Prisoners' Voting Rights - An Update

In an article in April this year, we noted that, as sentenced prisoners would not be allowed to vote in the general election in May, the general election would be incompatible with prisoners' human rights. We discussed what the potential implications of this would be. Six months on from the general election, this topic is, once again, the subject of debate and still the precise implications of the incompatible nature of the general election remain unclear.

Following the successful challenge by a prisoner, John Hirst, the UK's blanket ban on sentenced prisoners voting was declared unlawful by the grand chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in October 2005. Before the House of Commons this week, Parliamentary Secretary Mark Harper stated that the coalition Government accept that the law requires to be changed. He noted that "this is not a choice; it is a legal obligation."

Mr Harper further advised that Ministers are currently considering how to implement the judgment, and he...