Inquiry into voting rights for prisoners
Inquiry5
The
Equality, Local Government and
Communities Committee undertook an inquiry into voting rights for
prisoners.
Terms of reference
The
terms of reference for the inquiry were:
- Arguments
for and against giving some or all prisoners the right to vote in Welsh
elections, and whether distinctions might be drawn between different
categories of prisoner on the basis of sentence length, expected date of
release, or types of offence;
- Practical
issues, such as electoral registration (including address), voting method,
prisoner engagement with the political process, the provision of political
and citizenship information and education;
- Cross-border
issues arising from prisoners from Wales being imprisoned in England and
vice versa;
- Whether
special considerations apply to young offenders in custody if the
franchise is extended to 16 and 17 year olds generally, and
- Other
countries’ approaches to prisoner voting.
Evidence Gathering
The
Committee held a number of evidence sessions to inform the work of the
Committee, which can be viewed in the table below. Additionally, the Committee consulted
on this topic.
|
Evidence
session |
Date,
agenda, minutes |
Transcript |
Video |
|
1.
Wales Governance Centre Dr Robert Jones,
Research Associate, Wales Governance Centre Dr Greg Davies, Research Associate,
Wales Governance Centre |
|||
|
2.
Prison Reform Trust Mark Day, Head of
Policy and Communications, Prison Reform Trust |
|||
|
3.
Safer
Wales Bernie
Bowen-Thompson, Chief Executive, Safer Wales |
|||
|
4.
Youth Justice Board Darren Trollope |
|||
|
5.
Electoral Commission in Wales and
Association of Electoral Administrators Elan Closs
Stephens CBE, Electoral Commissioner, in Wales Rhydian Thomas, Head
of Electoral Commission, Electoral Commission in Wales Rhys George,
Chair of the Wales Branch of the Association of Electoral Administrators Amanda Bebb,
Deputy Chair of the Wales Branch of the Association of Electoral
Administrators Peter Stanyon,
Chief Executive, Association of Electoral Administrators |
|||
|
6.
Victims’
Commissioner Baroness Newlove,
Victims’ Commissioner |
|||
|
7.
Minister for
Housing and Local Government Julie James,
Minister for Housing and Local Government
|
Report
The
Committee published its report: Voting
Rights for Prisoners (PDF, 1MB) on Tuesday 11 June. On publication of the
report, John
Griffiths AM, Chair of the Committee said:
“Prisoner
voting is an emotive issue. There are strong views for and against. We have
strived to ensure all sides are heard and carefully considered. The weight of
evidence we received in writing, during prison visits and at committee meetings
was clearly in favour of giving prisoners the vote. And in the main it
supported extending the franchise to all prisoners.”
A short
video based on the report can be viewed below.
YouTube-Here
https://www.youtube.com/embed/leQZfXZsqUI
The Welsh
Government (PDF, 129KB) and Assembly
Commission (PDF, 270KB) published their responses to the Committee’s report
on voting rights for prisoners on 24 July 2019.
A debate on the
report was held in Plenary
on Wednesday 25 September 2019.
Business type: Committee Inquiry
Reason considered: Senedd Business;
Status: Complete
First published: 12/11/2018
Documents
- Correspondence
- Correspondence from the Minister for Housing and Local Government to Kevin Foster MP, Minister for the Constitution - 25 October 2019
- Correspondence from the Minister for Housing and Local Government to the Rt Hon Robert Buckland QC MP, Secretary of State for Justice - 25 October 2019
- Correspondence from the Llywydd – 18 September 2019
PDF 172 KB - Correspondence from the Minister for Housing and Local Government – 18 September 2019 PDF 261 KB
- Correspondence to the Minister for Housing and Local Government - 26 July 2019 PDF 69 KB
- Correspondence to the Llywydd - 26 July 2019 PDF 71 KB
- Assembly Commission response to the report on voting rights for prisoners – 24 July 2019 PDF 367 KB View as HTML (8) 22 KB
- Correspondence from Cardiff Council to Jenny Rathbone AM - Voter Registration for remand and other eligible prisoners in Cardiff prison - 2 May 2019 PDF 178 KB
- Correspondence from Jenny Rathbone AM to Cardiff Council - Voter Registration for remand and other eligible prisoners in Cardiff prison - 1 May 2019 PDF 167 KB
- Correspondence from the Minister for Housing and Local Government - 2 April 2019 PDF 1 MB
- Response from the Scottish Government in relation to engagement with victims' groups in the context of prisoner voting - 26 March 2019
- Correspondence from the Counsel General - 21 March 2019 PDF 495 KB
- Correspondence to the Cabinet Secretary for Government Business and Constitutional Relations, Scottish Government - 12 March 2019 PDF 72 KB
- HMP Parc, visit notes – 17 January 2019 PDF 142 KB
- Letter to the Llywydd - 6 November 2018 PDF 75 KB
Consultations
- Voting rights for prisoners (completed)