(Emmett Tatter is a writer who spent nearly 10 years in Florida prisons. He has recently finished a book, lectured at Flagler College, and started a Substack, which I recommend. Interested in learning more about Florida prisons, I reached out to him for an interview in late March. I asked him about his life story, his work, and his experiences in the prisons.
We begin by discussing his childhood and early adult life up until he went to prison. However, afterward, he offhandedly mentions to me while we are scheduling the next interview that he “just handled the voting thing, so now there’s less pressure on me.”
“The voting thing?” I ask.
“Yes,” he answers. “It’s a horrible mess. Not sure if you’re aware that DeSantis went after people that he deemed committed voting fraud.”
“You were accused of voter fraud?” I ask.
“Yes,” Emmett explains. “I had to plead guilty to it… That is a story all in itself.”
This first piece will focus on the recent voter fraud debacle, and the rest of this series will focus on Emmett’s life story, his work, and the Florida prison system.)
I had a mental break post-release from prison after about a year and a half. I actually thought I was going to go to the hospital, but the police brought me to the jail, and I was still in the middle of a crisis moment, and I ended up fighting a bunch of officers and then they broke my face, tased me nine times. I had orbital fractures, went to the hospital for that…
Recently, when I went in for this voting crap, those same officers saw me and they were very apologetic. They were like, “We’re so sorry. We thought you were on meth. We thought you were on K-2, or just being an asshole, and we didn’t handle it right.” It was pretty cool hearing the officers who I had this confrontation with, even they felt bad. They’re like, “That’s so fucked up. You’re in here on this charge. We’ve never even seen it. We thought it was bullshit.”
The same officers that I got into it with, they were really nice this time. And it just seemed like they grew up too, as people, so there’s that story too.
So, what happened with the voting fraud thing?
I’ve kind of got to go back a little bit, to the mental health break, because it plays a huge part in this story. After about a year and a half, like I said, I had a straight mental break, and I got into a fight with these officers. At the jail, I got charged with — I think it was — multiple counts of battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting and all this stuff, and I just did 10 years. So, there was a question of whether they were going to PRR me [Prison Release Reoffender].
It’s a sentencing thing. If you catch certain charges fresh out of prison… you qualify to be sentenced as PRR, which is, whatever the charge was, they max you on it and then they double it. So, if you have a third-degree felony, which is punishable by five years, then they max that and then double, and so forth if it’s a first or second degree, 15 year felony and so forth.
So, I catch these charges, and that’s where my fight began. When I bonded out on that, I chose to get help. I wanted it. I knew my life mattered. I did not like where my life was. So, immediately, I went to counseling. I started going to counseling at Epic Center here in St. Augustine, Florida, went once a week for two years over there, sometimes twice a week. And I was committed, and I was also with a doctor, and he was helping me.
So, during this time, I was fighting these charges and I was still getting my life together, and I was still completing my book, and I had lot going on, working, and just trying to be a citizen. I really wanted to just be a citizen.
And in 2019 — I’m pretty sure it was, or maybe it was the end of 2018 — I did a talk with a guy named Garry Farris, and it was at the Democratic Women’s Club. And I don’t have a political party or anything, but I wanted to share my story about prison. So, it was one of the first talks I did after coming home from prison.
And while I was there, they had a paper for me to sign or something, about my rights being restored from being a felon, and everyone was clapping. It was like a big thing. I voted before prison one time, for Obama back then, and I did that because my girlfriend at the time, her parents wanted me to, and I was just trying to — you heard that story last time.
So, anyways, they sign me up. I’m a registered voter. I have my card. I’ve got everything. I’m like, “Okay.”
And then in 2021, while I was facing these battery charges and wasn’t sure how that outcome was going to go, I voted, because technically, my rights weren’t taken away then. I voted early, and it wasn’t like a presidential election. It was just a Florida thing, and I voted early. It made my parents happy. I felt like, because I had been in prison and after my mental break, I just felt so guilty. I just wanted to help my family, or at least be a part of something that they cared about. I felt like I owed them. And so I voted. And that was good.
I had a lawyer. My lawyer got me this amazing deal. It was a mitigated sentence. They gave me five years probation, six months house arrest, for a battery on LEO and one of the resisting charges, or something like that. I know it was two charges…
So, I take these charges. And maybe that is the very beginning of 2022. I can’t remember how long I was fighting those charges, but it was almost a year until it got resolved.
