Inmates vote for own council
While MPs were debating in the Commons the rights and wrongs of al- lowing prisoners to vote in
Parliamentary elections, inmates at Maidstone Prison were using their
democratic rights at a more local level. Peter Erlam reports.
THE Diversity and Equality Party had just won the first ever election of its type at Maidstone Prison… "The tide has turned," de- clared Mark Johnson, cam- paigner and founder of ex-offender charity User Voice, as he congratulated the win- ning candidate. He said that the democrati-
cally elected Prison Council, which will meet monthly, sig- nified a culture change. If a similar exercise in prisoner in- clusion were repeated across the country it would result in a marked reduction in re-offend- ing,Mr Johnson told the Downs Mail. For severalweeks, candidates
and supporters of four different parties had campaigned hard and leafleted their fellow in- mates. On polling day, there was a 63% turnout at the ballot
rately reflect the views from across the prison community. The scheme has already been
An inmate casts his vote.
box, overseen by registration of- ficers from Maidstone Council. Prison staff and external service providers also voted. Before MBC chief executive Alison Broom announced the result, the governor Andy Hud- son said he believed "proper engagement with and between staff and prisoners is the key to a successful prison". In the past, inmates had been consulted on issues but their place on the Prison Council had been largely based on their popularity on each wing. Now, said Mr Hudson, these new councils would more accu-
a success on the Isle of Wight, where prison councils were set up at Albany, Parkhurst and Camp Hill in 2009. The councils are made up of elected prisoners who voice the views of fellow inmates to man- agement, in order to strengthen relations and improve the serv- ices provided by the prison. Maidstone's community en- gagement manager Martin Dacey said: "Isle ofWight had a huge impact, with reduced complaints coming in to staff and fewer discipline problems." Proportional representation
means each of the four parties has seats on Maidstone’s newly formed Prison Council. The result, with the number
of seats in brackets: Diversity and Equality 184 votes (nine); Resettlement 147 (seven); Com- munity and Environment 52 (two); and Training and Educa- tion 49 (two).
No car insurance DUNCAN Andrew MacDonald (48) of Chantry Road, Marden, was fined £410 and billed £100 costs for driving a 52-reg Land Rover Freelander without the correct insurance. His licence was endorsed with six points.
Hospital wants
more parking MAIDSTONE Hospital is work- ing with the borough council to increase the overall number of parking spaces available on its hospital grounds. The exact number of addi-
tional parking spaces the hos- pital is allowed to create will be determined by the council’s planning department in due course. Derek Shaw, the trust’s direc-
tor of estates and facilities, said: “Maidstone Hospital has grown substantially in the last few years following multi-million pound developments and ad- vances in local NHS care. “It is a hub for complex can-
cer care for patients throughout Kent and East Sussex and will soon become a centre of expert- ise for complex surgery for half a million people inWest Kent. “It has outgrown its original
car parking needs and we are working closely with planning officials at Maidstone council to create more spaces as soon as possible.” The hospital currently has
1,337 car parking spaces for vis- itors, patients and staff. The trust’s initial planning as- sumptions suggest a need for between 140 to 300 extra park- ing bays.
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