On December 8, 2008, the Court of First Instance of the High Court of Hong Kong ruled that prison inmates have a constitutional right to vote pursuant to the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Specifically, the court referenced Article 21 of the UDHR, which states that the people's will should be expressed in "periodic and genuine elections which shall be be by universal and equal suffrage." Only 9 states, including the United Kingdom, do not give inmates the right to vote. In the US, individual states decide inmates' right to vote, resulting in varying restrictions.

Learn more about inmates' rights from the JURIST news archive.

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