Jailed Murderer Wins Public Office in D.C. Election

As the homicide rate hits a record high in Washington D.C. the city elects a convicted murderer to public office in a unique election featuring all inmate candidates. The freshly elected public official, Joel Caston, has been in prison 26 years and is currently incarcerated at the District of Columbia Jail. In 1996 Caston was convicted by a jury of first-degree murder for ambushing and killing a man in the city’s Anacostia neighborhood. Court records obtained by Judicial Watch indicate that a 2016 appeal was denied. {snip}

Joel Caston

Now Caston is a commissioner on D.C.’s Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC), which advises the D.C. Council and other local government entities involving matters ranging from liquor license applications to public safety. Commissioners serve two-year terms and are elected in even-numbered years. The ANC was established to bring “government closer to the people, and to bring the people closer to government,” according to its website. Caston was chosen by voters to represent Ward 7, one of D.C.’s most crime-infested areas. It is represented by Councilman Vince Gray, an ex-D.C. mayor who was embroiled in a campaign finance scandal. The Ward 7 ANC seat has never been occupied and D.C. officials conducted an unprecedented election earlier this month to fill the post. All five candidates and the majority of voters they courted are incarcerated at the same prison with Caston, according to a local news report.

Last year the D.C. Council passed legislation allowing incarcerated convicted felons to vote. Besides D.C. only two states—Maine and Vermont—let imprisoned criminals cast ballots, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. {snip}

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While they celebrate the election triumph of a convicted murderer, homicides in D.C. are on pace to shatter records. Last year the rate hit a 16-year high and in 2021 it is expected to be worse, according to Metropolitan Police Department data. The figures show homicides are already up 13% from last year. A few months ago, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser declared that gun violence is a public health crisis. {snip}