Those are committed serious crimes and completed their prison sentences. Special lies this morning for those with felony convictions in your past. We want to hear your stories special lines. 2027488000. For those who work in correction, 2027488001. Is your number. A line for Law Enforcement 2027488002. A line for all others, 2027488003. You can also catch up with us on social media, twitter cspanwj, on facebook, facebook. Com cspan. Good Tuesday Morning to you. We are talking about prison reentry programs. We sit a visit. This comes in the wake of the white house announcing its effort to promote this week as National Reentry week. President obama over the weekend laid out his plans for a National Reentry with some of the efforts of his administration is pushing in his weekly address. Here is what he had to say. [video clip] president obama every year, 600,00 people are released from prison. We need to ensure they are prepared to become productive, contribute and members of their families and communities and maybe even role models. Thats why we have been working to make our criminal Justice System smarter, fairer, less expensive and more effective. This week, the department of justice will highlight how reentry programs can make community safer. My administration will adopt a new actions that will build on the progress we have made. Detailsrelease more about how we are taking steps to ensure that applicants with a criminal history have a fair shot to compete for a federal job. We are issuing a new report that details the economic costs of our high rates of incarceration. And we are calling on businesses to commit to hiring returning citizens who have earned a second chance. That effort, of attorney general Loretta Lynch was in philadelphia yesterday. She said in that speech that too often americans who have paid their debt to Society Leave prison only to find they continue to be punished for past mistakes. This is the story from the new york times. In that speech she laid out steps to address the problem including a new push for states to allow newly released it would send a message they are welcome back in society, that they can now quite literally exchange their role identity as federal inmates for a fresh one. Notes also promised a new federal focus on job training and Mental Health and Substance Abuse programs to better prepare inmates for the outside world. Reporting from the new york times. Several newspapers talking about that effort, one of the first of what is being termed National Reentry week. The inaugural National Reentry week. The idea is to reduce recidivism. Stats on recidivism from the washington times. Its proving to be a difficult problem to tackle. Tracks report that individuals after their release from state prisons in 2005 found that 68 were rearrested within three years of their release. After five years, the rate of recidivism increased to 76 . Ear from our viewers in this verse 45 minutes of your thoughts on should the government be doing more to help former felons, those felons who have served their prison sentences and are out trying to Reenter Society . What do here you stores. A line for those felons who have been released. 20274808000. For those are working correction, we will start with jay in maryland on the line for felons who have been released from prison. Good morning claling on calling on the line for felons. Caller i wanted to say i think they should be doing more. And specifically what i mean is once youre released a whatever your and takes care of that, there should be a time period in which certain rights are given back. Yr maybe that felonly conviction can beu expunged. That is the biggest problem folks have. In my particular situation, i was only 20 years old at the time. Im 36 now. That is 16 years ago, almost 17. And that will forever be there. So, what i mean is, say if if you had a weapons [choppy audio] never bet right should restored because youd use that privilege in the wrong way. And my particular situation, that is what it would ask for. Im ok with never having that right to bear arms. But the felony itself, that could be expunged. That would be something truly appreciated because what happens is there are certain areas that you can no longer move to. Apartments, buildings or jobs, in particular jobs you can no longer get. And that is the thing, you know. Tot i want you collaborate. What are some of the other rights that have been taken away from you, for those who do not have experience. What are some of the other way should have seen this affect you past the time you have served to prison sentence . Caller like i said i was 20 years old at the time. So, because i have a felony, i can never again be a gun owner. Which im ok with. But because i abuse that privilege. Having the felony alone, if you are in the whereng industry, jobs there is anything concerning credit cards regardless of the fact that they did not have anything to do with any kind of fraud charge. There is a lot of jobs you cant get because of that. You cannot get a government job. You cant even get a contract or anything for the government. In certain instances, you cannot get that allows you to haul materials in and out of a rail yard. Also, even if there is something ant once needs to get apartment. There are certain Housing Developments that you cannot get into. And regardless of how young you were at the time, any of those things, and regardless of the fact you had never been in trouble again. So, those of things like i said, at 70 years old and will be the same way. Host l. J. Is also on that line for felons who have served their prison sentences and then released. Good morning. Go ahead. Caller morning. Certain little simple things as far as im just piggybacking what the last person said. Certain simple things. I live in arizona. This is a right to carry gun state. So you can carry a gun at any given time. You do not even have to have a permit. Once