Prisoners' voting rights: Britain's mounting fury over sovereignty | The Economist

The ECHR is very far from perfect. But a country lucky enough to enjoy the rule of law, like Britain, should think long and hard before flouting international treaties which offer perhaps the only hope of legal recourse to people in much less lucky climes. Above all (and with apologies for a very long posting) though prisons are full of nasty people, they are also full of adult citizens of this country. Declaring that such citizens have lost the moral authority to vote just because they are behind bars is an arbitrary decision, not a principle carved on the granite of the common law. Let them vote.