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Federal inmates will be casting ballots behind bars in the upcoming election. Elections Canada has laid out a new process to have prisons double as polling stations in the wake of a 2002 Supreme Court ruling that said denying inmates a vote violated their constitutional rights.

take away their citizenships or let them vote.







i hate our government either way.

edit: i feel your not killing enough inmates.

hmmm it's a hard issue to tackle, by all rights Inmates SHOULD be given the right to vote. But the problem is Politician's could cater to prisoners in certain commuity's to get a large amount of votes, or vice-versa, they could feel pressured into pleasing inmates to keep votes.

Inmates are generally in prison because they have abused their rights, so I don't completely understand the argument that voting is a right so inmates should be allowed to.

The inmates should be able to run for office if they are going to be allowed to vote. "Live via satellite from the Ontario maximum security prison, let's welcome the new mayor of Toronto......." Of course that's an extreme comparison. But if it's a constitutional right to be able to run for public office, wouldn't that be an argument too? I just don't think that those who have lessened society should have a say in its direction.

Question: If you are put in jail for a month and during that month, voting takes place, would you be allowed to vote?

I wouldn't think so. It would mostly depend on the crime. In the US, felons lose their right to vote and hold public office and posses firearms. And a fellony can come as easy as shoplifting $200 of merchandise in the state of Virginia. So I guess it would mainly be subjective to the level of the crime you are serving for, but I don't know how Canada's legal and criminal structures are set up.

faNINor wrote:Inmates are generally in prison because they have abused their rights, so I don't completely understand the argument that voting is a right so inmates should be allowed to.

My thoughts exactly.

xjsb125 wrote:The inmates should be able to run for office if they are going to be allowed to vote. "Live via satellite from the Ontario maximum security prison, let's welcome the new mayor of Toronto......." Of course that's an extreme comparison. But if it's a constitutional right to be able to run for public office, wouldn't that be an argument too? I just don't think that those who have lessened society should have a say in its direction.

Very well put.

Voting is an essential right though. And every man should have a say in how the wrld around him is run. The argument of getting into office is ridiculous, no inmate would ever win an election. Besides what about intelligent criminals who have actually reformed? They shoudl have a right to vote, and it would be mostly these people that actually cared anyways. Hell we can't even get most people in canada to vote that's arn't in prison, even less prsioners would probably vote then the free population.


On a side note i think our current Punishment system of justice is very outdated and crude. We should be working on reshaping these people to be functioning parts of society. Instead of further antagonzing them, excluding them, and making a successful after-jail life immposible. Because of our current system people get out, they're the exact same as before and end up ending up in prison again. Or they're forced to turn back to crime because of the way our society pins them down after being released. The amount of money spent to hold them in prison is more then what it would cost to re-shape them into working parts of society. Not to mention how we could do a lot to cut it off at the root by helping these individuals before they turn to crime.

But hey that's just left wing thinking. Thr right woudl like to see them all put away, then released, then put away, then killed. All at our expense of course

The statement about running for office was an extreme example, and I agree no inmate would ever win. Here in the states, some criminals can receive pardons from governor's and have their rights restored after they have completed their jail time. I whole heartedly agree that criminals should be reformed and made into useful parts of society. But some criminals can not be reformed no matter what. I don't see John Gotti, Ted Kaczynski, or Charles Manson ever being reformed into valuable parts of society. There is no way those guys deserve to have a say in what goes on in the country. The loss of freedoms to vote and whatever should be incentive for criminals to change their life and do all they can to be ready to contribute to society when they are released.
Jail systems should be a punishment for crimes, not a place where you can stay in an air conditioned room, hang out at a gym and get diesel, or sit and watch the tv. It should give a criminal the time to sit and think about why they are there and what they did wrong. I do feel like prisoners deserve to be educated if they are going to be released back into society. That way, as you said, they can become funtional parts of society. Their time in jail should have been such a horrible experience that it reminds them ever day all the time that commiting crimes isn't worth it going back.

How about this...?

An inmate is allowed to vote only if they will definately be released within the term of the electee. That way, those who are going to be relatively unaffected and completely segregated from the society their vote would affect don't get a vote.

it shouldn't be a wonderful place to go, i agree. But it should be based on rehabilitation not punishment. Your right there are some individuals that should be kept in containment to protect society. But those are almost all mentally defective people. That should instead be kept in a secure mental health instituition. Which bring's me to another more side tracked issue that we covered in psych......

