Prisoner voting rights debated

Earlier this week, ahead of the Scottish Parliamentary debate on the Scottish Independence Referendum (Franchise) bill, human rights organisations called on MSPs to consider allowing certain prisoners to vote.

Alan Miller, head of the Scottish Human Rights Commission, wrote a letter to each MSP in which he suggested that the "Scottish Parliament adopts a system where electoral disqualification is based on reasonable and objective justifications such as the type of crime committed or the length of the sentence."

"Although previous judgments by the European Court of Human Rights ruled against a blanket ban on the right of prisoners to vote in national elections and have not yet addressed the question of referendums, previous cases have shown the direction of travel of the Courts is towards inclusion," he wrote.

The move followed the earlier publication of an open letter, signed on behalf of various human rights organisations including Amnesty Scotland, Liberty and the Howard League for Penal Reform Scotland. This called for a “full and serious” debate of the proposal to exclude all convicted prisoners from the vote, without exception.

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