So, I’m on probation. I’m doing my house arrest. All that’s good and then there’s another voting thing coming here in St. Augustine, and I get into a big discussion with my parents, who have their friends over, and everyone is talking, and they’re just saying how important voting is.
And I’m like, “Yes, it is important,” but I just felt like I don’t want to vote, because I felt like everything is corrupt. I was like, “If the DOC is corrupt, it goes above that and above that.” And it’s like, “How you do know who is who?” And then, “Even if someone gets into office, nine times out of 10, I mean, the temptation is right there.” And then, “To try passing this law, you might have to work with these people or those people in order to get that done. And then you get trapped.”
And I was just trying to defend myself in that situation, and my fiancee, who is now my fiancee — she was my girlfriend then — she was with me. We were kind of against it.
And then basically I said, “You know,” the same thing, I just wanted to… This was important to my family and to people. And just being a citizen, in general, is something I do want to be, and I just felt like I kind of owed a vote or something, or at least owed my parents, or people that have been looking after me, especially after my mental break.
I signed power of attorney over to my parents. I sold my car. I moved in and they’d been letting me be there on house arrest to just get my life together while I’m going to counseling. So, during that time, I was still having symptoms of PTSD and generalized anxiety, and it gets brought on by another diagnosis of insomnia, and I was still dealing with that, but I was in a much better place.
And so the day of the voting, I go with them, and I say, “Listen, I’m on probation. I don’t think I’m going to be able to vote, but I’ll go with you and we can talk to them.” So, we go, my girlfriend and I, my parents, or maybe it was just my mom actually. We go up there to vote.
And when we get into the voting place at the St. Augustine Beach, City Hall there, I go up to the woman at the desk, sitting there, and I’m like, “Listen,” and I tell her, “I was just put on probation. I early voted, but now, recently, I just got put back on probation, and I’m not sure if I can vote.” And she’s like, “Well, let me see your card. Let me see your I.D.” She does something and then she says, “Oh, you’re good.” And I’m like, “Oh, shit, alright.”
I guess it wasn’t in the Florida system, which is fucked up. Whether it was her fault, my fault, why isn’t there, like, a system that says, “This guy is on probation and he can’t vote,” or this or that? I don’t get it. But, at the time, I was just like, “Oh shit, I guess I can vote.” And I voted. It was good.
Outside City Hall, me, my mom, and my fiancee, we take a picture with our voting stickers. I was really proud of it. I even went and told my probation officer, “Yeah, I voted.” You know? I never, ever thought it was a problem. I didn’t.
What did your probation officer say?
She was a nice probation officer, but she was coming toward the end of her career. And I don’t know if she was doing me a solid or what, but she didn’t care. She was like, “Oh that’s great.” Nothing ever came from it.
But — this is what I learned much later — at probation, when you first go into probation… So, when I went to the probation office, my head — when I told you I had a mental break, I wasn’t thinking clearly… I was clear in mind, but at the same time, I’d get anxious going out, and when I was battling these charges, I basically locked myself down. So, when I’d go outside, I was kind of nervous just to even go downtown where the probation officers were, so I was having anxiety, and when I get in there, she’s like old school. She’s retired now. I’ve had four different probation officers for that previous charge, the battery thing. So, they’re flipping them all the time.
But, this first one… So, you’re supposed to check boxes for everything. There’s like tons of things. And she knew that I had done 10 years in prison, so she’s like, “You know how this goes. I don’t have to go through all this. You know how this goes. Just sign here and dadada dada,” and that was it. And I don’t want to get anybody in trouble, but that is literally what happened. And to me, I just wanted to get out of the office…
So, flash forward, years forward, I’m doing talks. I wrote my book. My book is almost completed. It’s been a mission. I have endorsements. I work all the time. And I’m at a point in my life where I have my own house now, with my fiancee, or with my girlfriend at the time, but I said, “Hey, I want to get married.” This is in 2025, October.
I planned this huge surprise for my fiancee. She loves The Vampire Diaries, the TV series. So, I booked this stuff up in Covington, Georgia, where The Vampire Diaries was filmed. The fictional “Mystic Falls” is actually Covington Georgia. I booked Airbnbs.
The plan was I’d go to Athens, because I was invited with Jared McCann, a really great yoga teacher who I got certified from up in New York City, and I said, “I’m coming to your workshop in Athens.” Then I was going to surprise Rachel and take her to Covington, Georgia and propose to her there. So, my yoga teacher, he knows what’s going on. All the people there know but she has no idea. And we had a great time. We went out to dinner with them.