If people suffering from mental defects such as being a sociopath, psychopath, shizofrenic, etc. They are in many cases not able to be guilty because to be guilty a person must have intentfully commited a crime in a sane set of mind. In the legal system being sane describes understanding the difference between right and wrong. A sociopath cannot comprehend right and wrong, he cannot even feel emotions for other people, other people are almost on the same level as inanimate objects, tools around them in the world. A person of this set of mind cannot actually understand what they do is wrong. Therefore in their mind they have done no wrong.

So this mean's they are not as completely evil as we believe, they're mentally defective. They shoudl have been diagnosed, and monitored way before they had a chance to commit a violent crime. These people of course cannot be allowed to run free in society, instead they should be kept in a secure mental institute.

In an election we are voting for someone to represent us. People in jail will be represented by that person either way, so they have a right to be able to choose.

I AM ME wrote:Voting is an essential right though. And every man should have a say in how the wrld around him is run. The argument of getting into office is ridiculous, no inmate would ever win an election. Besides what about intelligent criminals who have actually reformed? They shoudl have a right to vote, and it would be mostly these people that actually cared anyways. Hell we can't even get most people in canada to vote that's arn't in prison, even less prsioners would probably vote then the free population.

On a side note i think our current Punishment system of justice is very outdated and crude. We should be working on reshaping these people to be functioning parts of society. Instead of further antagonzing them, excluding them, and making a successful after-jail life immposible. Because of our current system people get out, they're the exact same as before and end up ending up in prison again. Or they're forced to turn back to crime because of the way our society pins them down after being released. The amount of money spent to hold them in prison is more then what it would cost to re-shape them into working parts of society. Not to mention how we could do a lot to cut it off at the root by helping these individuals before they turn to crime.

But hey that's just left wing thinking. Thr right woudl like to see them all put away, then released, then put away, then killed. All at our expense of course

the world around a prisoner is nothing but people telling him what to do, when to do it, and how to do it, he has no say in his current situation, so rightfully so, he should not have a right to say how the rest of the city, county, district, state and nation should be run. Intellectuals who are reformed can support canidates, and if they so choose, can stand on his/her soap box and spread the good word of Mr./Mrs. Canidate. if he's so intellectual, the masses will not care where he's been and what he's done but should rather be moved by his points. George Pharr was denied his rights because he was a convict, and he became one of the strongest political machine the country has ever seen. He himself could never vote, or hold office, but he had his cronnies on his strongs.

i don't consider myself a lefty or a righty, (unless were talking about left handers, then yes the left handed revolution will be runned by me) i'm more of this hybrid revolutionary that wants shit done and the godamn truth from my government. i like the current texas justice system. if you do something that warrants the death penalty, and a jury sees it fit to give you death, then yes you should die, reguardless of mental situation. Texas has and will kill the mentally challenged. el mero mero Perry himself said "We don't have life with no parole." (i'm quoting a republican, a republican i hate with a passion) so we don't lock the mentally challenged forever, and if there's no chance of the guy getting life WITH parole, then he's a goner. the truth is there's family, there's cartakers, teachers, coaches, communities, and government entities that should take care of these people. i have reason to believe that they didn't slip through the cracks over and over and over and over again. someone somewhere is resonsible for them and their actions, and that person missed their duties and should be jailed as well. whoa...ok, someone else's turn.

i think that every citizen of canada has a right to vote in a canadian election. even inmates. why? because no matter who wins the election, it could really affect them even in jail. and if everyone else has a say to that, why not them too?

They should have the right to vote. Just because they're in prison doesn't mean they don't have opinions. I mean, everyone bitches that people should have equal rights, no? Saying that an inmate shouldn't have the right to vote is like saying a black can't use a certain water fountain. If you truly believe that an inmate shouldn't have the right to vote because for whatever reason it may be, they're incarcerated, then don't ever speak out something being unfair because it effects you. Because to someone else, your word, rights, and interests don't matter, and you probably abused them somewhere along the line and really don't deserve them anyway.

Anyways, one Ontario jail would have a better voter turnout than the entire state of Michigan this November for the presidential elections, so let them have their fun.

if you're in jail for something small like robbery or something (not that thats small but still) i say yes but if you're in there for like murder or rape definitley not

Just because you're a fiend for sex or like stabbing people doesn't mean you don't have an opinion. Like I said before, if you're for anything like "equal rights" then inmates should be able to vote. And if not, you're a hypocrite.

if you did a crime, you shouldn't get to say how the countries run, you obviously don't care anyway otherwise you would have respected the laws of the country and its government so you wouldn't be in jail without the right to vote in the first place