Foreign national prisoners, discrimination and race relations in Irish prisons
| Published date | 01 June 2024 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/26338076241232424 |
| Author | David M Doyle,Joe Garrihy,Maria Cleary,Muiread Murphy |
| Date | 01 June 2024 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Foreign national prisoners,
discrimination and race
relations in Irish prisons
David M Doyle , Joe Garrihy, Maria Cleary,
and Muiread Murphy
School of Law and Criminology, MaynoothUniversity, Maynooth, County
Kildare, Ireland
Abstract
Recent reports have highlighted the discriminatory treatment endured by foreign national
prisoners (FNPs) in particular Irish prisons, but one key voice has been relatively absent
from the discourse to date –the perspectives of the prisoners themselves. This article aims to
complement these “top-down”perspectives with a comprehensive “bottom-up”analysis
rooted in the experiences of 82 FNPs and explore the extent to which they were subject
to racism, discrimination and differential treatment by prison staff and fellow inmates across
eight Irish prisons. The article begins by outlining the methodology of the qualitative study. It
then presents our findings in two parts. The first part focuses on FNPs’personal views of their
relationships with staff in Irish prisons. The second part explores the extent to which these
FNPs interact with Irish prisoners and prisoners from other jurisdictions. The article reveals
that forming relationships with staff and fellow inmates is challenging for certain FNPs due to
racial prejudice, language barriers and segregation based on nationality.
Keywords
Foreign national prisoners, racism, discrimination, complaints, Ireland, relationships
Date received: 30 June 2023; accepted: 29 January 2024
Introduction
The need for connectedness and a sense of belonging is a fundamental human motivation
across ages, contexts, and cultures (Bronson, 2008; Sentse et al., 2019). Indeed, human
Corresponding author:
David M Doyle, School of Law and Criminology, New House, Maynooth University, Maynooth W23 F2H6, County
Kildare, Ireland.
Email: david.doyle@mu.ie
Article
Journal of Criminology
2024, Vol. 57(2) 143–160
© The Author(s) 2024
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/26338076241232424
journals.sagepub.com/home/anj
contact is so vital that when one is deprived of it for long periods of time, it may cause mental
health problems and lead to difficulty managing even the basics of daily life (Kamoyo et al.,
2015). This is exacerbated for prisoners who experience inter alia what Sykes (1958) labels
a“loss of liberty”. This comprises not only one’s confinement, but also the removal of their
social networks which results in lost emotional relationships, boredom, and loneliness. The cre-
ation and maintenance of interpersonal relationships is thus a vital part of life in prison
(Liebling, 2011) and this is particularly the case for foreign national prisoners (FNPs) who
are frequently imprisoned in a different country to where their family and support networks
reside. In this context, staff–prisoner relationships (Beijersbergen et al., 2015, 2016;
Liebling & Arnold, 2004) and inmate–peer relationships (Hart, 1995; van Ginneken, 2019)
assume particular importance, but recent litigation (DEC-E2017-045),
1
newspaper articles
(Deegan, 2022; Gallagher, 2021) and reports of the inspector of prisons (Office of the
Inspector of Prisons [OIPs], 2021a, 2021b, 2021c) have alluded, en passant, to the fact that
such relationships are undermined in specific Irish prisons by experiences of racism and dis-
crimination. The “top-down”perspectives of the OIPs, the Workplace Relations
Commission
2
and the national press have offered brief and preliminary insights in to the dis-
criminatory treatment endured by FNPs in particular Irish prisons, but one key voice has been
relatively absent from the limited discourse to date –the perspectives of the prisoners them-
selves. This article aims to complement these top-down perspectives with a comprehensive
“bottom-up”analysis rooted in the experiences of 82 FNPs and explore the extent to which
they were subject to racism, discrimination and differential treatment by prison staff and
fellow inmates across eight Irish prisons. The article begins by outlining the methodology of
the qualitative study. It then presents our findings in two parts. The first part focuses on
FNPs’personal views of their relationships with staff in Irish prisons. The second part explores
the extent to which these FNPs interact with Irish prisoners and prisoners from other jurisdic-
tions. The article reveals that forming relationships with staff and fellow inmates is challenging
for certain FNPs due to racial prejudice, language barriers and segregation based on nationality.
Methodology
Our analysis draws on semi-structured interviews conducted with 82 FNPs –69 male and 13
female –in eight Irish prisons from late 2021 until the summer of 2022. These interviewees
were recruited by teachers in the respective institutions and the interviews were facilitated
by the Irish Prison Service (IPS). Information sessions were held with all teachers in
advance of recruitment to outline the aims and scope of the research. These sessions also
afforded the research team the opportunity to explain the ethical and methodological implica-
tions of the study, and address any potential issues that might arise in the recruitment phase.
Establishing and maintaining an objective yet empathetic position was essential throughout
the data collection process. As gatekeepers, IPS required reassurance that our agenda was not
sensationalist or malicious, while teachers were specifically chosen to recruit participants due
to the trust that they hold among the prisoner population. In other words, teachers provided
reassurance to potential interviewees that the authors were genuinely supportive of ameliorat-
ing the conditions endured by FNPs in Irish prisons, while in the absence of direct recruitment,
the support of teaching staff across the prison estate was crucial in laying the foundations for
engaged interviews. Finally, the research information sheet (translated into high-frequency
144 Journal of Criminology 57(2)
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