“It is a Christian obligation to vote, and more than that, it is the church’s responsibility to help get souls to the polls.”— Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, The Episcopal Church 

The United States locks up more people per capita than any other nation, at the staggering rate of 698 per 100,000 residents. And the poor and people of color are dramatically overrepresented in our nation’s prisons and jails. Once released from prison, former prisoners are punished again, discriminated against in housing, employment and in voting. Something needs to change. 

 Proposition 17, on the November ballot, would amend the California constitution to restore the right to vote to convicted felons who are released on parole from state or federal prison. Under current law such persons are not eligible to vote until the terms of their parole are completed. Can even narrow policy changes, like this one, meaningfully reduce our society’s use of incarceration? And what else can we do? 

 Join us to hear from Dorsey Nunn, Executive Director of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, co-founder of All of Us or None, in conversation with Dean Malcolm Clemens Young about Prop. 17, amending the 13th Amendment and the movement to win full restoration of human and civil rights for formerly and currently incarcerated people.