Questions are being raised on whether prisoners should have voting rights. Malta bars people serving an effective term longer than one year from voting.

Lawyer Joe Giglio said the fact that a person has committed an offence should not have much to do with his right to vote and they were already being punished. “They should be allowed to elect representatives to Parliament as it will also affect them once they’re out.”

Fr Hilary Tagliaferro, director of the Millennium chapel, agreed. “The conditions in prison are in the hands of the politicians in government, so why shouldn’t the prisoners have a say in choosing people who are compassionate?

In the UK, convicted killer John Hirst challenged the ban on prisoners voting. He lost the case in the High Court but won it in the European Court of Human Rights.

Full story in The Times

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