Letting prisoners vote would undermine the idea that civilliberties are fundamental to democratic citizenship

Parliament is currently considering how to relax the UK’s restrictions on prisoner voting, which have been deemed in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. In one of two new contributions to the debate – alongside Chris Bennett and Daniel Viehoff’s post - Peter Ramsay sets out the democratic argument against prisoner enfranchisement. He argues that enfranchising prisoners would foster the illusion that the political rights enjoyed by prisoners can be on a par with those enjoyed by the free citizens of a democracy.