This section is about the large number of prisoners held in some countries as common law offenders who may be released prior to an election, or who may have been given the right to vote by electoral law. And within this group, some will not be able to obtain voter education, because the conditions of their imprisonment may not allow regular if restricted access to the outside of a prison.
Discussion of some of the complexities of managing such education are discussed in Education In Closed Institutions.
This section takes for granted that education is to be made available and suggests ways in which this could be done.
Methods
Obvious programme elements that transcend the barriers of the prison walls may be radio, assuming prisoners have access to this, or distance education techniques, again assuming that prisoners have access to correspondence, television, or the internet (depending upon the nature of the programme).
More likely are the availability of public address systems, for example internal radio programmes, and the use of internal messaging and communication systems for distributing pamphlets and other printed information. In these cases, care has to be taken to ensure that the message is not undermined by its association with the medium of communication.
Where prisons have a functioning education system, it may be possible to provide instructors - often a combination of outside experts, prison staff, and trusted inmates - with voter educator training, and then to negotiate some opportunity within the standard educational programme. The major danger of such an approach is that the programme will reach not only those who have a chance to vote but also those who may not. And it may reach only those who have entered an educational programme. Where there is no fear of upheaval if voting expectations are raised amongst those who will be excluded from the vote, this strategy may be suitable and it will have the added general value of civic education.
Alternatively, special voter education programmes using trained staff with groups of prisoners selected on the basis of their intention and ability to participate in the election may be conducted. Face-to-face programmes may have the greatest chance of success and be the most suitable in prisons where education and, therefore, the segregation of prisoners and the availability of venues is a matter of standard operating procedure.
There may be no way to make these arrangements, and so it may be necessary to consider surrogate approaches through contact with prison visitors and family members. Even in closed prisons, or prisons with poor conditions, usually there are provisions for visitors. It is possible to set up displays and simple interviews for those waiting to visit. This can ensure that at some time the prisoner is briefed on the election, either during a visit or immediately upon release.
