"Being under those circumstances, in those harsh conditions, there's no opportunity to do something to change that," he said on Thursday, speaking to a D.C. Council committee. But he said one thing could have helped: the chance to vote.

And that may soon come to pass for D.C. residents in the situation Jones was once in. A bill making its way through the Council would give anyone imprisoned for committing a felony the right to vote in D.C. elections as they serve out their sentence.

The District currently allows anyone in D.C. jail for a minor offense to vote; 127 inmates did so during last year's general election. The city also restores the voting rights of anyone imprisoned for committing a felony once they are released. The new bill would take that a step further, extending the franchise within prison walls, something only currently allowed in Maine, Vermont and Puerto Rico.