Oversight in Irish Prisons: Prisoner Perspectives on Oversight of Irish Prisons – Briefing Papers Shared with Prisoners in Ireland.

The PRILA project’s Sophie van der Valk, carried out research across three Irish prisons between October 2018 and February 2019. The objective of the research was to understand how people who live in prison experience oversight by bodies such as the Inspector of Prisons, Visiting Committees and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture. Sophie also explored prisoners’ views of the complaint system and access to the courts. This is the first comprehensive empirical study of prisoner perceptions of oversight bodies in Ireland. Findings reveal that prisoners are often not aware of the existence or of the roles of the various oversight bodies. Some prisoners were sceptical about what these bodies could achieve and expressed that building trust was essential to help alleviate concern about engaging with these bodies. However, prisoners do value access to inspectors and complaint processes, as external engagement with prisons is perceived to help ensure that prisoners are not forgotten about.

In an effort to share the findings with prisoners, the briefing paper entitled ‘Prisoners tell how they experience inspections and the complaints system’ was shared with the prisons where the research was conducted last week. This paper was reviewed by and received the National Adult Literacy Agency’s Plain English mark which ensures the paper can be understood by a wider audience. This is particularly important because the findings were originally intended to be shared in the prisons by way of workshops, which could not take place due to the situation with COVID-19.

Download the Briefing Paper.

If you would like to get in touch please email vandervs@tcd.ie.