Do Prisoners Deserve the Right to Vote?
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Institution Affiliation
It is evident that most countries across the world do not recognize the importance of voting as a right to prisoners. In my opinion, I would note that all these countries speak contrary to what they intend and that is Democracy.
Democracy is a system of government in which members of a country are entitled to vote and take part in decision making. Hence, I believe that prisoners are part and parcel of any community across the world and they need to be allowed to take part in this noble act of democracy.
The fact that a prisoner has violated someone else’s rights does not give anyone the right to deny him/her the right to vote. Anyone that has come of age and is of a sound mind is capable of making decisions and therefore should be allowed to vote. As much as a prisoner has infringed certain rights in the society that does not give anyone the right to deny them their democratic right to vote since every individual has a right to be heard.
Prisoners have a big role to play especially when it comes to criminal injustices in the many corridors of justice. Their voices are as important as anyone else’s voices, and thus, voting is one of the many ways prisoners get to air their views (Mauer, 2011).
A prisoner is a human being just like any other person in a given society and no matter the extent of damage or felony committed; prison is the only place and opportunity for them to get rehabilitation in preparation to their next lives after serving the full sentence (Thompson, 2012). With this in mind, it’s apparent that no state whatsoever should deny any prisoner his/her right to be heard through voting and choosing leaders whom they think and to believe will serve them right, equally and humanly possible.