Candidates, inmates meet at forum

They would have certainly been guaranteed a captive audience, but only one Philadelphia mayoral candidate, Michael Nutter, and one person running for City Council, Sharif Street, showed up last night for a first-ever candidates' forum held at a women's prison.

The nonpartisan forum was organized by various agencies, including the Human Rights Coalition of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia NAACP, to present a "fair and impartial exchange" between candidates and incarcerated women, and to stimulate their interest in voting, according to Elmer Smith, the Philadelphia Daily News columnist who moderated the event.

About 500 of the 750 women currently residing at the Riverside Correctional Facility, a city-run prison in the Northeast for female offenders whose crimes range from misdemeanor drug offenses to murder, turned out.

And despite the perhaps unusual location, there were the usual cheers and applause from the audience throughout the 90-minute forum, as well as the usual rallying speeches urging people to vote, and the usual leafleting.

Pretrial detainees, those convicted of a misdemeanor or under house arrest, and individuals who have been convicted of a felony but have completed their sentences and have been released are eligible to vote under Pennsylvania law.

That was news to many of the women last night.

"I think what is important about this forum is that this lets these women know they can have a voice and a say in what is going on in our city despite the fact that they may have made a few mistakes along the way with their own lives," said Frederica Hoffman, who spent 30 days at Riverside this year on a misdemeanor drug charge.

"And it's that sense of empowerment that is now helping me to choose the right path for my life," said Hoffman, who is now a board member of a group called X-Offenders for Community Empowerment. "I want these women to have the chance to see that same light when they get out of here."

After Nutter presented his outline for a prisoner reentry tax-credit plan, the inmates had a chance to ask him questions about it.

Many of the women, who are one step from being homeless, wanted to know how they could avoid losing their Section 8 vouchers for subsidized housing.

"I'm the one in jail, not my kids - they didn't do anything. So why should they lose their home?" asked Tamara Browning.

Another wanted to know why more money wasn't put into vocational programs.

Nutter said his plan outlined putting money into such programs and linking agencies to overcome deficiencies.

Street, who's running for an at-large seat on Council, told the women that he was there because he was "concerned about making sure your voices are heard."