Later this month, Tampa Bay’s first ever Criminal Justice Summit will bring leaders from around the state to discuss how to address key issues in Florida’s justice system.

The event, hosted by Horizon Communities in Prison and Florida Prison Allied Partners (FPAP), includes a diverse group of community leaders, lawyers, returning citizens and their families, along with elected officials from across the state. Senator Jeff Brandes is set to attend, along with suspended Hillsborough state attorney Andrew Warren, and State Representatives Susan Valdes and Dianne Hart.

The summit is on Oct. 29 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Tampa Preparatory School, 727 W. Cass St. Tickets can be purchased via Horizon Communities website.

Former State Attorney Warren—who is currently locked in a legal battle with Governor Ron DeSantis over his removal from office—will be speaking during the school-to-prison pipeline panel of the summit.

“Public safety demands that we put at-risk kids on a path towards becoming law-abiding, productive adults,” Warren told CL in a written statement. “We’ve had a lot of success in Hillsborough with our approach to juvenile crime by balancing punishment, accountability and prevention, and I look forward to a productive summit about how we keep moving forward.”

Senator Brandes will be participating in a discussion addressing the state of Florida’s criminal justice system in general, along with what options there are for reform. “I look forward to talking about diversion, about the education system within prisons, mandatory minimum sentences and what we’re going to do about reentry into society,” Brandes said to Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.

These conversations at the summit will be vital for the community, Brandes said, to inform the public on how they can advocate to the State of Florida for reform.

“So many of these topics are things that the legislature has no real core competency in, and they have to have grassroots discussions in order to help facilitate new ideas,” Brandes added.

Brandes has been an advocate for prison reform for years, but has also drew criticism for saying returning citizens shouldn’t start at a $15 and hour minimum wage, and suggested instead a training wage geared toward people with criminal records. He’s argued that it would be difficult for returning citizens to get jobs when competing against the general public.

Florida is in the midst of a crisis within its prisons, as National Guard troops have been called to fill-in as prison guards. At the same time, the state’s decrepit parole system has been scrutinized for making it hard for the incarcerated to attain freedom.

The emergency in Florida’s prison system makes it the perfect time for the community to discuss important issues at the summit, says Vanessa Grullon of FPAP, a grassroots organization for prison reform that helped put together the event.

“What makes this event special is that we’re bringing advocates from all over the state, and not only that, we’re bringing people from all walks of life to the table,” Grullon told CL.

Grullon, whose husband was formerly incarcerated, said that this summit will give everybody a voice, including returning citizens who have been directly affected by Florida’s carceral system. She pointed out conditions that people inside prisons face, including no air conditioning or heat, mold and other unsafe conditions.

Donn Scott of FPAP formerly worked for the Southern Poverty Law Center and has spent years organizing for justice in the prison system. He’s a returning citizen, and he took the initiative to start organizing the event.

“I just felt that there was a need to do something like this in the area,” Scott said. “So I reached out to a bunch of my friends that are in the industry and asked them if they were available.”

What started as reaching out to contacts has now drawn the attendance of several justice groups, elected officials and people in the education sector, including Kevin Plummer, Head of Schools at Tampa Prep. He will also be speaking during the school-to-prison pipeline panel.

“To be honest with you, it’s a little bit personal,” Plummer said. “I can see inside of my own family and inside of my own neighborhood that I grew up in, the differences that education, mentorship and engagement made for some, but didn’t for others. Some of it was in my own family, who got into the life of crime and served time.”

Plummer said that law enforcement needs to avoid treating children like criminals, and that educators have to make their best efforts to prepare kids to have choices, opportunities and to make positive choices.

Barbara Richards from the Sarasota-based nonprofit Project 180 will speak about formerly incarcerated people’s reentry into society.

She told CL that she looks forward to, “discussing progressive initiatives that are available for individuals who are returning to our communities.”

Paralegal Keith Harris will talk about the process of appealing sentences in detail during the forum. Harris said that when people are involved in the criminal justice system, it’s important for them to obtain a basic underlying knowledge of what rights they have.

“Our books are full of people who have spent years in prison, just to get their basic appeal rights back only because of a simple miscommunication or mistake,” he said.

The summit’s topics will include: