Bernie DeCastro

Bernie DeCastro (October 17, 1944 —) was a candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor of Florida in the 2006 Florida gubernatorial election. However, he was unsuccessful in his attempt to gain ballot access.

DeCastro was born in Hartford, Connecticut on October 17, 1944. He attended Miami High School in Miami, Florida.

According to his now-defunct campaign website, he is an ex-felon who spent over eighteen years in Florida's prison system for various drug-related crimes. Three years after a religious conversion in 1981 he was paroled and later was granted a full-pardon in 1994 by Florida Governor Lawton Chiles.

DeCastro has been an advocate of change in the criminal justice system, founding a faith-based community organization, an inter-denominational, criminal justice ministry to provide assistance and counseling to inmates, inmates’ families, ex-offenders, and at-risk youth. He founded the Restorative Justice Ministry Network of Florida in 1998 and Time for Freedom, Inc. in 1987.