Prisoner Votes

The world seems to be up in arms about prisoner having the right to vote - lurid headlines such as "Huntley set to vote thanks to Europe" abound.

And I must admit that it does annoys me.... that prisoners don't have the vote. For me it is quite simple - it's a matter of human rights. The right to vote is a human right and therefore should be afforded to all prisoners. I think most people in our society do not believe that prisoners should lose the right not to be tortured, when convicted of a crime. Likewise the right to religious expression is one that is protected for prisoners. They are rights we are all entitled to as we are humans. The point of human rights is that you cannot lose your them because of who you are. To start removing individuals rights because of who they are is dangerous. Not only do we have history (the final solution) to remind of this, but in practice it dilutes everyone's rights. Once one set of rights is taken away from one group of people, it's more easy to remove rights from other groups of people.

So is the right to vote a human right in the same way that the right not to be tortured is a human right? the answer, I think, is yes. When groups of people have been excluded from the franchise, they have tended to be unfairly treated, both in terms of life prospects and application of the law. Governments can ignore their needs as they cannot influence elections at either a local or national level.

So if we respect Human Rights, we should give prisoners the right to vote. But there is another reason to extend the franchise to prisoners. Jail should not be just about punishment, it should also be about rehabilitation. We want our prisoners to come out and be good citizens, one aspect of good citizenship is...voting.