The Canada Elections Act also bars prisoners from standing for election (although they may vote).

Military officials said one focus of an investigation into the suicides would be the need for procedural changes, like barring prisoners from doing laundry in their cells.

In 1976 Mr. Dukakis refused to sign legislation that would have barred such prisoners from receiving furloughs and would have required a number of other restrictions.

The new charges were filed at a crucial time in a debate in Florida over a law from 2001 that will soon bar prisoners from seeking DNA testing for old cases.

In recent years, Congress has considered amending the law in ways that would accomplish many of Chief Justice Rehnquist's goals, including limiting prisoners to a single habeas corpus petition and barring prisoners from raising certain issues in Federal court that they have already presented to the state courts.

Iowa, which also bars former prisoners from voting for life, took a similar step forward last week when Gov. Tom Vilsack announced his intention to sign an executive order that would restore voting rights to felons after they complete their sentence.

Speedy legislation barred prisoners serving 12 months or longer from standing for Parliament, and so in the new by-election Sands' agent Owen Carron stood as a "Proxy Political Prisoner".

He upheld prison officials' argument that a 1984 rule change that barred prisoners from returning from work details to attend the one-hour service, which begins at noon on Fridays, was necessary because opening prison gates at that time of day created serious security problems.