From [HERE] Hasan Zarif was unable to vote for more than three decades after serving 16 years in prison. In an interview with the BBC, Zarif explained why voting is so important and how it can help to reintegrate into society people who have been in prison.

Zarif was released for good behaviour in 1989 but Virginia - along with three other US states – bars the right to vote to people who have been incarcerated.

In 2007, then Virginia Governor Tim Kaine restored  Zarif's civil rights - allowing him to vote and also to stand for public office – because of his efforts as an ordained minister  helping to rehabilitate others.

The Sentencing Project’s report, State-Level Estimates of Felon Disenfranchisement in the United States, 2010, estimates that one in 40 Americans is disenfranchised because of a felony conviction. That rate for African Americans is one in 13. View here.