you have a felony, you get that right taken away. Simple right is voting, things like that. After you paid your debt society. Part is that this after i paid my debt to society, im going to get out and be allowed to produce a paidin everything that has been going on in society once i was in. Once you get out and you do not see that, you do not see the jobs. It took me about 12 years to even get the judge to consider to expunge anything off my record. This is something that happened when i was a child. I was only 22 years old. Im 36 now. That is 14 years ago. Course,m a child, of childish things happened. I dont have any problem with the guns. That is not the problem. The problem is the housing, jobs. As far what barack said as making sure that jobs are going to hire guys. But how is he going to do that . How do we get ensure that . Regardless of what you do, and lets you are going to take a census poll of these jobs and make them sign some kind of agreement, they are not going to hire felons. Many people do not even want you in their housing areas. Host you mentioned Voting Rights. You are in arizona. Arizona, one of the states with the toughest provisions when it comes to Voting Rights for felons. Takes awaytates that Voting Rights for felons after, even after serving prison sentence parole and probation. This according to the sentencing project which is looked at Voting Rights and americans who have been disenfranchised due to felony convictions, 5. 8 5 million americans are prohibited from voting due to laws that disenfranchise citizens convicted of felony convictions. Virginia, one of those states that is changing those laws. The story from last friday that many of our viewers may have seen. Governor mcauliffe of virginia used his executive power to restore Voting Rights to 200,000 convicted felons, circumventing the legislature. Action effectively overturns the thel war era provision in states constitution aimed, he said, it disenfranchising africanamericans. The sweeping order and a swing state that could play a role in deciding the november president ial election will enable all felons who have their prison times and finished parole or probation to register to vote. Most are africanamericans ,a core constituency of democrats. That action has received some criticism, not just inside the statement on the national level. About bylked president ial candidate donald trump yesterday at a Campaign Stop in rhode island. [video clip] mr. Trump you know what they just did in the state of virginia . 200,000 people that were in prison for horrible crimes for horrible crimes are being given the right to vote. For the first time. Oked politics because virginia is a very close stat e. Win virginia. I have a tremendous amount of property in virginia. They are giving 200,000 people that have been convicted of heinous crimes the worst crimes, the right to vote because you know what . They know they are going to vote democrat and that could be the swing. That is how disgusting and dishonest our political system is, all right . Host the Republican Party of virginia also reacting to Terry Mcauliffes action on friday. Here is a tweet on friday after his order. lanket restoration without regard to the nature of crimes committed does not speak of mercy. It speaks of political opportunism. We are talking about those actions on the state level, federal actions that the Obama Administration has laid out. One to hear your thoughts on what the government is doing for felons after they have been released from prison. Go to our line for Law Enforcement. John in new hampshire. Good morning. Caller good morning. Great to talk about this topic. First started in Law Enforcement i was 21 years old. Ive watched the laws change and become more aggressive in aggressive and aggressive or you have one felony arrest in a month to several week. And most of those crimes used to be misdemeanors at one point. Drugs. Ot had to do with and a lot had to do with the different variations of politics. Have to carry out a political agenda. The sad thing is, im glad this is being discussed, im glad everybody is [indiscernible] e believe the callers wev heard this morning hit the nail on the head. That when we look at crime as a whole, of america. Have drastically increased. In200 someodd percent suburbia which is naming white. Mainly white. The sad thing i see today is people coming out of prison in need of it is because of the system we have. I think it is a great topic. That were looking at options and opportunities. To try and turn this around, to give these people coming out of prison a shot. For lawhn on our line enforcement. We also have a line for felons released from prison and those who work in corrections. Michael, greensboro, North Carolina. What do you think this morning . Caller good morning. I think they should be able to have a life the right to come back and go into a job. There are certain jobs you may not want to put them in. I dont think you should penalize them for the rest of their lives. I was told you had to wait 15 years for expungement. That is too long for somebody that went in they should be able to come back and get a decent job and work. Im going to keep my short because everybody said pretty much what i was thinking. Thanks haand have a good day. Host several felons calling in. James is on that line in arizona. Good morning. Caller good morning. How are you today . Hey, im in a unique position. I am retired from the military. After i retired i got convicted of a felony due to circumstances actually, i was involved in it. And i am not going to deny that but it was, nevertheless i was convicted. And the thing is i have been fighting for a long time just to get my rights back. However, i am not in a lot of positions of a lot of people because i am retired from the military. I only get 30 days in jail but i still have a felony conviction. But i still have my military pension coming in. So, it