Voting Rights of Detained Patients: Guidance of Mental Health Act Commission - March 2006
Disenfranchisement is part of the historical stigmatisation of and discrimination against people with mental disorder. At paragraph 2.105 of In Place of Fear? we discussed and welcomed the changes made in 2000 allowing detained patients to use their hospital address to register to vote. We were, however, critical of the requirement that such votes may only be cast by postal voting or proxy, arguing that there was no reason why the law should prohibit patients from voting in person where they were practicably able to do so (i.e. under leave arrangements). We recommended that this bar to voting in person be lifted.
The MHAC recommendations have been taken up by the Disability Rights Commission and, though the DRC, by Liberal-Democrat peers Lords Rennard and Goodhart. The latter tabled amendments at committee stage reading of the Electoral Administration Bill on 16 March. The Minister (Baroness Ashton) stated in Committee that, whilst the wording of the amendment was not acceptable at that point, she was minded to accept the amendment in spirit and would return to officials with the issues raised.
Voting and patients detained under Part III of the MHA 1983
At paragraph 2.108 of In Place of Fear? we highlighted the relevance to patients detained under Part III of the MHS 1983 of the European Court of Human Rights’ October 2005 ruling, in Hirst v UK, that the blanket deprivation of voting rights for convicted prisoners was incompatible with Convention rights. we recommended that Government should redress this violation of ECHR rights to vote in respect of detained patients, ensuring in particular that unconvicted patients and convicted patients who are not given prison sentences are not caught in any framework deigned for punitive disenfranchisement, which the UK Government pleaded as a justification for prisoners losing the vote.
The Government’s statement of its response to Hirst was given in a written statement of 2 February 2006 to the Joint Committee on Human Rights by the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs:
The ECtHR indicated that there should be proper debate about those issues and I have therefore concluded that the best way forward would be to embark on full public consultation in which all the options can be examined and which will give everyone the opportunity to have their say. A consultation document is therefore in preparation and I hope it will be available for discussion in a few weeks time. Thereafter there will be a period for those with an interest to make their views known, which will help to inform the development of future policy.
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights has criticised the Government for not including measures to do with prisoner voting in its Electoral Administration Bill. The issue and the MHAC recommendation was subsequently raised by Liberal Democrat peers at the Committee stage of that Bill, in response to whom the Minister (Baroness Ashton) stated that these would now be matters for the consultation process but that she had noted the concerns and would p[ass them back for consideration.
The MHAC wills submit its views to the Government consultation: any Commissioners wishing to discuss this or contribute views or anecdotes should contact Mat Kinton.
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