Leaders of the Rochester City Council say having served time in prison will not prevent a nominee to the city’s new Police Accountability Board from serving the city well.
Social worker Miquel Powell is a substance abuse therapist and founder of an organization that helps ease the re-entry of former prisoners and persons who have gone through drug rehab into society. But before that, he also shot and wounded a man in a doorway at a downtown day care center, and served time in prison because of it.
City Council President Loretta Scott says there’s nothing in the legislation or city policy that would disqualify him from serving on the PAB. She says he was appointed not because he’s served prison time, but because of what he’s done with his life after prison.
Scott and Councilman Willie Lightfoot say the city was well aware of Powell’s past, but was impressed with the way he’s turned his life around and his service to the city since then.
