No one can call Charles “Chuck” Colson a bleeding heart liberal, but his recent column in the Washington Post may make some of his conservative followers shake their head as his very liberal and intelligent reasoning concerning restoring voting rights for those with a criminal record.
In some states, such as Connecticut, a convicted felon can vote after release from prison. In other states disenfranchisement rules. In his article Colson tells us that he spent less than a year in prison, yet he couldn’t vote for 30 years. That penalty must have seemed particularly harsh for Colson because he had been entrenched in conservative politics up until he was arrested and convicted of obstruction of justice. As part of the “Watergate Seven,” the former Special Counsel to Richard Nixon knows firsthand that the collateral consequences of a conviction can haunt a person for life. In 1976 Colson established the Prison Fellowship, a Christian-centric organization that attempts to help prisoners throughout the world with support and direction., and of course, Christian values.
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