Updated on June 13, 2021 at 9:41 pm
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As part of D.C. s effort to broaden voter participation among incarcerated people, a unique election to fill an advisory neighborhood commission, or ANC, seat in Ward 7 will take place Tuesday.
Five inmates are running for an open seat that represents D.C. Jail and a new townhouse development, both located on Capitol Hill. Download our NBC Washington app for iOS or Android to get alerts for local breaking news and weather.
They are: Aaron Brown, Joel Caston, Keith Alonzo Littlepage Hill, Gary Proctor and Kim Thompson.
The effort started as a way to foster more neighborly relations among the residents of the jail and neighbors in the surrounding community.
“There are people being held in cages you know, in cells for 23 hours a day and I think they have a right to know when they’re going to have their day in court,” defense lawyer Carrie Weletz, who is representing Mr. Sharps in an appeal, told The Washington Times.
The 23-hour cell confinement is part of the D.C. Jail’s effort to curtail the spread of the coronavirus.
“With that hour [outside the cell], they can choose things, right?” Ms. Weletz said. “My clients frequently choose not to shower because that’s their time of the day to stand in line to get a phone call with their family, which is the absolute only communication that most of them have with their family.”