Founded 2018 · Hartford, Connecticut

We Are Full Citizens

FCC was built by directly impacted people — those who lived inside Connecticut's systems of punishment — who refused to accept anything less than full citizenship for themselves and their communities.

Our Story

How We Began

Full Citizens Coalition was founded in April 2018 by James Jeter Jr. and Kennard Ray — two organizers who had spent years inside Connecticut's criminal legal system and came out refusing to be treated as anything less than full citizens. We built FCC on a simple, radical premise: the people most harmed by mass incarceration and disenfranchisement are the people best equipped to lead the fight to end it.

We started with one target: Connecticut's felony disenfranchisement laws, which stripped voting rights from tens of thousands of residents on parole, even after they had returned home to their families and communities. For three and a half years, we ran the Unlock the Vote campaign — knocking on doors in Hartford, Waterbury, Bridgeport, and New Haven, testifying at the Capitol, and telling our own stories to legislators who had never had to think about what it means to be governed by laws you have no voice in shaping.

In June 2021, that organizing paid off. Governor Lamont signed Public Act 21-32, restoring voting rights to more than 4,000 Connecticut residents on parole. It was one of the largest expansions of the franchise in the state's modern history — and it was won by the people it was meant to help.

Winning back the vote was never the finish line for us. Since 2021, we've expanded into credible messenger work that trains formerly incarcerated residents to interrupt violence in their own neighborhoods, campaigns against wrongful convictions, advocacy for commutations, juvenile justice reform, and what we call cultural abolition — the work of dismantling not just unjust laws, but the cultural narratives that convinced Connecticut those laws were ever acceptable. We are still led by the people who lived this fight, and we are not done.

Our Values

What We Stand For

Directly Impacted Leadership

Those most harmed by systems must lead the movements to change them.

Full Citizenship for All

We fight for civic equality — the right to vote, to be heard, and to shape the community you live in.

Community Healing

Justice is not just about laws. It's about rebuilding trust, dignity, and power in communities that systems have broken.

Our Team

Leadership

James Jeter Jr.

Co-Founder & Executive Director

Born in New Haven and incarcerated from 1997 to 2016, James went on to earn a degree from Trinity College before founding FCC in April 2018. He led the campaign that won Public Act 21-32, was an inaugural fellow of the Yale Prison Education Initiative, and now leads FCC's credible messenger work and cultural abolition workshops statewide.

Kennard Ray

Co-Founder

A cultural and political leader in Connecticut, Kennard led the fight for the state's first Paid Sick Leave law, minimum wage increases, and the Fair Chance Act (Ban the Box). He co-led the Unlock the Vote campaign that restored voting rights to thousands of Connecticut residents.

Tommy Battle

Lead Organizer

Tommy manages FCC's Credible Messenger Mentor Program and serves as the primary point of contact for program participants. He bridges FCC's organizing work with community partners and institutions across Hartford.

Our Funders

Organizations That Believe in Our Work

CT Health Foundation

Supports FCC's civic education and community health equity work statewide.

Tow Foundation

Backs justice reform initiatives across Connecticut, including FCC's organizing.

Universal Health Care Foundation

Invests in community power-building and health justice partnerships.

Hartford Foundation for Public Giving

Funds community-based organizing rooted in the Greater Hartford region.

Dwight Hall at Yale

Serves as FCC's fiscal sponsor, supporting our organizational infrastructure.

About Us

James Jeter

James Jeter, Co-founder and Director of Full Citizen’s Coalition, is a local Connecticut leader and voice for justice among formerly incarcerated leaders. James was incarcerated at the age of 17 and served 19.5 years in prison before being released in 2016. James and his co-Director, Kennard Ray led the state campaign on Abolishing Felony Parole disenfranchisement while building a growing coalition and recruiting future staff. While in prison, James distinguished himself in Wesleyan’s Center for Prison Education, before going on to enroll at Trinity College. James has had many significant accomplishments in the short time he has been home. James serves as the current treasurer of the Connecticut Bail Fund, serves on the advisory board of Wesleyan’s Center for Prison Education, has been honored with the 100 Men of Color Distinction, led participatory budgeting with Hartford City Council, and has returned to Cheshire Correctional Institution to speak to residents of its TRUE Unit. James is dedicated to the cause of prison education and has sought opportunities to apply his own experience to benefit those still incarcerated or returning home.

Tommy Battle

Lead Organizer

Tommy Battle understands the ails of returning to society and being locked out of the processes that can restore urban communities all throughout CT. As head organizer Tommy has utilized his background and experience to reach men and women in halfway houses across the state, bringing those who are returning to a new reality of what power is, where it lies, and how they can be the difference in their community. With a passion for seeing people heal from the trauma that lands them in prison and is then exacerbated by prison, Tommy, in conjunction with Mass Liberation, is creating a health curriculum centered on healing process of men.

Ernest Francis

Ernest Francis is a Paralegal, writer, and advocate from Hartford. He served 32 years in CT prisons and was released after being granted a Commutation by the Board of Pardons and Parole. Francis is affiliated with several organizations including, Yale Prison Education Initiative, Full Citizen Coalition, Liman Center for Racial Justice as well as the New Britain Racial Justice Coalition. His most notable work includes a victory in the Appellate Court on a criminal defendant’s right to counsel when filing a Motion to Correct an Illegal Sentence and the recognition of Rastafari as a religion within the Connecticut Department of Corrections.