerly incarcerated people reduce fines, recover their driver’s licenses, and restore their ability to vote. The organization also has a broader policy agenda โ one its executive director says is deeply personal.
“There are over 19 million people in this country who have been convicted of felonies. If that were a state, it would be our fifth-largest state in the country,” said Daryl Atkinson. “Imagine if those folks were full participants in our democracy and had the ability to engage and weigh in on public policies that impact their lives.”
Atkinson says he spent nearly four years in an Alabama Department of Corrections facility in the mid-1990s, which influenced his passion now. He has been an attorney in North Carolina for 18 years.
In North Carolina, people with felony convictions can only regain their voting rights after completing their sentence, probation or parole โ and paying all associated fines.ย
But he argues those fines shouldn’t be a barrier to voting at all. He is pushing for an end to those fees and a policy change that would allow people on community supervision to cast ballots.
“If the court has deemed them and society has deemed them suitable enough to be here, living amongst us, they should have a civic voice,” he said.ย
Atkinson said he wants to take that fight to the national level โ and called the current political moment a critical one.
“Unfortunately, these attacks on voter rights are not new,” he said. “We believe if we can alleviate those barriers, those folks can be more productive citizens, and we can have a healthier democracy.”
