Early day motion tabled by primary sponsor Mark Oaten (Liberal Democrat), on Monday, 1 March 2004, in the House of Commons. It is signed by 43 members in total.

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VOTING RIGHTS OF SENTENCED PRISONERS

That this House notes that the 60,000 sentenced prisoners in England and Wales are barred from voting under the Forfeiture Act 1870, which considers prisoners to be civically dead and so morally abhorrent that they do not deserved the right to vote; notes additionally that the UK is only one of eight European countries automatically to disenfranchise sentenced prisoners, the others being Armenia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Luxembourg and Romania; understands that the ban does not enhance security, punishment, or act as a deterrent; is concerned that it impedes the rehabilitative objectives of the Prison Service by failing to encourage prisoners to be active responsible citizens on release; notes, in particular, that the Government has embarked on an ambitious programme of civic renewal to improve community cohesion and that the notion of civic death undermines this agenda by excluding those who are already on the margins of society and encouraging them to be seen as alien to the communities to which they will return to live; and therefore calls upon Her Majesty's Government to review the merits of the ban.

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Secondary information

Type

Early day motion

Reference

729 

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Prisoners Voting rights

Link

View this Early day motion on www.parliament.uk