UK inmates lose 'right to vote' ruling

[Dennis the 'Bloody Peasant']

What's your view on any prisoner being able to vote in elections? Of course you may not believe in elections at all, but given that they do exist, as do prisons, in the current political system, should prisoners be allowed to vote? Should it depend on their crime?

The Supreme Court has dismissed appeals from two prisoners over the right to vote under European Union rules.
Convicted murderers Peter Chester and George McGeoch had argued that EU law gave them a right to vote - even though they cannot under British law.
Prime Minister David Cameron said on Twitter that the ruling was "a great victory for common sense".
The European Court of Human Rights has previously told the UK to end the blanket ban on prisoners voting.
Parliament is considering legislation, but has not yet decided what to do.

(Full article here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24545294)

[Halert]

Yes i believe so. voting is a right and that right should not perish when you commit a crime.

[Comrade Jacob]

Since it's Bourgeois democracy, I don't really care if anyone gets to vote. But let's say that we are in socialism (for arguments sake) I think that some inmates should get to vote depending on the crime. Murders and rapist don't get the vote for example.

[Raquin]

Who gives a shit. Lumpens are an inherently anti-proletarian and anti-socialist class. Let them vote, don't let them vote, makes no difference. As if being politically enfranchised will mean prisoners won't get raped in the ass in prison anymore(both metaphorically and literally).

[Le Libérer]

Here in Louisiana (and it is different in each state) the law to allow felons to vote was recently changed to allow them to vote if they pay an exorbitant fee to expunge their record, but only if it is their first felony.

Even though the above comments are idealistic, it is an important issue when there is a school to prison pipeline that incarcerates young black men at very high numbers. Being a felon not only takes away their right to vote, but scars their record where they never make more than slave wages. In Louisiana, we have the highest incarceration rate in the US, and the US in the world.

The privatized prison system in Louisiana is filled with 70% black male inmates that are forced to work for 92 cents an hour. It allows the ruling class to oppress minorities at the same rate as slavery did. In fact, I read somewhere there are more black men incarcerated now, than when African Americans were enslaved.

So yea, you bet I am for ex felons to be given all the rights free men are given, seeing they have paid their debt to society (one many never had to begin with seeing prisons are filled with non violent criminals).

[Le Libérer]

Who gives a shit. Lumpens are an inherently anti-proletarian and anti-socialist class. Let them vote, don't let them vote, makes no difference. As if being politically enfranchised will mean prisoners won't get raped in the ass in prison anymore(both metaphorically and literally).

This is an incredibly biased statement. You are assuming everyone is prison is lumpen? Really? Obviously you have never heard of the Black Panthers.

[synthesis]

Who gives a shit. Lumpens are an inherently anti-proletarian and anti-socialist class. Let them vote, don't let them vote, makes no difference. As if being politically enfranchised will mean prisoners won't get raped in the ass in prison anymore(both metaphorically and literally).

What an absurdly callous thing to say. The lumpenproletariat is not inherently reactionary, and there is a revolving door between the lower lumpenproletariat and the lower proletariat proper. How can denying them even the measly bourgeois freedom of voting be considered anything but reactionary?

[Radio Spartacus]

Who gives a shit. Lumpens are an inherently anti-proletarian and anti-socialist class. Let them vote, don't let them vote, makes no difference. As if being politically enfranchised will mean prisoners won't get raped in the ass in prison anymore(both metaphorically and literally).

Everyone in prison is a "lumpen"? Pretty broad generalization

Edit: I also agree about the lumpenproletariat not being inherently reactionary

[Halert]

what are lumpen? and why are they so strongly related to prison?

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

I think that some inmates should get to vote depending on the crime. Murders and rapist don't get the vote for example.

And why the fuck not?

[Admiral Swagmeister G-Funk]

Raquin should be restricted for slandering all prisoners as lumpens, regardless of the question of the revolutionary character of the lumpen class, which is a separate discussion all together.

There are many struggling workers in prison. My mother, for example, went inside after falling behind on council tax after getting out of an abusive relationship. She's worked all her life and was lucky to get a job upon her release, too.

What an offensive statement, which shuns the concerns of a large percentage of the prison population who are indeed workers.

[MarxSchmarx]

I think Raquin's point was more that prisoners as a population are screwed as they are, and have virtually no control over their future under the current order. In this sense, they share a lot with the traditional groups viewed as "lumpen proletariat." IMO there is no question that homeless people or people with severe disabilities, for instance, having the right to vote in liberal "democracies" has amounted to shit all. There are just not enough of them in regions to constitute a sufficiently powerful voting bloc. Perhaps if certain rural and local jurisdictions that house prisoners counted prisoners in their local elections then maybe the calculus would change, but even then I think this is unlikely.

[Igor]

idgaf really if they're "lumpen" or what their crime really is

the system already dehumanises prisoners to a ridiculous extent and this is just another way to do that. you don't have to care about liberal democracy to understand what a thoroughly shitty move this is

[Ocean Seal]

I'm going to be very honest. For all of those who say "it's a bourgeois democracy" so it doesn't matter if you can vote are correct. On only the surface of this problem. It's not an issue of whether your vote can elect a proletarian government, but it is the insistence of the bourgeoisie to separate us, and give themselves the satisfaction that there are people who don't count.

For the psyche of the proletariat that is significant. It is divisive and makes us see inmates as a term that I fucking hate the "lumpenproletariat" which basically implies that they are inferior to us and in the age of industrialized prisons its a very backwards way to see some of our most harmed workers.

I didn't think I was going to need a rant about this, but the correlation between the rights of inmate (even symbolic) and the political power of the proletariat.


Here in Louisiana (and it is different in each state) the law to allow felons to vote was recently changed to allow them to vote if they pay an exorbitant fee to expunge their record, but only if it is their first felony.

Even though the above comments are idealistic, it is an important issue when there is a school to prison pipeline that incarcerates young black men at very high numbers. Being a felon not only takes away their right to vote, but scars their record where they never make more than slave wages. In Louisiana, we have the highest incarceration rate in the US, and the US in the world.

The privatized prison system in Louisiana is filled with 70% black male inmates that are forced to work for 92 cents an hour. It allows the ruling class to oppress minorities at the same rate as slavery did. In fact, I read somewhere there are more black men incarcerated now, than when African Americans were enslaved.

So yea, you bet I am for ex felons to be given all the rights free men are given, seeing they have paid their debt to society (one many never had to begin with seeing prisons are filled with non violent criminals).
What is the fee dear friend?

[Le Libérer]

What is the fee dear friend?
Between $2500 and $5000. It depends on the crime.