Jersey legislators endorse prisoners' right to vote

Jersey will become the first part of the United Kingdom to allow convicted prisoners to vote, following a decision by the island's legislature.

The move was proposed in order to comply with the European Convention on Human Rights. The Human Rights Court in Strasbourg has ruled in a number of cases against the UK's blanket ban on prisoner voting, but the Westmister Government has been resisting change.

Brian Heath, head of Jersey's Probation Service, said it was "the right thing to do". It would also remove an anomaly under which prisoners entitled to vote elsewhere could do so by postal vote, whereas local prisoners could not.