is not like i got a worried about going out there looking for a job, that kind of thing. Been fighting for almost nine years just to get my right ss back. It is not like i am trying to expunge my record because i am never going to deny what happened. I want the basic rights back. I just want the right to vote, honestly. Arizona has some of the toughest laws in the world on expunging rights. We have some tough laws. You have got to go in front of judges. You have got to take fines, pay court costs. The felony conviction was in 2004. Im still fighting this. And its like, my god, what is it going to take . Do i got to move to virginia to get my rights back . Come on. This is unreal. Tif a person has done their time and they owe nothing back to the state or the community, you actually aref they trying to get their life together then i have no problems with that person getting their rights restored. The Voting Rights issue, arizona, one of 12 states that has some of the toughest laws on the books when it comes to disenfranchising citizens convicted of felony. The other states included are alabama, delaware, florida, iowa, kentucky, mississippi, nebraska, nevada, tennessee, wyoming, virginia on that list although now being overturned after the executive action by the governor, something he said he is going to continue to do as more felons are released from prison. He is going to do it on a monthly basis. There are states that have no restrictions on Voting Rights for those convicted of felonies. Maine and vermont. All other states falling in between in terms of when those restrictions are applied and when they are lifted. In. You to keep calling want to hear your thoughts on the actions on the state level and the federal level but also want to remind our viewers that today is a primary date in five states on the east coast. Five Midatlantic States and talk about primary day in those states. Joined by adam wollner. Good morning to you. Adam good morning. Host it seems like from the polling it is going to be a good day for front runners. Is right. Donald trump and Hillary Clinton are both entering as the favorites in their respective parties for the five States Holding primaries today. All in the northeastern part of the country. The state will offer the most delegates today will be pennsylvania, but the roles are a little quirky on the republican side. Even though donald trump, polls show him with a doubledigit lead, it does not mean he can walk away with the lions share of the 71 delegates up for grabs because only 17 of those delegates will go to the overall statewide winner. Are elected directly on the ballot. Voters when they enter their polling stations today they will vote for someone for president and each district they will vote for three delegates to send to the National Convention. Theyre going to be unbound. They will be able to vote for whoever they want on the first ballot. Delegates could wind up playing a big role if we get to a National Convention and donald trump does not enter with that 1237 number. Host for viewers who might have questions about those strange or you need delegate rules in pennsylvania, i would encourage them to stick around because we are going to spend 45 minutes talking about that with Terry Madonna. Adam wollner, if there is an upset today in one of those five states, what is the state that you would put the money on . Adam boy, it is really tough to say because especially on the republican side, all five states are really not very favorable territory for ted cruz. Especially as he emerged as the most viable trump alternative. He has relied pretty have agreed an evangelical base. On the democratic side, Bernie Sanders might be able to do a little bit better than others is Rhode Islands of the because independent voters will be able to cast ballots in rhode island. Most of the other states voting closed primaries, meaning that only registered democrats can vote. And those are the contest where Bernie Sanders has especially struggled. Rhode island is maybe a little closer but it is still. Trump and clinton do enter all five states as pretty considerable favorites. Host back to the republican side for a minute, yesterday we saw a lot of reporting about this agreement between the cruz and kasich camps to look ahead to three upcoming primaries and duty them out. Some divvy them up. Some reporting today that that agreement seems shaky. Adam it is. Less than 12 hours after that deal was announced. You have to wonder what the parameters are. John kasich yesterday said it does not necessarily mean that in indiana should vote for ted cruz, just that he is not going to be spending a lot of time or money there. Ted cruzs super pac is still running an ad on kasich in indiana. So, clearly, neither one of them are going to be seeding these stat ceding these states. You thought that john kasich was going to stay out of indiana. And ted cruz would stay out of oregon. These are two candidates have not always gotten along. Their supporters, there is not a lot of crossover there. Be difficult, even if john kasich wanted to, to convince is more moderate meaning supporters in indiana to vote for a much more conservative candidate like ted cruz. Even in the ultimate goal of stopping, chop. Stopping trump. Host adam wollner covers it all for the national journal. Cover todays primaries and pennsylvania, maryland, in rhode island, connecticut, and delaware. Thank you for joining us this morning. This question we are asking about whether the government should be doing more to help those felons who have been released from prison. We have lines for felons who have been released. For those who work in corrections, the number for you 2027488001. Law enforcement, 2027488002. All others, it is 2027488003. Doc is calling in from baton rouge. Good morning. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. Ares see, illegal aliens going to be allowed to vote, dead people h