Health service tops list of prison voter concerns
The University College Dublin Institute of Criminology study also shows that inmates have similar concerns to the general population, including the effects of drugs and crime on society.
It reveals the low numbers of prisoners who voted in the Lisbon treaty referendum compared to the last general election.
Prisoners were allowed vote for the first time in the 2007 election. Following the ballot, inmates — both those who had voted and not voted — were asked: “What do you think is the most important political issue facing Ireland?”
In all, 138 of the 187 inmates quizzed across a number of jails responded, including prisoners jailed for just a few months to those serving life sentences.
The most pressing issue was the health service for 31% of respondents. The economy was next, said 17% of inmates.
While political corruption (12%) was also cited, drugs, their availability and their worrying affects on society at 7% was the fourth most important issue. Other concerns included the environment (7%), immigration (6%), prisoners’ rights (4%), crime (3%), the North (1.5%) and the housing crisis (1.5%). Other concerns included social inequality and education.
The opinions were expressed in interviews carried out by researchers between December 2007 and March 2008, several months after the general election.
Prisoners registered to vote were more inclined to vote than the general population, as revealed in yesterday’s Irish Examiner.
More than 71% of registered prisoners voted, with the largest number coming from the State’s tougher jails where long-term prisoners are housed, such as Portlaoise, Arbour Hill and Mountjoy. The equivalent number of voters from the general population who used their ballot was 67%.
However, just 27 inmates bothered to use their vote in this year’s Lisbon treaty referendum, despite more than 3,000 prisoners having the right to the postal vote.
In six prisons, not one inmate submitted a vote, while the numbers who voted in other prisons were exceptionally low, including in Arbour Hill (7), Portlaoise (6), Limerick (5) and the Midlands (3).
The UCD researcher behind the study, Cormac Behan, said: “Generally, voting levels aren’t high in prisons and would be expected to be even lower in EU referendums.”
Liam Herrick, executive director of the Irish Penal Reform Trust, welcomed the research saying it would help inform society possibly about the reasons why people ended up behind bars.
“The issues of concern correspond wit the general population. So clearly they are not different from other members of society.
“This research is extremely valuable. It would be great now to see politicians take seriously the views of prisoners who often have been failed by society.”
