Some remand prisoners or detained mental health patients may remain registered as ordinary electors if their absence from their home address is limited.
Longer term remand prisoners or detained mental health patients may register through a declaration of local connection, at an address where they would be living, if it were not for their circumstances, or where they used to live before becoming a remand prisoner or mental health patient.1
Some remand prisoners or detained mental health patients will qualify to register at a place of custody or hospital address, if their length of stay is sufficient.2
Prisoners convicted for a sentence of 12 months or less or patients detained in mental health hospitals in relation to criminal conduct who are eligible to vote may remain registered as ordinary electors on the local government register if they are deemed to have uninterrupted residence.3
Otherwise, they may register as local government electors through a declaration of local connection, at an address where they would be living, if it were not for their circumstances, or where they used to live before their detention, or at the penal institution or mental health hospital.4
Our guidance on eligibility to register sets out the options that prisoners and patients in mental health hospitals have for registering.