International Prison Workshop 2024
On 12th January 2024, the Centre organised a closed workshop to create space for discussion of current issues within the Irish prison system and engagement with international research and critical ideas. The modest ambition for the workshop was to introduce new or previously-forgotten ideas which may help to ‘disrupt’ the current expansionist trajectory of prison policy in Ireland.
The workshop was held in Dublin City University, hosted by the School of Theology, Philosophy, and Music, and generously funded by the St. Stephen’s Green Trust. It brought together fifty attendees, drawn from academia, civil service, prison staff, political staff, oversight bodies, NGOs, chaplains, and judicial staff.
Structured around three paper presentations, the workshop schedule placed emphasis on discussion with an accompanying time for Q&A after each paper, and an extended panel discussion to draw together overarching themes. Our contributors for the day were:
- Dr Shona Minson, University of Oxford;
- Dr Anna Schliehe, University of Bonn/University of Trier;
- Dr David Gordon Scott, Open University.
The discussions were not recorded so attendees could speak freely and with candour. However, a workshop report was compiled to capture the questions and observations from attendees, coupled with the responses from the workshop contributors.
Workshop Materials
Video Recordings
Shona Minson – The Disruption of Women’s Imprisonment: Prison Sentences, Negative Consequences and Non-Carceral Alternatives
Anna Schliehe – Female Imprisonment and “Trauma-Informed” Prisons
David Gordon Scott – Sowing the Seeds for Change: Dissenting Voices, Subversive Knowledges and an Abolitionist Imagination for Our Time
Slideshow Presentations
Workshop Report
[click to download]
Audio Recordings
Papers
All papers will be available in the Summer 2024 issue of Studies with the theme of ‘Punishment and Society.’
Selected Further Readings
