Prison Education and Penal Reform
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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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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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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Addressing the chronic state of Irish prisons has financial benefits as well as humanitarian and social advantages, writes Kevin Warner
This article appeared in The Irish Examiner 20 April 2011
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Imprisoned by the past: despite claims of “international best practice”, Thornton Hall might be better off learning from Nordic open prisons.
Irish Times, Saturday, 14th May 2011
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OPINION
This article appeared in The Irish Times on 23 October 2014
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This study raises basic questions about reentry programs in the United
States and the discourses of reentry that currently frame policy, research,
and programs. We compare Nordic discourses with those in the United
States and illustrate how the latter curtail a more complex understanding
of the presence of loved ones in the life of an incarcerated father. We
found that U.S. reentry discourses in general are future-oriented and
convey hopelessness about the capacity of loved ones separated by prison
to be positively present—physically and imaginatively—to each other. We
conclude the study with implications for a humanizing curriculum.
Muth et al, Prison Journal, 2016
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National conference on prison education, Solstrand Fjordhotell, Os, Norway, September 2011.
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