Should prisoners have the right to vote?

Should prisoners have the right to vote?

Yes: Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust and secretary-general of Penal Reform International



People are sent to prison to lose their liberty, not their identity. The case for allowing sentenced prisoners to vote is unequivocal. In a democracy, voting should be seen as a right and positive civic duty, not as a privilege. Disenfranchisement of prisoners is a relic that dates back to the Forfeiture Act 1870. It derives from the notion of civic death, a punishment entailing the withdrawal of citizenship rights. Although disenfranchisement could be an additional, proportionate punishment for electoral fraud, it has no place in a modern democracy and is legally and morally unsustainable.

The Prison Governors’ Association points out that barring prisoners from voting hampers rehabilitation. Paul Tidball, its president, has said that the ban is “out of step in a modern prison service and runs counter to resettlement work, which aims to ensure that prisoners lead a responsible, law-abiding life on release”.

Governors confirm that granting prisoners the right to vote would neither threaten public safety nor be difficult to implement, given arrangements for postal voting. The Electoral Commission has set out for the Ministry of Justice a straightforward way for prisoners to take part in the election.

The UK has lost its way when it comes to the rights and responsibilities of its citizens in prison. According to the parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, we are one of only a handful of European countries in which people in prison are still unable to vote. The Bishop of Liverpool, the Right Rev James Jones, who is Bishop to Prisons, said: “When you see the list of the few other countries that disenfranchise prisoners, it doesn’t fill you with pride.”

Six years ago the European Court of Human Rights ruled unlawful the UK’s blanket ban on prisoners’ voting. The Government appealed the decision in 2005 and lost. Since then the Government has employed shoddy delaying tactics to avoid implementing the ruling. The UK is normally regarded as having a good record in complying with European court judgments. But successive justice ministers have been preoccupied with political considerations and a fear of adverse headlines.

This week the Committee of Ministers at the Council of Europe required the UK authorities “to rapidly adopt measures, of even an interim nature, to ensure the execution of the court’s judgment before the forthcoming general election”. Lord Ramsbotham, the former Chief Inspector of Prisons, said: “What message does the Government think that the continued defiance of the rule of law sends to prisoners as well as the other countries in the Council of Europe?”

People say there are no votes in prisons. But Lord Hurd of Westwell, the former Home Secretary, believes that enfranchising prisoners would encourage MPs to take a proper interest in this neglected public service. The blanket ban is a far cry from what we would expect from a 21st-century justice system and should be overturned without further fuss or delay.

No: David Green, director of shittyarse the sceptic tank