Campaign to give vote to prisoners launched

A campaign to give sentenced prisoners the right to vote in the forthcoming general election has been launched.

A coalition, which includes senior cross party politicians, church leaders, ex-offenders, human rights groups and prisoner reformers, wants a review of the 135-year-old law, which prevents offenders from voting.

The organisers of the 'Barred from Voting' campaign – the Prison Reform Trust and Unlock, the national association of ex-offenders – say that the law, which dates back to the Forfeiture Act of 1870, is a "relic" based on a notion of "civic death" – a punishment entailing the withdrawal of citizenship rights.

The campaign is supported by a number of senior politicians, including former Home Secretary Lord Hurd and Labour MP David Winnick. Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy has also stated that his party supports granting prisoners the vote. Many senior managers in the prison service have said that voting right help to prepare prisoners for resettling back into the community and have said that granting prisoners the vote would not threaten public safety.

A campaign briefing, published today, described the right to vote as an "inalienable human right". The briefing also stated that taking away voting rights was "not an effective deterrent", and said that giving prisoners the vote would "encourage them to become responsible, law abiding citizens".

The UK is one of only eight European countries, including Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Luxembourg and Romania, which do not allow prisoners vote. Eighteen other countries, including Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain have no such ban in place, while eight other countries only ban some prisoners from voting. Courts in France and Germany can currently impose loss of voting rights as an additional punishment.

The launch of the campaign follows the case of John Hirst, who was given a life sentence and took his case to the European Court of Human Rights. Last March, the court ruled that the voting ban violated Article Three of the European Convention on Human Rights. The government appealed against the decision. The appeal is to be held on April 27 and a decision is due later in the year.

Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: "People are sent to prison to lose their liberty not their identity. Prisoners should be given every opportunity to payback for what they have done, take responsibility for their lives and make plans for effective resettlement and this should include maintaining their right to vote. It's time to stop pretending that people in prison don't exist."

Bobby Cummines, Chief Executive of Unlock, said: "If prisoners are excluded from voting then we don't have a democratic society we are just paying lip service to one. The Government must accept that prisoners remain citizens of this country with legitimate human rights, including the right to vote."

The prison population in England and Wales, on March 25 2004, was measured at 75,167.

(KMcA/SP)