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Bill Would Provide Released Inmates With State ID Cards
December 10, 2013
A Senate panel Monday unanimously passed a bill that would require state agencies to waive their fees to provide inmates being released from prison with the identification documents necessary to get and hold jobs.
The measure by Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, would require the Department of Corrections to provide every Florida-born inmate with a certified copy of his or her birth certificate and a state ID card before release. It would also require the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to waive the fees for ID cards and the Department of Health to waive fees for copies of birth certificates.
“This is a very important bill,” said Bob Dillinger, the public defender for Pinellas and Pasco counties. “Without an ID, you cannot get a job.” Dillinger said the problem was exacerbated about two months ago when the U.S. Social Security Administration started requiring ID cards to provide the print-out that Dillinger’s office had used to establish an inmate’s work history.
“It’s the true government Catch-22,” he said. “We’ve found some ways to work around that — but that’s a big impact on poor people. We have to get them an ID.”
The bill is also backed by the Florida Chamber of Commerce and the Florida Alcohol and Drug Abuse Association. A more far-reaching version of the measure, which included mental health and substance abuse treatment, failed last spring.
“If they get a job, they’re not likely to recidivate,” said Barney Bishop, president and CEO of the Florida Smart Justice Alliance. “Because when (you) go to a place to work, they want to know where you live, and when you go to a place to live, they want to know where you work — and you can’t do either without a state ID card.”
by The News Service of Florida
Comments
15 Responses to “Bill Would Provide Released Inmates With State ID Cards”
You guys are idiots if you think someone has payed there debt to society just for being in jail last time I checked I payed there debt cause my tax money payed to feed them shelter them. Nothing in life is free and if you got it for free then your a piece of crap. Ive worked all my life and pay all the fees and your telling me that I have to pay the fees for some idiot that raped, killed or harmed someone screw that. He can comecut my grass and EARN IT LIKE I HAD TOO
Great Bill! This may seem to be a non-issue, but unless you work where this matters…you really won’t get it. An actual bill that will have an immediate impact!
REGARDING:
“Please don’t nit pick everything people say here.”
I wouldn’t dream of it. I just don’t consider it a small, insignificant thing when folks say a criminal has paid his debt to society when released from prison or, for that matter, not incarcerated in the first place. Based on that thought, people have argued known child molesters should be free from the stigma and their records sealed. Because of that philosophy other children have been murdered by convicts on probation who had “paid their debt to society”.
Few crimes are committed to avoid starvation.
I have no problem giving convicted criminals a chance to repent, reform, rejoin decent society. I just don’t favor the idea that they are equally worthy of trust as the ones who actually earned it. We owe small children and old people more consideration than that.
David for reasonable people
My point, David, was that at some time after release, the inmate is not required to stay in a cell, or to report to a probation officer. I do realize that if I had a loved one who had been murdered, I would not consider that the inmate had paid his or her debt at all unless they had been put to death. Nevertheless, most inmates would like a fair shot at rejoining society, and allowing them to gain employment is a great start. If they must no longer remain incarcerated, the debt to the governing officials is considered to be paid.
Please don’t nit pick everything people say here. The phrase “debt has been paid” in regard to inmates merely means it’s now time for them to rejoin society – albeit even if they may be on probation – which will require them to have a job and housing, by the way. I sure there are a hundred exceptions you can find, but I believe I was clear enough in my understanding and my response to the article.
Being released from prison does NOT mean your “debt to society” has been paid. Usually those released are still on probation with legal restrictions on their freedoms and rights as citizens. The rest of society is not required to treat them exactly like a citizen who has never murdered, raped, robbed, defrauded or whatever their particular crimes were. Some crimes carry debts so high they can never be paid because they have hurt others in ways which continue over multiple generations
That is not to say it is not good and wise to give convicted criminals more chances, but it is foolish to pretend the scales of justice are balanced by release from prison. If that were the case, the fastest way to pay “their debt to society” would be to set all sentencing to one day. Then they’d be free and clear the next day even if their victims were crippled for life or dead already.