My life is going really well. I couldn’t be happier with where my life is right now. I’m close to being done with probation. I’m following every rule. I’ve traveled to Alaska. I’ve been to different places. I’ve been to book conferences. I’m on a mission. And my mission this day was to take Rachel to Covington. So, we go to Covington.
It was beautiful. It was even cooler because during Covington, at that time, it was close to Halloween. So, it was like a Halloween setup, Vampire Diaries setup, her favorite show. And fricking, it was also Harry Potter themed, and that’s my shit. So, I was super psyched. And the first day we get there, I hired a photographer, and we went to this little park. It was like a scene from one of the episodes where Damon and Elena kiss, and they’re saying how much they love each other.
Well, instead of right where they proposed, I chose to do it on this little tiny bridge, and I proposed to my girl, and it was frickin magic. It was perfect. It was so funny because when I proposed, this frickin photographer I hired was in the bushes, and I’m sitting there with the ring like, “Will you marry me? I’ll promise to be the love of your life,” all this stuff, and she’s like, “There’s some woman staring at us in the bushes with a camera,” and I’m like, “Don’t worry about her. I hired her.”
So, anyways, man, it’s magical. Harry Potter, Vampire Diaries, all this, Airbnb, loving it, going and getting all these little snacks. We met this really cool waiter named Bo who was awesome and now he follows us on Instagram. He was awesome.
Anyway, we come back from this trip, an amazing trip, couldn’t be happier, was in touch with my yoga teacher, proposed to my girl, her ring is fabulous, and we come down, and it wasn’t even like a day or two later, there’s a knock on my door.
I thought it was maybe a surprise home visit from my probation officer, and I open the door, and it’s a special agent, wanting to get a statement from me.
Special agent from where?
Special agent from, I think, Tallahassee, or somewhere up in that area.
From what agency?
Maybe it’s on some of this paperwork, shit… It was some guy that drove everywhere. And my probation officer, who was a different one than I initially had for that battery case, the guy reached out to my probation officer, and my probation officer didn’t even believe him.
I had the first probation officer. I can’t even remember my second one’s name. The third one, he didn’t even frickin believe that it was a real thing. He thought someone was trying to get me in trouble for something, and he was really suspicious. He didn’t even tell me about it…
So, anyway, the guy shows up. We’re on my front porch. I call my probation officer. And let me tell you, I had remodeled my house. I’m super proud of my house. But, this day, when he’s talking, he said, “Your probation might be violated,” I mean, I don’t cry too often, but I was very emotional.
And so I call my probation officer up, because I’ve been doing good. I mean, this is years. He’s telling me the dates. He’s like, “This is from 2022.” I’m like, “Man, it’s about to be 2026. What the heck? I’m about to be off probation. Me and my girl, we’ve been fighting for this, and my family, and everyone, for years. What the heck is going on?”
So, my probation officer recommends… I mean, I was going to give a statement anyways, but I just wanted him to be aware, because if you have any police contact, you’re supposed to contact your probation officer. So, I followed that rule, and he’s like, “You know, just answer his questions and stuff.”
So, this guy busts out a little thing. We sit at this table on my deck, and he starts telling me how I voted, and how I’m potentially going to be charged with “unqualified elector willfully voting” and “fraud in connection with casting a vote.”
So, I’m thinking, “Holy shit, I just proposed to my girl. She said yes. We’re on cloud nine. Life is going great. And here I am about to be violated on my probation. That alone will get me sent back to prison. And then, on top of it, two frickin fraud charges for casting a frickin ballot at the voting place.” I’m in almost tears.
And it was such a mistake. If I could do it all over again, I’d tell everyone to “fuck off. I’m not voting.” I mean, it’s fucked up. Look what’s going on now. And everyone felt so guilty.
So, anyways, I do this interview, and this guy tells me, the special agent who seemed cool, who seemed sympathetic, was like, “You know, I just got to take this back up to my boss, and if the DA up there, if they decide to press charges, we’ll move forward with it. And don’t worry. No one is going to kick down your door. We’ll talk to your probation officer and schedule a time for you to turn yourself in,” and I’m almost in tears hearing all this. The thought of ever going back to prison or anything, especially with where I’m at in life right now, so happy, my girl, everything. It’s just like, “Are you fucking kidding me?”
