Florida revokes felons' rights after accidentally restoring them

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Charlie Crist and the Cabinet quietly signed orders rescinding civil rights from 11 felons after the state had mistakenly restored them.

The move sought to bolster confidence in how the Florida Parole Commission processes requests after state auditors in September discovered a 6 percent error rate and a lengthy backlog.

The investigation identified 13 cases where felons — including a man who raped a minor and two other violent criminals — received the rights to vote, serve on a jury and hold public office after being released.

In two of the cases, the felons still were incarcerated and no order to revoke rights was necessary.

Crist expressed confidence in the system and called it human error.

"These people are trying to do the best that they can and sometimes mistakes occur," Crist said. "When they do, you try to rectify it and that's the best that you can do."

But advocates, and even Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, suggested a more thorough review is needed considering the audit only captured a glimpse of the problem.

"The larger issue is the process," said Mark Schlakman, the senior program director at Florida State University's Center for the Advancement of Human Rights. "It is abundantly clear the process is fundamentally broken."

After the meeting, Sink noted the Parole Commission's recent budget cuts and huge case load.

"It's just convoluted," she said. "The process is very flawed, I believe, and we need to get over there and see at least what we can do to streamline the process."

John Frank can be reached at jfrank@sptimes.com or (850) 224-7263.