Histories of Penal Oversight

Abstract

The oversight of prisons is essential to ensure that what happens within them is in compliance with human rights standards and the rule of law. This oversight can happen through formal mechanisms, such as prison inspection and monitoring bodies, or less formally via civil society organisations, the media, and parliamentary scrutiny. Internationally, formalised systems of oversight have become more common in the last twenty years, notably with the introduction of the United Nations’ Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. However, an historical analysis of the Irish punishment case indicates that oversight has a longer history, with Inspectors of Prisons active during the nineteen century and Visiting Committees being established in law by an independent state in the 1920s. This chapter sets out to understand and uncover the history of prison oversight in Ireland, exploring how external scrutiny of prisons took place at times of particular political upheaval, such as in the aftermath of World War II. It also examines the resistance to oversight evident in the 1970s and 1980s, as a more conservative Department of Justice, concerned about the threat of the Troubles, turned inwards, and sought to block outsiders from examining the prisons within its control. The chapter then traces more contemporary developments, including developing civil society activity, and noting the growing influence of European and international human rights standards in the area of prison monitoring as Ireland became a more outward-looking, Europeanised nation. The chapter places the history of penal oversight in the context of Irish political and social history, but also seeks to have a wider relevance. Understanding the roots, movements towards and resistance against penal oversight has implications for the humane and fair running of prisons around the world.