This week’s motion – that prisoners should be allowed to vote in elections – was always going to be decided on who characterized prisoners best: are prisoners all mindless deviants who have broken the moral code and need to be punished severely as a warning to others, or are they rather damaged and vulnerable individuals who desperately need rehabilitation and a stake in the future of society? Do we further ostracize prisoners or do we seek to re-integrate them into society? Regardless of where your opinion lies, the side that tells the most compelling story will win the debate.  In this case it was the closing proposition side of Georgia Holmes and Maiko Fairbrother who made the most convincing case: how denying prisoners the vote simply makes an already iniquitous penal system worse, entrenches inequality and makes the world worse for everyone. A great debate. Next week’s motion will be: ‘This House would require shops to use mannequins depicting people of average body shape.’

 

Mr Ahern & Mr Murphy