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Should prison inmates be able to vote?

prison

ethics

voting

society

understand

tynamite

Yes they should, because prisoners (supposedly) live in a democratic country where there is free speech. A fundamental part of free speech is that you cannot tell someone who can and who cannot have an opinion. That is why racist political parties still operate in Western countries today. Their right to free speech has to be protected.

The second reason why prisoners should be allowed to vote, is because they are still a part of the system. It is not right for any person to be living under a government regime or pay taxes, and still be denied the right to vote. Such a concept is ridiculous! People who are directly vindicated or contributing to the system should be allowed to vote.

The only people who shouldn't be allowed to vote are homeless people, as they are not a part of the system. They don't pay taxes, and they don't live within a government regime. They are ghosts who live within government land, who are hardly affected by the changes the governments make. They do not contribute to the system and they are not encapsulated by the system. They are not a part of the system.

Having said that, the only reason why prisoners are denied the vote, is not because they're criminals, but instead because the people in power don't want to give the poor people the vote. By scapegoating them as prisoners, they effectively deny them of their human rights, and deny you of your human rights of being allowed social mobility and freedoms. People turn a blind eye to this.

If more prisoners were allowed to vote, the Occupy Wall Street protesters would have less things to protest about. I know this, because most people who are in prison are poor. (America has the most prisoners than the whole of Europe has. They are in prison because they are poor.) If prisoners (in America), were allowed to vote (and read the real news), it would produce a much needed change in government rule. If you want to change one thing about the government, that's the one thing you have to change. The prisoners will be representing you, whilst their prison sentences won't decrease.

tynamite

Darrell

(I just realized this answer is a year old, but I still feel that it needs to be responded to.)

I find somewhat hypocritical that you accuse of politicians of trying to keep poor people from voting but then say homeless people shouldn't be allowed to vote. Homeless people don't exist in a vacuum, they still live in our cities, they still depend on our charity, they use homeless shelters and soup kitchens managed by the government and non-profits. They are very much a part of our system and their situation is often a result of our system. Many people with mental illnesses are homeless because psychiatric wards don't have the resources to house them. Many military vets are homeless often as a result of damage done to them mentally and physically while serving our country. Not to mention the majority of homeless who are regular people that found themselves in a bad situations due to drug addiction or a lack of job opportunities. How are we supposed to solve these problems if we treat them as something "outside the system"? They are a product of the system just like anyone else and they interact with it just like anyone else. Who cares if they pay taxes or how productive they are. For all we know they contributed their fair share in the past or will in the future because homelessness isn't a perpetual state.

tynamite

Me

I was thinking more that the government should have a social responsibility to put the homeless back into houses, and have them be able to be "a part" of society that way. You make very good points.