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"The government's prevarication amounts to nothing less than deliberate...
...and inexcusable defiance of the rule of law."
"I do hope that whichever party comes into power after May the sixth...
...will put this matter as a real priority."
Late into the night on the 7th of April and the top law makers in England are furious.
"Because frankly it is a disgrace which has gone on for six years."
And what's got them so angry?
The fact that the UK is breaking human rights law
by banning tens of thousands of convicted prisoners from voting
in this week's General Election.
It puts the UK at odds with the European laws
it signed up to.
And it's all the result of a long campaign
by one of the country's most prolific legal campaigners.
Looking out of the prison bars at the world outside
You know, terrified of where I was.
I thought I'd entered a lawless land.
Meet John Hirst.
From his small house in Hull on the east coast of England
he's launched countless legal cases against the government.
Well over a hundred. I lost track at a hundred.
And he's won them all.
Phwoar! It's just that
the first time I remember and I was with the solicitor
and this was actually the first case we had taken, was for lost property
you know, when prison officers or other prisoners were stealing
your property and you couldn't get it back
So I decided to challenge that and I actually won
right on the court steps and the solicitor, when he told me,
he said "they've backed down, you've won your case"
and I went like that and he jumped back thinking I was about to hit him!
But I'd been keeping it in for so long and suddenly, yes!
You've got the Secretary of State for the Home Department
you've got the top man and you have beaten him like that, you know
you've made him eat humble pie.
It's great, honestly.
John never went to law school and he has no letters after his name.
His legal knowledge he taught himself
whilst serving 30 years for manslaughter.
The Prison Reform Trust came out with
"Prison Rules: A Working Guide"
I could read six books a day
...easily and I don't mean just go through them and miss whole chunks
I read every word in there.
You've got your way mapped out and you know where you are going
and you know what you are going to do.
Well I did anyway.
They didn't know. And it came as a surprise to them.
John's biggest fight began more than six years ago
when he challenged the British government for not allowing prisoners the vote.
The result: the European Court ordered the UK to
carry out a proper review into the issue.
But six years - and nearly two elections - later
and John is still no closer to victory.
Ministers in Europe have said that our government, the UK government
should introduce voting for prisoners prior to next week's General Election.
They said it repeatedly, it just hasn't happened
and it appears the government has been trying to kick the issue
into the long grass
so that it doesn't happen before the election.
It seems to us to be shameful.
It puts the UK into a shrinking group of countries
which refuse prisoners the vote.
Armenia, Estonia and Bulgaria to name a few.
So why has the British government delayed giving
prisoners the vote for so long?
The reaction from tax payers would be one of
absolute spitting fury with politicians
People already aren't impressed by the political class
they already aren't impressed with what they see as a
human rights agenda that favors the guilty over the innocent
and there'll be absolute anger.
For that reason I don't think politicians will do it
which means the real impact here is we're going to find
the European Convention of Human Rights and the European Court
is actually a dog whose bark is a lot worse than its bite.
Just weeks before the election the UK's prison population
reached a new record
with more than 85,000 men and women behind bars.
Despite their crimes, experts believe giving them the vote
could stop them reoffending.
They come out of prison, feel alienated get back
into bad habits and get back into crime.
So we see this as one important symbolic way
if you like of demonstrating they still do have a stake in society.
So what does the government say about all this?
Well, it's not something they want to talk about.
When we requested an interview all we got was a short statement saying:
In the shadow of the Houses of Parliament
stands a statue to Emilie Pankhurst who fought
for women in Britain to get the vote.
Nearly a century later, John Hirst is sure his battle
for the country's convicted criminals
will go down in history too.
The whole thing for me was to get out of prison firstly
and also change the system.
You know, they were my goals.
You know, I've got the first one - I've got out of prison
the second one is to change the system.
You know, not just for the benefit of prisoners but everyone should benefit
and that's got to be a good ideal I think.