Inside the concrete walls of Maine State Prison’s visitation room, convicted murderer Foster Bates says the issue is complex.
“Just because a person’s incarcerated, that doesn’t make him less of a citizen,” Bates told NBC News. “That doesn’t make him less of a human being. People are going to make mistakes in their lives.”…
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He understands why a devastated family like the Gagnons disagrees.
“It’s not much you can say to the family as to why this person should vote,” Bates said. “But the answer that I would give is that you have to at some point in time say: If that person comes back to society, you want to have a changed person, not the person who committed the heinous crime.”
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