Why Prisoner Voting Matters

As part of Unlock the Vote, our campaign to extend the right to vote to more people in prison, we have published our report “Why Prisoner Voting Matters”.

The current system for prisoner voting in the UK damages democracy, harms rehabilitation, and is not consistent across the UK.

Our report explores which prisoners currently have the right to vote and how they are supposed to be able to access this right.

Academic studies and our own research has found that:

• In England and Wales it is estimated that over 21,000 people in prison, and around 15% of the prison population are eligible to vote.
• In practice, very few are able to access this right with many local authorities being unfamiliar with the current rules.
• Maintaining the right to voting aids rehabilitation and gives an increased sense of civic responsibility.
• Widening participation strengthens our democracy, with the healthiest democracies across the world extending the right to vote to all prisoners. Among western democracies, the UK has some of the most restrictive laws around prisoner voting.

You can read our report in full here.