So, he leaves saying, “Don’t worry, you can turn yourself in.” And then — I’m not sure — a few days later, after me and my fiancee were sitting down giving food to our beautiful dog named Bear, we hear a knock on the door, and my heart sunk. I already knew. But Rachel didn’t know. I didn’t want her to freak out. I said, “Just go put Bear in the room over there. I’ll answer the door,” because it’s close to 9:00.
Right when I open the door, there are two officers there, and I’m about to go to step out and they immediately handcuff me, and they’re saying they’re ordered to serve this warrant that’s been issued, and they’re here to pick me up and take me to jail. It was the worst experience ever.
None of it mattered to me at the time, like what they were charging me with. It was just that I was being charged when I fought so hard to be where I’m at today. And to know that it’s because of fricking voting, like, what? And then to say that it’s like I’m trying to commit fraud? Like it was some conspiracy? It was just madness. It still feels like madness. It feels like a bad dream. Worse than that.
But, you know what? That’s when I dug in. And then I go to jail, man, again.
So, how long did you spend in jail for that?
Oh my god, it was nightmare. So, when I get to jail, I’m trying to get a bond real quick just so I can say goodbye to my girl. I didn’t even get to kiss her. You know what I mean? The police wouldn’t let me kiss her. And it was so hard. And then thinking about my dog too, who I love so much and has been such a staple in my life, and not knowing what’s going on, it was breaking my heart.
So, I was trying to get bonded out. And then I had the money to bond out, but it was just about getting the money up here to me to bond me out. And before that could happen, the police knock on the window, because I’m calling people, and they say, “Yo, your bond has been denied. You have a probation violation, so you can’t bond out.” So, I’m like, “Oh my god.”
And then because of the mental break when I fought the officers, I’m classified as a serious violent offender, security risk, so they put me in the block where it’s more violent offenders, more inmates from prison in there, which I happened to know a few and shit. So, I go there and it was such a nightmare.
And here in Florida, usually, when you violate your probation, you don’t get out. No. You violate your probation, you usually go to prison.
Well, like I said, I’ve written a book, Count-Time, my memoir, and I have a lawyer named Patrick Canan, Canan Law. So, they’re the best.
I was in jail for four days, I think, but I should have been in a lot longer technically, because in Florida, you don’t normally get out. What happened was my lawyer got like a 10 minute window or something with the judge, and told him… By that time, I had about 40 or 50 character witness letters from professionals, from some of my endorsers for my book, people really like, “This is a tragedy, what’s happening to this young man,” like, “Come on.”
And he shows him that, shows him that I’m writing a book, and the judge issues me a bond on my violation of probation and then a bond on the other charges, so I was able to bond out, and it was fricking magic. That’s magic. You know, you lose, but it’s not even about losing or winning. There are bad days. There are good days. And this was a good day. This was a fabulous day…
So, here’s what my charges read. I’m quoting from the paperwork:
“Bradley R. McVeigh, Statewide Prosecutor for the State of Florida, by and through the undersigned, designated Assistant Statewide Prosecutor, under oath, charges that on or about November 4th, 2022, in the Second and Seventh Judicial Circuits… Emmett B. Tatter did perpetrate, attempted to perpetrate, or aided in the perpetration of any fraud in connection with any vote cast, to be cast, or attempted to be cast…” And that’s count two, “fraud in connection with casting a vote.”
The first count was “unqualified elector willfully voting.” So, [that charge is] that “on or about November 4th, 2022, in the Second and Seventh Judicial Circuits, to wit… Emmett B. Tatter, knowing that he was not a qualified elector willfully voted at any election…”
They didn’t care that I early-voted before that. The special agent, he showed me, like, “We aren’t worried about this, but these are the charges you’re facing because you voted this day,” and I’m like, “I went in and asked. I told them I’m on probation. What the heck is going on here? Like, charge them with fucking conspiracy. What the hell, dude? I was told I could vote. And then what type of world is it where if you can’t vote, you can still vote. What? Why isn’t there a system in place?”
And then I didn’t even get my letter from the office about voting rights and all this shit until years later. And the guy, he told me, because I said, “Man, I didn’t get that letter until like years after. What the hell?” And he’s like, “Well, it’s backed up right now. It’s really jammed up. I’m trying to straighten that out. I agree with you. That’s pretty messed up that you didn’t get that letter before.”
