Should prisoners get the vote?

Bravo Kenya, that’s good news I should say, The legal basis for conducting voter registration in Uganda is Article 59(1) of the Constitution of Uganda (1995), which states that: It is the duty of every citizen of Uganda of eighteen years of age or above to register as a voter for public elections and referenda.
According to section 19(1) of the Electoral Commission Act (1997), a person aged at least 18 years and he/she is citizen of Uganda may register as a voter in a parish where he/she originates from or resides. Which means Voting in Uganda is a constitution right if am not mistaken thus I don’t agree with Hachi Beekay in Zambia saying that convicted persons must be denied their rights to vote.

In Uganda prisoners have the following rights
1. Accommodation
2. Clothing and bedding
3. Access to Medical care
4. The right to food. Section 69 of the Prisons Act provides that "a prisoner shall be provided with food of nutritious value adequate for health and strength by the prison administration, at the usual hours and the food shall be of wholesome quality, well prepared and served. And that drinking water shall be available to every prisoner.
In fact I would wish to see more prisoners rights in future for example conjugal rights etc

Prisoners or ex-convicts should have the right to vote after serving their sentences or paying the price for their crimes. In the United States for example, ex-convicts are stripped of their voting rights even after serving their sentences. I am surprised that civil libertarians, human rights organizations and constitutional scholars have not fought to correct this situation.
The 15th Amendment to the U.S. constitution states:

"1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."

In my opinion, "previous condition or servitude" may have been erroneously and narrowly limited to former slaves. But, imprisonment is also a form of servitude following a person conviction of a crime. Therefore, I think the U.S. and any country that strip prisoners and ex-convicts of their rights to vote can learn from Kenya. However, I think repeat offenders should be a different story.

For prisoners to or not vote,is very complicated.let me look at it in nigeria context,most of the prisoners in nigeria are not charge to court to know whether their guilty or not.Looking at it critically,i will go with hachi beekay in Zambia,right to vote should not be extended to them,while their in prison.

They may be in prison but they are still part and parcel of society, nonetheless the only main concern is the huge probability of how the prisoners could be coerced. Prisons in the majority world are not at par with those in the minority in terms of standards but they do have the right to vote but considering how corrupt some of the African governments are they are a population unfortunately that can be easily exploited!

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In Canada they have the right to vote. But they also have coloured televisions, recreation areas, receive more in support than senior citizens that haven't broke the law, some go on strike if they get fed too much turkey, receive quicker medical care than people not in jail, supervised shopping trips to malls, and the list goes on.

Until recently prisoners who are senior citizens and were convicted of murder were receiving old age pensions plus supplement pensions because their income was low. So Canadians provided them with free room and board, medical, recreation etc plus pensions while in jail.

So should they have the right to vote? I would hope that African Nations have more common sense than Canada and not start walking down this road. So no, don't give them the right. They lost rights when they went to jail.

Personally, I do not think they should be allowed to vote. The simple reason being that the vast majority of the prisoners will be "persuaded" whom to vote for by the prison officials who have in turn been "paid" to get as many votes from the convicts as possible. And so what happens in the end? We get even worse "leaders" than we already have.

Kingsley, I am not a lawyer but looking at your point

"1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

...does not hold for a prisoner according to US Article IV "direction to states" section 2, (right of citizens) wherein a citizen may not vote in a state to which he moves, however until he lives there long enough... by this article an issue of residency is raised and Joe Shmo of NY in Federal prison in Arizona is neither a NY or AZ resident as he is at limbo.

Although I have no disagreement in allowing people to vote while in prison, but those who are proven to have caused death in any manner including death by motor vehicle must not be allowed. Why? That is because, the person whom they have killed are no longer with us to have their say. Crime on children and women as well as older people also must have the same level of disqualification. So, that leaves us with very few offences that will allow voting. If it was up to me serious drug dealers and funding cartels would be classified as social terrorist and get not only family and friends implicated but even governments. Then, Mexico will increase its drug enforcement for better. And so do others. That is also why I respect places like Singapore. They do not tolerate drugs.

In Africa 60% prisonors are said to be poletical prisinors while in the US 60% is racial motivated. With that assumtion some study is worth considering. I am not sure these days but prior to 1990 UK was civil now adays with all the international trouble makers UK's mood of law might be different.

I am beginning to wonder why there prisons at all? I am greatly challenged when I hear the growing demand for rights for people who have used their own authority to deprive others of the rights they have and for which they have been put away from all obedient people. i think we need a new discourse on the issue on rights. I say without any reservation that if prison is what it is meant to be then those 'criminals' who find their abode there should not be seen anywhere near a polling booth. They chose to go to prison when they consciously denied others of their rights. Isnt this going too far? Can somebody explain in simple English why prisoners should vote? They SHOULD NOT!!!

How much further can we push human rights and where is the limit to human rights.For a prisoner to be sentenced,he/she must have infringed on other people's rights and it amazes me that the same offender will be demanding for human rights.The main aim of being a prisoner is to exclude you from the society,and i don't think you should be part of what is going on in the society at the time you are in prison,regardless whether it's election or not.

Common sense tells you that convicts gave up the right to vote when they broke the law, but things are not black and white. Convicts who are serving suspended sentances could vote, so it would not be fair to exclude those who are incacerated unless one could exclude all convicts where ever their abode is.

One would also have to allow awaiting trial prisobers to vote. In Africa we have far too many political prisoners, they should all be allowed to vote, but then voting is probably the least of their worries and the gvt that locked them up is likely to have enough extra ballot boxes to cancel out any protest vote from prison.

Here is a thought. In a small town where there is a big prison, the inmates could potentially have a material impact on the election results. They won't be voting for better roads and lower taxes. They could elect somebody who would facilitate pardons at at price.

being a prisoner means being deprived of some rights apart from the basic ones. letting prisoners vote in the August 4 referendum is clear indication that the government wants to manipulate the whole voting exercise. let it be well placed that voters have no access to this kind of right, or else soon we might hear them also asking for few day-offs to visit their relatives.

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Depends on many factors...Most situations prisoners whom are serving short sentences in prison should be given the "right" to vote....

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Yes they should only if society wishes them to get out of jail. Here is what happens, corrupt leaders will pardon those who vote for him/her.

Yes and only if someone can identify other countries allowing prisoners to vote?

Come on no criminal is going to vote for law abiding citizens. They will only vote for another criminal who is not incarcerated in order to get out of jail.

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