Uncle Buck
Ghost Writer
- Jul 7, 2003
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Just seen this on the Guardian site. Views?
UK prisoners should get vote, European court rules
Staff and agencies
Thursday October 6, 2005
A ruling from the European court of human rights today gave British prisoners the right to vote.
The Strasbourg's court's decision means that legal changes will need to be made to give prisoners the option to cast their vote in future national and regional elections.
The challenge - contested by the British government - was mounted by John Hirst while he was serving a life sentence in Rye Hill prison, Warwickshire, for manslaughter.
Now released and living in Hull, 54-year old Mr Hirst said his fight had been about breaking the link between crime and the right to take part in the democratic process.
"The human rights court has agreed with me that the government's position is wrong - it doesn't matter how heinous the crime, everyone is entitled to have the basic human right to vote."
After his application to vote from prison was turned down, Mr Hirst took his case to the high court and lost.
Then a seven-judge chamber of the human rights court backed him and awarded him £8,000 in costs and expenses.
The government appealed to a 17-judge "grand chamber" of the Strasbourg court, but it also backed Mr Hirst today.
The court ruled his human rights had been breached because the 1983 Representation of the People Act does not allow convicts to take part in parliamentary and local elections.
The European Convention on Human Rights, to which Britain is a signatory, guarantees the "right to free elections" - and that applies equally to prisoners, said the judges.
Mr Hirst pleaded guilty on February 11 1980 to a charge of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
He was sentenced to "discretionary life imprisonment" and the tariff part of his term expired on June 25 1994. He was released in November last year.
UK prisoners should get vote, European court rules
Staff and agencies
Thursday October 6, 2005
A ruling from the European court of human rights today gave British prisoners the right to vote.
The Strasbourg's court's decision means that legal changes will need to be made to give prisoners the option to cast their vote in future national and regional elections.
The challenge - contested by the British government - was mounted by John Hirst while he was serving a life sentence in Rye Hill prison, Warwickshire, for manslaughter.
Now released and living in Hull, 54-year old Mr Hirst said his fight had been about breaking the link between crime and the right to take part in the democratic process.
"The human rights court has agreed with me that the government's position is wrong - it doesn't matter how heinous the crime, everyone is entitled to have the basic human right to vote."
After his application to vote from prison was turned down, Mr Hirst took his case to the high court and lost.
Then a seven-judge chamber of the human rights court backed him and awarded him £8,000 in costs and expenses.
The government appealed to a 17-judge "grand chamber" of the Strasbourg court, but it also backed Mr Hirst today.
The court ruled his human rights had been breached because the 1983 Representation of the People Act does not allow convicts to take part in parliamentary and local elections.
The European Convention on Human Rights, to which Britain is a signatory, guarantees the "right to free elections" - and that applies equally to prisoners, said the judges.
Mr Hirst pleaded guilty on February 11 1980 to a charge of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
He was sentenced to "discretionary life imprisonment" and the tariff part of his term expired on June 25 1994. He was released in November last year.
