Hello.

I'm Bonnie Boswell.

In 2020, the Sentencing Project found that over 5 million Americans, some of whom were incarcerate and others formerly incarcerated, were not allowed to vote.

People like Jerrel McCoy, we met at Crossroads United Methodist Church in Compton, California.

You know, I went through trial, was convicted, and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

My uncle was murdered that I really started to take a look at doing something different.

I got my high school diploma and my G.E.D., you know, I started teaching classes in prison.

I did it for 14 years, and as a result, I was granted parole.

Gerald is now a community health care worker.

Communities, we're dealing with a lot of people with trust issues.

You know, people make promises that it wouldn't get, you know, and so, you know, the church is a place of support.

In 2020, California passed a law allowing people on parole to vote.

You know, I'm paying taxes and everything else.

But still, I wasn't allowed to vote because of, you know, this policy that was in place, you know.

And so once that was changed, it was it was a victory.

Gerald says voting empowered him, so now he encourages others.

I had a client of mine that I was trying to encourage her to vote.

She wasn't with it.

And I found out that she had a husband that was incarcerated.

We kind of opened her up to where now she was willing to entertain it, you know what I mean?

And we just so happened that we both went and voted together.

That was a victory for both of us.

You know, it's a great feeling for me.

For KCET, I'm Bonnie Boswell.