PRT comment: Prisoner voting rights
Commenting on today’s announcement by the Secretary of State for Justice extending the entitlement to vote to prisoners on release on temporary licence, Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:
“Today’s announcement is a small but welcome step in the right direction to recognising voting as a normal part of rehabilitation and resettlement. However, it will only apply to a handful of prisoners, and is a long way from the norm in many other European countries where there are few or no restrictions on prisoners voting. People are sent to prison to lose their liberty, not their citizenship. If we want prisons to rehabilitate, we should expect people in prison to be able to exercise their civic responsibilities by voting in democratic elections.”
Commenting on today’s announcement by the Secretary of State for Justice extending the entitlement to vote to prisoners on release on temporary licence, Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:
“Today’s announcement is a small but welcome step in the right direction to recognising voting as a normal part of rehabilitation and resettlement. However, it will only apply to a handful of prisoners, and is a long way from the norm in many other European countries where there are few or no restrictions on prisoners voting. People are sent to prison to lose their liberty, not their citizenship. If we want prisons to rehabilitate, we should expect people in prison to be able to exercise their civic responsibilities by voting in democratic elections.”
