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Europe in Irish Prisons: Not Quite the ‘Good European’

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Europe in Prisons

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology ((PSIPP))

Abstract

While historically the incorporation of the ECHR in Ireland has met with some complacency, the influence of European human rights norms and standards has been palpable in some areas of penal policy, namely, prisoner voting and (to a lesser degree) the investigation of prisoner deaths. In this regard, Ireland may be regarded as more willing than its closest neighbour, the UK, to engage in a process of ‘controlled liberalisation’ or tactical concession to forestall potential criticisms. On the other hand, several areas of penal policy such as the law and policy on parole continue to highlight the jurisdiction’s resistance to European human rights norms. This chapter discusses these and other developments from the perspective of a small jurisdiction which, perhaps counterintuitively (given suggestions in the research that smaller jurisdictions may be more likely to adopt criminal justice changes from elsewhere), has not always taken its cue in matters of penal policy from the European model.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Lynch and Whelan v. Ireland, App. No. 70495/10 and 74565/10, 8 July 2014.

  2. 2.

    See, for example, Rogan (2014b: 3): ‘I think we are where the ECtHR was in the 90s in terms of the matters with which we have grappled…’.

  3. 3.

    See Breathnach v. Ireland [2001] 3 Irish Reports [IR] 230; Murray v. Ireland [1991] Irish Law Reports Monthly [ILRM] 465.

  4. 4.

    [2010] IEHC (Irish High Court) 269 (Date of Delivery: 14/07/2010) available at: http://www.bailii.org/.

  5. 5.

    [2011] IEHC (Irish High Court) 235 (Date of Delivery: 12/06/2011) available at: http://www.bailii.org/.

  6. 6.

    [2014] IEHC (Irish High Court) 213 (Date of Delivery: 11/04/2014) available at: http://www.bailii.org/.

  7. 7.

    Rec(2006)2 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the European Prison Rules.

  8. 8.

    Lind v. Russia, App. No. 25664/05, 6 December 2007; Kantyrev v. Russia, App. No. 37213/02, 21 June 2007; Andrey Frolov v. Russia, App. No. 205/02, 29 March 2007; Labzov v. Russia, App. No. 62208/00, 16 June 2005.

  9. 9.

    Napier v. Scottish Ministers, [2005] SC (Session Cases) 229 (Date of Delivery: 10/02/2005) available at: http://www.bailii.org/.

  10. 10.

    Mulligan v. Governor of Mountjoy Prison [2010] IEHC (Irish High Court) 269 (Date of Delivery: 14/07/2010) available at: http://www.bailii.org/.

  11. 11.

    Greens v. Scottish Ministers (2011) CSOH (Scottish Court of Session) 79 (Date of Delivery: 12/05/2011) available at: http://www.bailii.org/.

  12. 12.

    Kafkaris v Cyprus, App. No. 21906/04, 12 February 2008.

  13. 13.

    See, for example, Weeks v. UK, App. No. 9787/82, 2 March 1987.

  14. 14.

    Griffin and O’Donnell (2012) cite the Sentence Implementation Court (Belgium), the Supervision Tribunal (Italy) and the Court for the Execution of Sentences (Germany).

  15. 15.

    Criminal Justice Act 1960 as amended by the Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Act 2003.

  16. 16.

    Rec(2003)22 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on conditional release.

  17. 17.

    In her text on prison law, Rogan (2014c: 128) observes that one prisoner was released in 2012 after serving 13 years, the implication being that this was now an unusual event.

  18. 18.

    Whelan and Lynch v. Minister for Justice and Equality [2010] IESC (Irish Supreme Court) 34 (Date of delivery: 14/05/2010) available at: http://www.bailii.org/.

  19. 19.

    Lynch and Whelan v. Ireland, App. No. 70495/10 and 74565/10, 8 July 2014.

  20. 20.

    See further van Zyl Smit and Snacken (2009), commenting on the opinion of Judge Bratza in Kafkaris v. Cyprus.

  21. 21.

    As indicated in the ECtHR decision in Lynch and Whelan v. Ireland. See further Dail Debates, written answers, 19 February 2015 https://www.kildarestreet.com/wrans/?id=2015-02-19a.76.

  22. 22.

    As noted in the Prisons Act, 2007, ‘it is not a function of the Inspector to investigate or adjudicate on a complaint from an individual prisoner’.

  23. 23.

    Hirst v. United Kingdom, App. 7405/01, 30 March 2004.

  24. 24.

    Electoral Amendment Act 2006.

  25. 25.

    [2001] 3 Irish Reports [IR] 230.

  26. 26.

    Murray v. Ireland [1991] Irish Law Reports Monthly [ILRM] 465.

  27. 27.

    Hirst v. United Kingdom (no. 2), Application No. 74025/01, 6 October 2005.

  28. 28.

    Fine Gael (Lit: Family or Tribe of the Irish) is one of the largest political parties in Ireland. It is liberal-conservative and Christian democratic in orientation. TD stands for Teachta Dala which means member of Dáil Éireann (the Irish Parliament).

  29. 29.

    Dáil Debates, 2006, vol. 624, col.1978.

  30. 30.

    Carmody v Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform [2010] 1 IR [Irish Reports] 635; [2009] Irish Supreme Court [IESC] 71 (date of delivery: 23/10/2009) available at: http://www.bailii.org/ie/cases/IESC/toc-C.html.

  31. 31.

    In Ireland, the Department of Justice and Equality retains control of prison policy while operational matters are dealt with by the Irish Prison Service.

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  1. Maynooth University, Maynooth, Ireland

    Claire Hamilton

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  1. Leuven Institute of Criminology (LINC) KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Tom Daems

  2. National Institute of Forensic Sciences and Criminology (NICC), Brussels, Belgium

    Luc Robert

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Hamilton, C. (2017). Europe in Irish Prisons: Not Quite the ‘Good European’. In: Daems, T., Robert, L. (eds) Europe in Prisons. Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62250-7_8

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