Thoughts gents, I have my own opinion on this, so lets have an heated debate....
Plenty of talk about human rights,

*Sharp intake of breath*

+ = This debate!

Should people who decided not to convene by laws passed by an elected body then be allowed to elect the body who passed the laws they decided not to convene by?

You lose your liberty which imo is part of your human right and that is punishment enough, People harp on about how prison is easy, its not that its easy, its because we as people evolve and adapt to situations to make it as comfortable as possible, you have to take orders and told what to do, your freedom is banished and rightly so for crime if caught but I do feel right to vote would not be a good idea in prisons and would cause all sorts of problems like in the US, causing divide and gangs, intimidation and corruption. The prison community is quite a large sector of our population so could have profound effect.

Prison life is to easy these days ,no vote ,no tele ect should be back to basics and labour
My broinlaw just done 9mnths and lived better than most on the outside, bollox to human rights u do the crime ya pay in time ,

Finally the MPs do something I agree with. 234 votes to 22 to keep the ban.

These mad lefties need expelling from our land.

Although, apparently it was British lawyers that drew up these rights after the second world war.

So a Tv is a comfort !!!!!, Wish it was in my house....
merely a trading tool inside, you still work for paltry 8/10 quid a week, We got to remember that a lot of todays prisoners are there not just because of the crime but because its all they know or how they have been brought up,

I really find this a difficult issue. My normal knee jerk reaction would be no. Lock 'em up and throw away the key. However it ain't as black and white. A murderer has taken away someones right to vote for ever, so why whilst they are in prison should they be allowed to vote? But then the extreme of that would be to deny them everything which is out of the question. If your imprisoned for collar crime e.g - tax evasion then is taking away the vote then not justified as it a (to a point and in comparison to other crimes) victimless? Do you allow prisoners with six months or less a vote as part of their re-integration to society? Should a prisoner be allowed to vote in the constituency of the prison they are being held, for an MP who on release would have no direct influence on said prisoner if their home is in a different part of the country.

Some many different scenarios to consider. "It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma"

[quote="David.Watts"] "It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma"[/quote]

Yes based on the severity of the crime is a very good point, but then this would have the potential to cause more strife inside and create segregation among prisoners, hence making life more difficult for example prison staff, and we all know they are pushed to their limits already,
The answer would be to divide the prison population into catergories, which does happen but your common criminal still mixes with Cat A etc and very rarely do you find out who has done what unless its a boast..

In all honesty if it came down to a national referendum on the issue. And the thread title was the exact question and it was a simple YES/NO. I would vote NO. Due to the complexity of the question I would take the easy option. That being IMO is that if it ain't broke don't fix it. Prisoners haven't had the vote and it hasn't exactly brought about any problems up to now. And it hasn't caused me to loose a wink of wink sleep because of it. And probably more influential for me is that this was brought about due to another f*cking intervention of the bleeding EU!!!! And I ain't the biggest fan by a crooked country mile of the ever increasing powers of non-elected faceless bureaucrats. But that's a different hot potato.

Prison is not as much a deterent these days imo
We all no right and wrong and have put are toes in the water
The courts are more interested in criminal money procedings
Local coke dealer got 18 mnths because he agreed to pay his earnings back
Where does that make sense.
Put me in power and prisons would be shitholes that people wouldnt want go back to,that is a deterent

^^agreed^^

I doubt that taking away the right to vote would hurt these people (or maybe they never had that right in UK?), I don't think most of them care about politics very much.

However, it is horrible that they get food that is better and more expensive than the food that they serve in schools (at least that's the case here in Sweden). It also annoys me that they get to buy candy, soft drinks, tobacco and so on BEFORE they have payed their fines to their victims. And on their so called daytime jobs, many just fuck about and recieve money. They should have to work proper hard, Sibirian labor camp style, being sent to uranium mines or something like that.

