“We Are All Convicted Criminals”? Prisoners, Protest and Penal Politics in the Republic of Ireland

Abstract

This article examines protests by "ordinary" prisoners in the Republic of Ireland, which began in the 1970s. Little historical research exists about organizations that represented "ordinary" prisoners, such as the Prisoners Union, with most academic and popular attention focused on "political" prisoners. Yet "ordinary" prisoners demonstrated they too had the capacity to organize. While protests took similar forms, the state adopted a markedly different approach when dealing with the two groups of prisoners. Despite appalling prison conditions, governments rejected the Prisoners Union claims to represent "ordinary" prisoners and resisted their demands for penal reform. In contrast, after more prolonged protests, and despite assertions that the paramilitary organizations to which "political" prisoners belonged to outside posed an existential threat to the state, the government neutralized their protests by accepting their representation, improving their conditions and effectively recognizing them as a special category of prisoner.

Pastoral penality in 1970s Ireland: Addressing the pains of imprisonment

“…While pastoral approaches are certainly appealing in their parsimony and humane thinking, there are limitations that must be acknowledged. While it was the dominant ideational framework during the 1970s, like penal welfarism, pastoral penality was never wholly dominant in all prison practices (Behan, 2018; Goodman et al, 2017: 72). Pastoralism was also gendered (Hannah-Moffat, 1997).…”

“… 6. Which, of course, were very much still part of the Irish prison system (see Behan, 2018). But these changing perceptions inside the Division help us appreciate the changes occurring in how the Irish prison system was organized. …”

Against Hibernian Exceptionalism

“…This pragmatism resulted in the contemporary Irish penal system being subject to a litany of disregard. The 1947 prison rules were not updated until the 2000s (O'Donnell, 2005), prison conditions were poor (Behan, 2018) and there was very little legislative, policy and practice change across the period (Griffin, 2018;Healy & O'Donnell, 2005). Whatever progress there was occurred at a 'slower rate of development' (Kilcommins et al, 2004, p. 200;Rogan, 2011b) than in comparable nations.…”

“…Whatever progress there was occurred at a 'slower rate of development' (Kilcommins et al, 2004, p. 200;Rogan, 2011b) than in comparable nations. Ultimately, these absences meant that the 1970s-1980s was a period of 'neglect', 'stagnation', 'inertia' and 'calcification' (Behan, 2018;O'Donnell, 2008;Griffin, 2018;Kilcommins et al, 2004).…”

No longer a ‘collateral consequence’: Imprisonment and the reframing of citizenship

“…During the social and political activism of the 1960s and 1970s, prisoners throughout the USA and Europe found their voice. As they began to protest collectively, they established a range of representative organizations and prisoner unions (Behan, 2018; Fitzgerald, 1977; Huff, 1974; Lichtenstein, 2011; Rusche and Yaley, 1980; Singleton, 1973; Woolpert, 1978). When these representative organizations were either outlawed or snubbed by the penal authorities, and the conditions of confinement deteriorated to an unacceptable standard, riots ensued as expressions of autonomy.…”