‘Robert Suvaal: An Appreciation’ by Sonia Kurten-
Vartio (Finland) and Kevin Warner (Ireland) first appeared in the Irish Prison Education Association’s (IPEA) Winter Update in January 2021.
Resisting the New Punitiveness
‘Resisting the New Punitiveness’ is a chapter from Global Perspectives on People, Process, and Practice in Criminal Justice, a book published in 2021 in the USA by IGI Global (Advances in Criminology Series) and edited by Liam Leonard.
This chapter builds on PhD research into the penal policies of Nordic countries and in particular Denmark, Finland, and Norway. Essentially, the investigation asked whether the increase in punitiveness in relation to prison systems that is presumed to occur under the ‘culture of control’ of late modernity can be found in these countries. The scale of imprisonment, the ‘depth’ of imprisonment, and the perception of the person imprisoned were all examined. The prison systems were investigated through analysis of documentation and recorded interviews with key personnel, supplemented by visits to a representative range of prisons. While there have at times been some signs of ‘new punitiveness’, especially in Denmark and Norway, in general it can be said that none of the Nordic countries have followed the path predicted by David Garland. Ireland, however, made its penal system more punitive in recent decades, prioritising ‘control’ over ‘care’ and providing support now ‘for the few rather than the many’.
The Emergence of the European Prison Education Association, EPEA, by Torfinn Langelid, Kaj Raundrup, Svenolov Svensson and Kevin Warner
(Halden Prison Publishing House, 2021)
Although conceived in 1989, the EPEA was really an organisation which emerged over several years. This new book charts that development and indeed earlier efforts, from the 1970s in particular, to promote international co-operation around education in prison. The aims of the EPEA have long been to promote opportunities for learning for everyone in prison and to support prison educators through European co-operation.
The book teases out the thinking and values around both penal policy and adult education that helped shape the EPEA, an outlook associated especially with the Council of Europe. It is striking how the human rights based and humane philosophy of the Council of Europe was strongly held by many Director Generals and others in leadership in prison systems in Europe in the 1980s and 1990s, and how crucial these prison leaders were to the formation of the EPEA. The authors show how they as much as educators advocated education as a human right for all, and an opportunity for personal development rather than an instrument for so-called ‘rehabilitation’.
Europe has changed greatly since the inception of the EPEA in 1989 and the EPEA has been carried on the tide of that change. The main EPEA conferences every two years have been noted for their atmospheres of learning, mutual support and encouragement, especially for those ‘working on the ground’ in many kinds of penal institutions. These major events brought people together from across a continent where many barriers had been removed – east and west, north and south – with many also from other parts of the world. As the story of Europe continues to evolve, the need for the EPEA and its capacity to bring people together from all corners, while adhering to the best of European values, is as strong as ever.
Should We Judge Education by Recidivism Rates?
‘Should We Judge Education by Recidivism Rates’ is an edited version of a short panel presentation given at a Correctional Education Association (CEA) regional conference in Vancouver in autumn 1999. The paper was published in the CEA News and Notes in April 2000.
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Every possible learning opportunity
‘Every Possible Learning Opportunity…’ was published in Advancing Corrections Journal, Edition number 6, in 2018. This is a publication of the International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA).
‘Adult education’ thinking envisages ‘the full development of the human personality’, offers many learning opportunities, and recognises learners’ individualities and capacities to transform their lives. This philosophy and practice is as valid within prisons as in the community outside, a view asserted in Council of Europe and United Nations documents. Research from many countries into what learners in prison value most from their study supports this perspective, but punitive penal policies limit the possibilities adult education offers. Policy implications include recognising education in prison as a right rather than a privilege, and ensuring a wide curriculum is offered to all.
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Articles by Others
- CORMAC BEHAN – Prison Education, Rehabilitation and the Potential for Transformation. Full Article
- Stephen Duguid – Cognitive Dissidents Bite the Dust—The Demise of University Education in Canada’s Prisons – Full Article
- KAIA STERN – PRISON EDUCATION AND OUR WILL TO PUNISH –Full Article
- Kathy Boudin – Harvard Educational Review – Full Article
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Maggie Deignan – Portraiture and Social Context – A Case Study – Full Article
- UN – PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, CIVIL, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS, INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT – Full Article
-
Learning the Basics of How to Live’: Ex-prisoners’ Accounts of Doing Desistance – Vicky Seaman and Orla Lynch – Full Article
- Sean Wynne – When the twain do meet – VOL 52 issue 1 – Full Article
- Pam Lorenz – VOL 53 issue 2 article – Full Article
- Mary Kett -Literacy Work Vol. 52 issue 2 article – Full Article
LOCKED UP POTENTIAL
The McCarthy report on public services failed to see that jailing fewer people and more use of open prisons would save millions and bring better results for prisoners and society, writes Kevin Warner.
This article appeared in the Irish Examiner on 03/08/2010.
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Negative, miserly, punitive
The proposed changes to gratuity payments to prisoners is contrary to Council of Europe’s rules and lets down those who want to avail of educational, training or counselling services, writes Kevin Warner
This article appeared in The Irish Examiner on 31 July 2012
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PRISONERS OF IGNORANCE
It’s 25 years since the Whitaker Report on our prison system was published. We are still grappling with the issues it dealt with because we did not take its advice, writes Kevin Warner
This article appeared in the Irish Examiner on 07/09/2010
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What’s the Difference between Ireland and Iceland? One Letter and a Decent Prison System …*
This paper identifies aspects of the prison system in Iceland that offer
positive models for Ireland. Although Iceland experienced a similar financial crash to Ireland, Iceland’s penal policies remain very much in tune with Nordic approaches, which have largely resisted the punitive impulses evident in English-speaking countries.
Comparisons between the prison systems of Ireland and Iceland reveal a much lower rate of incarceration, and more socially inclusive attitudes, in the latter. The paper examines, in particular, prison regimes in each country; on most criteria, conditions and the manner of treating people in prison in Iceland are seen to be significantly better than in Ireland. The thinking behind the different policies and practices is explored: concepts such as ‘dynamic security’, ‘balancing care and custody’ and ‘normalisation’ have much greater currency in the prison system of Iceland than in that of Ireland.
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