The Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee will conclude its work this Parliament in March 2026 ahead of the next Scottish Parliament election. So the Committee has time to complete its work, it has agreed not to consider petitions submitted after 10 October.
The Committee will continue to meet but given the volume of petitions and agreed work programme it is unlikely that the Committee would be able to meaningfully progress work on petitions submitted after 10 October ahead of the election. Petitions lodged after this date will not fall when the Parliament is dissolved and will be for the successor committee to consider in the new session.
If you are seeking urgent action or policy change please contact one of your 8 MSPs or the Scottish Government directly.
Closed petition PE2015: Extend the right to vote in Scottish local government and Scottish Parliament elections to all prisoners
Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to extend the right to vote in Scottish local government and Scottish Parliament elections to all prisoners held in Scottish prisons.
Previous action taken
On 12.9.2021 I wrote to Keith Brown MSP (Cabinet Secretary for Justice) about this issue.
Background information
By excluding the majority of prisoners from voting at elections, the Government is denying a voice to those who have first-hand experience of the justice system and prison service.
If prisoners continue to be disenfranchised this is a failure in the system of checks and balances on government.
Research shows that prisoners are frequently care experienced, have grown up in poverty and/or have had a family member convicted of a criminal offence.
Furthermore, it has been suggested that as many as 3% of the prison population are ex-service personnel and/or homeless.
Also, many prisoners are identified as having a learning disability, previous head injury and/or mental health difficulties.
There are also people in prison that are innocent because as with any human-run system, there is potential for error.
Scotland and the rest of the UK lag far behind other European countries in its continued disenfranchisement of prisoners.
Prisoner voting rights are essential for rehabilitation.
This petition was considered by the Scottish Parliament
19 signatures