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Florida Voters Restore Ex-Felons’ Voting Rights

In the November mid-term election, Florida voters approved Amendment 4, the Voting Restoration Amendment, a ballot measure amending the state’s constitution to eliminate a provision that permanently removed the voting rights for well over a million state residents convicted of felonies. The new amendment becomes Article VI, sections 4(a) and (b) of the state constitution,

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New Law in Florida Brings More Opportunities for Inmates

Until recently, state funds could not be used for prison education programs. Now, Governor Rick Scott has changed that by signing a bill allowing the Florida Department of Corrections to partner with colleges and local school districts to provide education to inmates under a program called Postsecondary Workforce Education (PWE). Florida inmates with 24 months

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Federal Judge Knocks Down Florida’s Way of Restoring Felons’ Voting Rights

Feb. 1st, a federal judge reviewing how Florida handles restoration of felons’ voting rights ruled it unconstitutional because the process gives the Florida Executive Clemency Board sweeping, unregulated power to decide whether to re-enfranchise former felons. Tallahassee-based district judge Mark E. Walker decided that violates applicants’ First Amendment rights of free speech and association and

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Broward County Deputy Jailed for Sexual Assault of a Minor

A police officer with the Broward County, Florida sheriff’s office has been arrested and charged with illegal sexual activity involving a teenage girl. Leon Campbell, a 37-year-old deputy sheriff, was jailed on October 19, 2017, but was released the next day on a $15,000 bond. According to TheFreeThoughtProject.com (TFTP), he was charged with second-degree felony

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$88,616 to Florida Woman Falsely Arrested

On May 13, 2007, Orlando real estate broker Ana Maria Hazleton was at home when Orlando police officers responded to a call about a disturbance on her front lawn. The four officers, Brandon Loverde, Fernando Trinidad, Frank Sikos, and Edward Albino, arrested Hazleton’s son, Anthony, who had been playing in the yard with a friend.

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$36,000 Settles Palm Beach False Arrest

A lawsuit brought by the fiancé of an Ft. Lauderdale, Florida cop against a Palm Beach County detective settled for $36,000 on January 10, 2007. The case involved a series of thefts committed by Steven Hipsher while he was employed at a Home Depot in Boca Raton. Detective John Lino Navarro, Jr. of the Palm

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GEO Group’s Florida Immigration Detention Center “Horrifying”

By David M. Reutter Hundreds of undocumented immigrants are housed at the GEO Group-operated Broward Transitional Center (BTC) in Pompano Beach, Florida, and many are victims of mistreatment and policy violations, according to a report issued by an immigrants’ rights group. The 71-page report, released on April 29, 2013, by Americans for Immigrant Justice (AIJ),

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Prison Education: The Sunshine State Takes Education Online

In 2012, Florida established the first online high school within a correctional facility.  In 2014, it celebrated the success of that pilot program by extending it to a total of seven prisons across the state. Still, the only program of its kind, Florida’s experiment demonstrates one potential strategy for improving the educational opportunities available to

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