No in a nutshell.Prisons are like holiday camps nowadays,tv,PS3,& even Sky in some of them FFS.Prison should be a deterrent but i know lads who love it! Once they commit a crime & are locked away they lose the right to vote.

fuck naw

Voting should be open to every member of society, whether you're inside or not. You should have to pass a test though... 50 questions on current global affairs, monetary policy and matters of state. Putting some cunt in power because he's got a good haircut is not good enough.......

[quote="woll69"]You should have to pass a test though... 50 questions on current global affairs, monetary policy and matters of state.......[/quote]

..... Or if he owns land, eh Oliver?

Re: OP, I'd say no. I suppose it goes by how you look at what prison is exactly for, is it punishment? Rehabilitation? Protection for society? I'd personally say that rehabilitation should be the main point, however I feel the way it's currently addressed is failing, clearly. Some 70% reoffending, begs the question; what's the point in them ever being put there in the first place, bar taking a protectionist view?

IMO prison should be 6 days a week labour for no pay. Finish work - back into your cell. Day off on Sunday. No vote, yes you can have a tellie in your cell if you want.

The most important part should be that the second they walk out of there they should be offered paid employment in what they have been doing inside. Most people reoffend because they can't get work - that's the cycle that needs to be broken.

Oh, and by the way, don't take what goes on in the centre left as a left wing view. I disagree with them lot more than I do the far right.

[quote="kuriousoranj"]I suppose it goes by how you look at what prison is exactly for, is it punishment? Rehabilitation? Protection for society? I'd personally say that rehabilitation should be the main point, however I feel the way it's currently addressed is failing, clearly. Some 70% reoffending, begs the question; what's the point in them ever being put there in the first place, bar taking a protectionist view?[/quote]

I used to agree with the rehabilitation view. However, putting a lot of criminals together in one place and hoping that they will stop being criminal is not a very good idea. Most of them will get more involved in criminal activities, end up in debt to other criminals or start using drugs just to get by.

if they've been deemed not fit to live in society due to their crimes then they should also loose the right to decide who runs their local council, government ect

most prisons have better facilities than butlins its like a holiday home for most criminals I know people who have served time and it didnt feel like a punishment to them they still have tvs, dvd players, xbox, playstations ect and can easily get a hold of mobile phones, drink, drugs ect, you can get your hands on anything inside we should take note from the american prision system been a lot tougher not tv's ect and make them do manual labour it might make them think twice about committing crime, also life should mean life not 7-8 years if you have good behavior

I know I'm stereotyping prisoners here and theirs people in for different sorts of cimes but how many of them what actually bother voting if they could ? the general population dont seem to bother their arse with most elections and I doubt the general prision population have a keen interest in politics am sure if the vote was passed you would be lucky if 1% voted

I'm sure your right to vote is the last thing most prisoners are worried about loosing when their jailed unless your a political prisoner of some sort

[quote="Macca"]we should take note from the american prision system[/quote]

Because it works over there, eh?

History continually proves that a hard dose of law and order never solved nowt.

for most criminals prison is just a way a life its all they know am not saying being tougher would dramatically decline the prison population but your their because you have committed a crime and it should be a uncomfortable experience and the tax payers should not have to pay so much money towards keeping them their, some criminals have a better standard of life in prison than outside what sort of deterrent is that ?

[quote="Macca"]What sort of deterrent is that ? [/quote]

It's not, really - and I agree. However, making it intentionally uncomfortable for people solves nothing apart from perhaps saving a few quid for the tax payer. What would solve, not only financial issues, but also post-prison social issues, would be something like I detailed previously:

[quote]IMO prison should be 6 days a week labour for no pay. Finish work - back into your cell. Day off on Sunday. No vote, yes you can have a tellie in your cell if you want.

The most important part should be that the second they walk out of there they should be offered paid employment in what they have been doing inside. Most people reoffend because they can't get work - that's the cycle that needs to be broken.[/quote]