I have always been of the view (somewhat naively it now seems) that if someone commits an unlawful act against the society in which we live, they forfeit the right to be a part of our society for a specified period of time set by a Court of Law - they are ‘banged up’
While I can accept - to a point - there might be an argument in favour of having certain ‘distractions’ within a prison (like flushing toilets, exercise areas and the odd communal television) I am not in agreement that a custodial sentence should entitle you to the same individual rights you enjoyed before being sentenced; I believe prisons should be seen as a deterrent and a punishment - not as Premier Inns with added security.
However, it seems I am now politically incorrect.
The Ministry of Silly Interfering Decisions, (otherwise known as the European Court For Human Rights) has decreed that we, as a nation, must obey a stupid EU court ruling allowing all prisoners within the UK prison system the right to vote.
No, I am not referring to those expensive phone votes during programmes like X Factor or Strictly Come Dancing, but to a proper vote that elects the very government that maintains the laws that put them all away in the first place.
Of course, our government is saying it is unable to oppose such European madness, so it looks like the next logical move could be to allow conmen, thieves and sexual deviants to stand for Parliament!
Merde!!.... that’s one idea that’s already too late!
2 comments:
Just to clarify a couple of points.
Firstly, the European Court of Human Rights has nothing to do with the European Union. It is a separate body entirely (and they have had many differences with the EU court - the European Court of Justice - on case law).
Secondly, after Bobby Sands became an MP, the law is that a prisoner can run for parliament if he is sentenced to one year or less. I don't think there are any plans to change this. (And are you saying that there has never been an MP who is a conman or a thief??)
It is odd that, before 1981, prisoners could not vote but all could run for parliament.
I think that a prisoner will be able to choose whether to register at his home constituency or the constituency of his prison (the government are thinking about this). If that is the case, it would make the next election interesting with our three prisons in Sittingbourne and Sheppey.
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