This book explores how Irish prison policy has come to take on its particular character, with comparatively low prison numbers, significant reliance on short sentences and a policy-making climate in which long periods of neglect are interspersed with bursts of political activity all prominent features. Drawing on the emerging scholarship of policy analysis, the book argues that it is only through close attention to the way in which policy is formed that we will fully understand the nature of prison policy.

This book examines the forms and practices of Irish confinement from the 19th century to present-day to explore the social and political failings of 20th and 21st century postcolonial Ireland. Building on an interdisciplinary conference held in the Crumlin Road Gaol, Belfast, the methodological approaches adopted across this book range from the historical and archival to the sociological, political, and literary. This edited collection touches on topics such as industrial schools, Magdalen laundries, struggles and resistance in prisons both North and South, Direct Provision, and the ways in which prison experiences have been represented in literature, cinema, and the arts. It sketches out an uncomfortable picture of the techniques for policing bodies deployed in Ireland for over a century. This innovative study seeks to establish a link between Ireland’s inhumane treatment of women and children, of prisoners, and of asylum seekers today, and to expose and pinpoint modes of resistance to these situations.

Focusing on women's relationships, life-circumstances and agency, Elaine Farrell reveals the voices, emotions and decisions of incarcerated women and those affected by their imprisonment, offering an intimate insight into their experiences of the criminal justice system across urban and rural post-Famine Ireland.

Prison litigation is becoming increasingly common in Ireland. Prison numbers are at an all-time high and conditions in many Irish prisons have been criticised by international and domestic human rights bodies, such as the Irish Penal Reform Trust and the Inspector of Prisons who have voiced concern about the lack of accountability for decisions taken by prison administrators on issues such as discipline, transfers and release. The rights of prisoners are a key focus of the book. These rights are examined in relation to prison conditions, contact with the outside world, discipline, remission, transfer and release. Prison Law analyses practical issues that prison law practitioners are likely to come up against, such as causes of action, evidential difficulties and time limits. Written from both a domestic and international perspective, the book sets out the position in Irish prisons of particular groups including women, children, foreign prisoners and those from an ethnic minority background and identifies areas in which the treatment of prisoners gives rise to concerns under the Constitution or the European Convention on Human Rights. The most up to date book in this legal area, Prison Law also includes an appendix setting out the fully consolidated Prison Rules 2007-2013.