BARRED FROM VOTING

Coalition calls for prisoners to be given the vote

A coalition of senior cross party politicians, church leaders, ex-offenders, human rights groups and prison reformers is calling for sentenced prisoners to be given the vote in the forthcoming general election.

The Barred from Voting campaign organised by the Prison Reform Trust and Unlock, the national association of ex-offenders, wants a review of the 135 year old law which means that when people are sentenced to prison, they are stripped of their voting rights. The law is a relic from the nineteenth century which dates back to the Forfeiture Act of 1870 and is based on a notion of civic death, a punishment entailing the withdrawal of citizenship rights.

In March last year in a case brought by a life sentenced prisoner, John Hirst, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the ban on sentenced prisoners voting violated Article Three of the European Convention on Human Rights. The government has appealed against the unanimous judgement to the Grand Chamber of the European Court. The appeal will be held on April 27th just before an expected general election but a final decision will not made until later in the year.
 
The Liberal Democrats leader, Charles Kennedy, has said his party supports giving the vote to all prisoners. The Barred from Voting campaign is also supported by senior Conservative politicians, including the former Home Secretary Lord Hurd, and senior Labour politicians such as David Winnick MP. Other supporters include the Bishops of Prisons for the Anglican and Catholic churches, the current and former Chief Inspectors of Prisons, the president of the Prison Governors Association and the 50 members of the Penal Affairs Consortium.

A Barred from Voting campaign briefing published today states:

• The right to vote is an inalienable human right enshrined in Article Three of the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
• The ban is not an effective deterrent and does not protect public safety. It is an unjust additional punishment imposed, but not articulated, by the courts.
• It contributes to the failure of imprisonment to rehabilitate six out of ten offenders. Giving prisoners the vote would encourage them to become responsible, law abiding citizens.
• If sentenced prisoners had the vote politicians would have to take more of an interest in prisons and the issues raised by prisoners.
• Denying sentenced prisoners the vote perpetuates social exclusion and undermines the Government’s civic renewal and active citizenship agenda by legitimizing the civic death of thousands of people who are sentenced to prison.
• Minority ethnic groups are disproportionately affected. Due to their over-representation in the prison population, black men are eight times as likely to be barred from voting as their white counterparts.
• The UK is one of only eight European countries automatically to disenfranchise sentenced prisoners.

Many senior managers in the Prison Service believe that voting rights and representation form part of the process of preparing prisoners for resettlement in their communities. They acknowledge that granting prisoners the right to vote would not threaten public safety. The Government has yet to clarify the position for people currently serving the sentence of intermittent custody.

Speaking today the director of the Prison Reform Trust, Juliet Lyon, said:

‘People are sent to prison to lose their liberty not their identity. Prison has an important job to do to prevent the next victim and release people less, not more likely, to offend again. 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, the Chief Executive of Unlock said:

‘Giving prisoners the vote is a question of moral conscience not political conscience. 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.’

House of Commons Event
The Barred from Voting campaign is holding a meeting in the Jubilee Room of the House of Commons between 3.30 and 5.30pm on Monday April 4th 2005. Speakers include Shami Chakrabati, Liberty, Labour peer Lord Corbett of Castle Vale, Bobby Cummines, CEO Unlock, Liberal Democrat peer Lord Dholakia, John Hirst, the former prisoner who, supported by AS Law and barrister Flo Kraus, brought the successful Strasbourg Appeal case, Simon Hughes MP, President of the Liberal Democrats, Lord Hurd of Westwell, Baroness Kennedy QC, Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust and Sir David Ramsbotham, former Chief Inspector of Prisons.

To read the full briefing click here