Inmates May Soon Register and Vote (Recognizing inmates’ right of suffrage in future political process) by:JO3 Jorge T Gregorio

Normally, inmates do not vote. They do not vote simply because they are not allowed to vote. No laws allowing them to participate in any electoral process. Even our constitution is silent about their participation.
History would tell inmates had never accorded an opportunity to exercise suffrage even during the Spanish period.
In the United States of America, however, Massachusetts is one of only four states which allow inmates to vote. In Republic of South Africa, prisoners have been allowed to vote only since April 1, 1999 following the Constitutional Court of South Africa’s ruling.
In Kenya, rights organizations are demanding that new constitution be adopted to allow inmates to vote.
Kenya’s existing laws do not spell out whether inmates can vote or not. Former government, that ruled Kenya from 1963 to 2002, had disenfranchised inmates of their rights to cast ballots. Now campaigners want the rights of prisoners, including voting, to be recognized by the new constitution.
In the Philippines, the first time inmates were allowed to cast ballot was in 2007 during barangay and SK election. However, it was done only in selected jails. Worse, the Jail wardens need first to secure an approval from the COMELEC before inmates can vote.
In Cebu City jail in particular, then Jail Warden SUPT EFREN NEMEÑO asked the courts to allow at least 200 inmates to vote in the Oct. 29 Barangay and SK synchronized elections. These inmates were the ones who managed to register for the May 14, 2007 local and national elections.
Of the 200 inmates, only 94 voted because of lack of transportation from the jail (then the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center) to the different polling precincts. The COMELEC allowed them to vote because their cases are still pending in court.
Almost the same thing also happened in Davao City Jail where a number of inmates able to cast ballots during the same election. However, the COMELEC put up a polling precinct inside the jail so that even non-inmate voters residing nearby and outside the jail could vote.
Truly enough, there are really no established laws providing for and recognizing the rights of inmates to participate in the electoral process, even more in foreign countries.
Reports from the Community Relations Services of the BJMP said that the Technical Working Group (TWG) composed of concerned government agencies and civil society representatives chaired by Jail Bureau Chief, DIRECTOR ROSENDO M DIAL, CESO III, had convened to discuss the participation of inmates allover the country in future political exercises.
The TWG is now on the process of drafting guidelines and mechanisms on how inmates could participate in the forthcoming 2010 national election.
The Jail Bureau has at present 62,000 inmates under confinement, 95% of whom are detention prisoners and under the constitutional presumption of innocence are therefore qualified to vote if they meet the other requirements.