And I remember that day specifically. I remember looking at that letter when I got it and opened it and it says that my rights were taken away yet again in my life, and I remember being very upset, like, “Damn it, man. What the fuck is going on in my world?” And I remember throwing it into the trashcan. That day sucked, seeing that all over again, that my rights are taken away for years.
And yes, I am guilty of being dumb, but I did not willfully try to commit fraud. I made a mistake. I did not know what I was doing. And the guy is like, “Well, is this your signature right here?” And he’s showing me all those little check marked boxes from probation.
And I’m like, “Man, that day, I went in there and I was having anxiety. My PO, she was old school. She said, ‘You know how this works.’ I didn’t know every little law [applying] to me now. The only one that’s ever gone through that all with me was the probation officer that I currently have, because he’s new. But those guys are overworked. They have hundreds of cases.
It feels like calling it “fraud” is a bit of a stretch.
They’re acting like I signed dead people up or something. I didn’t do anything like that. I made a stupid mistake. And during that time, I was still knee deep in my counseling sessions. I’m not there anymore. I’m in a much better place. But, then, I was just trying to make it through the day back then, especially… I thought I was going to go to prison for like 30 or 40 years for fighting these officers during my mental break. I was fighting for my life. And then finally it was over… but I was still under an enormous amount of pressure, and I felt like I let my family down all over again, in court again, being put on probation.
It was all such a nightmare, because when I was in prison, I promised myself I would not become another statistic.
I imagine the dynamic that they had all wanted you to vote kind of sucked for everyone.
Oh my god, they felt so frickin bad. I remember being in jail on the phone, talking to my mom. I was like, “Mom, I don’t want to tell you, but I told you so.”
Well, there’s still this interesting piece where it’s like, you cast one vote, under your real name. You told them you were on probation. Calling it “fraud” seems crazy to me.
It was. I mean, I could see the “unqualified elector willfully voting charge,” because I was on probation. I did check that box. I have to accept responsibility for that, whether it was dumb or not. We’re all responsible for our actions, and like it or not, I told them I was in a good mental space [when filling out the probation paperwork in the beginning], and I checked that god dang box.
But it was just all fucking bad. And then throw the cherry on top, that it happened right after I proposed to my fiancee and we’re in the best place of our lives right now. It just was a nightmare…
So, put it this way, I plead guilty because they had me by the balls and were twisting hard. I went to a hearing before this for my probation violation. They reinstated me back on probation while I had these two charges pending. For me, that says even the judge, even the prosecutors there, they see that this is years later and my life is changing. I am putting in the effort. I am working. I am writing a book. I’m speaking. I’ve tried telling stories to help people. Right before that, I did two lectures at the college. So, they reinstated me on probation, and they told me that day that if I would’ve been violated, I would’ve done 15 years. That’s really hard to hear…
My interpretation of the circumstances was that if I play with them during a trial — because they’re not budging — they wouldn’t hear a plea, they wanted to go to trial is what my lawyer was telling me and stuff… And the political environment here in Florida right now, the voting thing is like a big serious thing to people. I just felt like, say we go to trial, even if these felonies get dropped to misdemeanors or whatever, if I get charged, that’s going to violate my probation, and I’m definitely going to end up doing whatever the time was for my probation violation at least.
When they came to my lawyer and told him there was a deal where I can plead guilty to both of these charges, take a year probation, early termination of six months, pay upwards of 4,000 dollars, I was like, “You know what? Let’s do it. It’s better than ever stepping foot in another prison again.” That’s the nightmare… It was a win just not going to prison or jail again…
I just felt like, “You know what? I’m doing great. I’m not going to mess up, and this was a tragic circumstance of just being stupid, not thinking. I’m going to continue my mission. I’m going to keep doing my lectures. I’m going to keep talking. I’m going to keep telling my story about my memoir Count-Time. I’m going to keep trying to get endorsements, blurbs from people, and I’m going to keep working. And you know what? This isn’t going to stop me.”
And I’ve committed to changing my life, and the goal is to eventually become a real citizen again, and now I just don’t even know what my life is going to be going forward, especially with these new charges. My record is already bad enough.
I tried working for the Coast Guard and all these places, and they denied me… Different corporations have said, “We have to fire you because our insurance company won’t allow it.” And it’s just frickin madness. That’s why I kind of just work for myself now. That’s where I’m at right now.
