Part I Parliamentary and Local Government Franchise and its Exercise
Parliamentary and local government franchise
3 Disfranchisement of offenders in prison etc.
(1)
A convicted person during the time that he is detained in a penal institution in pursuance of his sentence F1or unlawfully at large when he would otherwise be so detained is legally incapable of voting at any parliamentary or local government electionF2, unless subsection (1A) applies to that person.
F3(1A)
A convicted person is not legally incapable of voting at a local government election in Scotland by virtue of subsection (1) during the time that the person is detained in a penal institution in pursuance of a sentence imposed for a term not exceeding 12 months.
(1B)
In calculating the term of a sentence of a convicted person for the purpose of subsection (1A), terms that are consecutive or concurrent to any extent are to be treated as a single term if the sentences were imposed on that person—
(a)
on the same occasion, or
(b)
on different occasions but the convicted person was not released (other than on temporary release) at any time during the period beginning with the first occasion and ending with the last.
(2)
For this purpose—
(a)
“convicted person” means any person found guilty of an offence (whether under the law of the United Kingdom or not), including a person found guilty by a F4court of a service offence within the meaning of the Armed Forces Act 2006, but not including a person dealt with by committal or other summary process for contempt of court; and
(b)
“penal institution” means an institution to which the M1Prison Act 1952, the M2Prisons (Scotland) Act 1952 or the M3Prison Act (Northern Ireland) 1953 applies; and
(c)
a person detained for default in complying with his sentence shall not be treated as detained in pursuance of the sentence, whether or not the sentence provided for detention in the event of default, but a person detained by virtue of a conditional pardon in respect of an offence shall be treated as detained in pursuance of his sentence for the offence.
(3)
It is immaterial for the purposes of this section whether a conviction or sentence was before or after the passing of this Act.