David for clear understanding
I’m with “Just sayin”. Like it or not, upon release, their debt has been paid. They need the bare minimum to get started with a job and a place to live. That would be an ID and a birth certificate. Now, I do believe that most inmates don’t want to go back to prison and will do what they are able to avoid it. Some will go back to illegal activities and recidivate, but for the ones who want to make a positive change, this is a good way to start. I think it’s a good bill, and common sense says we should support it. Personally, I think Florida charges too much for these documents anyway. I recently got a copy of my birth certificate from Texas for $10.
Once taxes are taken from your pay, they are distributed according to the law. You do NOT get to pick and choose how those dollars are spent.
As others have said, upon your release from prison, you are considered to have paid your debt to society. Therefore, you are now on equal footing with every other law abiding citizen. It is unfair and should be illegal to discriminate because of a past mistake that you have done your penance for. If all of you refuse to give these prior inmates the chance to do right, they won’t. They’ll go back to crime because they haven’t been given any other option. Use your common sense, people. Give them the opportunity to do right, instead of setting them up to do wrong!!!!
Helping the less unfortunate..OK..I can do that…Someone who has broken the law and ended up in jail..NO SIR!! My children went through HELL trying to get ID’s due to moving alot & not having paperwork or not having the funds for the birth certificate and yet you wanna GIVE these items to released inmates….My tax dollars should go to my childrens needs ya know the ones i WORK to support but NO NO NO NO they are going to criminals who are GIVEN these items not having to lift a finger to get back in society!!!! So tired of the bad ones being given everything & the ones working hard to achieve have to work that much harder to succeed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m reading a lot of post of how these people need help to make a fresh start,I agree,however starting them off with an entitlement only adds to the never ending cycle of government dependency,if someone truly wants a better life they will find a way to afford the required i.d card,picking up cans,raking leaves etc.Taxpayers are sick of government moochers and are now are asked to pay for an I,d is too much….what’s next we pay for i.d’s for the 11 million unlawfull invaders?
This is a very good idea, a long time coming. This helps a former inmate ease back into society, hopefully to gain employment, and a residence and to start a new life.
Those people have paid for their crime if they are being released. They need a chance to contribute to society and for their own lively hood. There are some that will take the chance and go with it. Of course there are some that will not, It will be a lot cheaper on society for them to work than for us to support them in prison. Give them a chance.
This sounds like a good idea. And while we are at it, do away with the online records that everybody goes to just to look up everybody’s past. I was raised up in a time when people would say if you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime. When you done your time you were a free man/women. That’s not true in today’s computer world, your little mistake haunts you the rest of your life. We made this problem when we made public records available for all to see. Only the courts and the sheriff office needs to see these records. I could see Murder, Rapist. Child molester should be available on public records but all the other stuff- Stealing, Writing bad checks, Fighting and so on, you get the picture should not be there for everybody to look at. Now days when we meet somebody, work with somebody or suspect somebody we quickly run to the computer and look them up. We have created a monster where people with a past will never get their lives back and become productive citizens in our society. When you pay your dues for your crimes you should even with the courts and the public. You should be looked at and treated like a regular citizen. Hopefully we can get these past offenders off the taxpayers dime. We need to kill the monster (Public Records). Remember this could be your life on public record someday and people will judge you. Everybody makes mistakes.
Cannot believe anyone would be against this. They just got out of prison so you want to put every roadblock (of which this is a major $40 roadblock cor someone with no job) in their way fo trying to change. Not all past offenders want to go back to jail/prison and this is the first excuse all of them use. No id, no $40 so I cant get a job.
just another freebie reward for doing the the wrong thing,make them at least wash police cars for a weekend for the required card (that they will NEVER use to look for employment anyway)
Great! Now our already expensive driver licenses just got more expensive. How else are these agencies going to provide these “ex” convicts with id’s. Maybe a solution would be to charge “at cost” prices just to keep the rest of Florida folks like me from having to support law breakers that I don’t want to support. And please spare me the bleeding heart rhetoric, it just doesn’t wash with me. I’m tired of trying to adequately feed my children (who are really good kids) when some of my hard earned money is taken away from them and given to criminals.