Hustings could take place in jails if vote given to prisoners

Election hustings could take place inside jails if prisoners are given the right to vote, an MSP has suggested.

Liberal Democrat Alex Colehamilton put forward the suggestion as a Holyrood committee considered the issue of prisoner voting.

He argued that if convicted prisoners – who are currently barred from voting across the UK – were to be allowed to do so, politicians would have a duty to try to engage with them. Speaking at Holyrood’s equalities and human rights committee yesterday, the MSP said: “I think politicians realjan ly should try and engage if we did extend the franchise to the prison population.

“It would be incumbent on us to try to engage with that population to take that opportunity to cast their vote, and maybe engage in husti ngs in prisons.

He added: “I think lots of people would like to see us in prison from time to time.”

Mr Cole-hamilton spoke in favour of lifting the blanket ban on prisoners voting, saying those who have been locked up in jail should have the “right to challenge the government of the day as it were or hold their decision makers to account for the conditions in which they are held”.

Anderson of Access to Industry, a group which helps female prisoners move on after release, said: “I love the idea of something like hustings, I think it could be really positive work for there to be time in prison to engage the women in what the issues of the day are about.

“It would seem to me it’s a positive opportunity for looking at reintegration and rehabilitation.”

They spoke out out after Green MSP Patrick Harvie urged the committee to back ending the outright ban on prisoners voting.