Prisoners and Politics
| Published date | 01 December 1978 |
| Date | 01 December 1978 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/000486587801100401 |
| Subject Matter | Editorial |
AUST &NZ JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY.(December 1978) 11
(193-194)
EDITORIAL
193
Prisoners
and
Politics
It has recently
been
reported!
that
"the
State
Government
[Victoria] has
decided
to allow
them
[prisoners] to
vote
for the electorate
where
they
lived
before
their conviction"
and
"It
is
considered
that
electors in prison should retain
their interest in
the
particular area with
which
they
were
associated
and
to which
they
may
return
...
"
Rinaldi" has written:
Except in Tasmania
where
the restrictions
are
even more rigid, a person sentenced to
imprisonment for twelve months or more loses his right to vote whilst serving hissentence.
. . . Several countries
and
some American States have eliminated all voting restrictions
on prisoners,
and
I am unaware of any
argument
which can be
advanced
for retaining
such restrictions in Australia. During the past
year
both
South Australia
and
Victoria have
announced that they intend to abolish all voting restrictions.
It is,
presumably,
the
technique of postal voting
that
would
be
used
rather
than "normal"
voting
or
absentee
voting for
the
reasons
advanced
by
Rinaldi".
That
the State of Victoria (and South Australia) is
prepared
to enfranchise
the
prisoner population otherwise entitled to
vote
is a
matter
for
much
satisfaction",
However, having said so much, it needs to
be
recognized that such
reforms
have
a
habit
of
producing
further
problems
that
have
to
be
solved.
In a case in
the
United
States, Sostre v Rockefeller
and
others: Motley J
stated
in his judgment:
Mr Sostre is no stranger to the
New
York State prison system, having already served
twelve years, 1952-1964, four of which were
spent
in solitary confinement at Attica State
Prison for Black Muslim activity. He is also no stranger to the federal courts with his civil
rights complaints against
New
York prison officials. He secured for Black Muslim
prisoners their rights to certain unrestricted religious liberties
during
his prior
incarceration. His earlier legal activity also resulted in the elimination of some of the more
outrageously inhumane aspects of solitary confinement in some of the state's prisons.
Sostre, on this occasion complained,
among
other
things,
that
he was punished
in relation to his
freedom
of political expression.
The
relevant
part
of the
judgment
reads:
plaintiff was charged
with
the possession of contra
band
found in his cell. This consisted
of political literature, such as a list of officers of the.Black Panther Party
and
Republic of
New
Africa, and "Revolutionary Thoughts"
put
onpaper
by
plaintiff. Some of this
matter
was copied from
newspapers
and
magazines which
had
been
legally
and
regularly
circulated in the prison. This information was characterized by the
Deputy
Warden as
racist and, consequently,
contraband
...
there is no room for
doubt
that Sostre's troubles
with defendants
stem
not from his acts or threats to prison security,
but
from his political
thoughts and beliefs, as expressed in the literature he reads and the letters he writes.
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