The 7th North/South Irish Criminology Conference – IT Sligo, June 21st to 23rd
“Prison regimes in Ireland have degenerated enormously in the past decade,” Kevin Warner of UCD will tell the 7th North/South Irish Criminology Conference at IT Sligo this week.
In an address, “Regimes in Irish Prisons: ‘inhumane’ and ‘degrading’. An analysis and a solution’”, he argues that as the prison population increases “even more punitive thinking” is taking root.
The former coordinator of education in Irish prisons details how amid “excessive security”, prisoners endure “inordinate lock-up times”, degrading and unsanitary toilet arrangements and reduced family contact. “Just procedures, addiction treatment and opportunities to progress through sentences are all woefully inadequate,” he maintains.
Also taking part in the conference are: Prof. Ian O’Donnell, Director of the UCD Institute of Criminology, Sean Aylward, secretary general of the Department of Justice, and CORI Dr Ciaran McCullagh, UCC (author of Crime in Ireland) Dr. Christina Quinlan, Dublin City University (author of Ireland’s Women’s Prisons, Past & Present) and Dr. Jamie Saris, NUI Maynooth ( author of Asylums in Ireland).
International participants include Professor Charl Cilliers, University of South Africa, and Dr Rosemary Gido, Indiana University of Pennsylvania and editor of the US Prison Journal.
Themes will include Media and Crime, Prison Reform and Management, Gender and Imprisonment, Migrants’ rights and Restorative Justice.
The North/South Irish Criminology Conference was established to promote high quality research on crime, criminal justice and the penal system, which contributes to the development of policy and practice and advances criminology as an academic discipline.
The Organisers for the 7th North/South Irish Criminology Conference are Dr. Liam Leonard and Paula Kenny of the School of Humanities, Institute of Technology, Sligo. Both are Lecturers in Criminology, Sociology and Human Rights at IT Sligo.
IT Sligo is the only Higher Education Institution in Ireland to offer a Higher Certificate in Custodial Care, a course which was specifically tailored to the needs of the Prison Service. The course is delivered across a range of centres including the Irish Prison Service Training and Development Centre in Portlaoise, and at various prisons in the Dublin area. It is delivered to new recruit prison officers.
Download the full programme PDF here.
Image Credit: Image by Vince Alongi on Flickr under Creative Commons licence.