The buzz of the day is the debate about prisoner voting, provoking mild hysteria from Parliamentarians whose stomach to discuss certain topics seems very fragile. My view is that prisoners should be allowed to vote, in part because I believe that any contribution to rehabilitate the 80,000 men and 5,000 women who are held at ‘her Majesty’s Pleasure’ should be considered very seriously and if this means using the privilege of voting I would see this as a much more creative option than some of the other ‘rewards’ that we might consider. However that is not the reason why I believe that this Government should offer the vote to some or all of those who are current residing in our prisons.

The implication of offering a vote to a resident or tenant is that people seeking election place a value on the prospects of those who have been granted suffrage. It may be that the majority of Parliamentarians and residents of this country are not greatly concerned about the welfare of those who have broken our laws, but as a society which locks up many more people than comparator nations I believe this needs to change. 

Advocating for the needs of prisoners is currently left to charities and organisations that are often several steps away from those who advocate on behalf of Bankers who in any case do have a vote of their own.

At the risk of upsetting some people, who like David Cameron, feel sick at the prospect of giving votes to prisoners, we might find that as well as ensuring prisoners have no grounds for taking us to court (surely a worthwhile consideration) that we can also reduce the numbers of frequent visitors to a HM Prison near you or me. This can be shown to be the result of needs such as education and housing receiving fresh attention in the lives of people leaving prison.