Prisoner rights: Time for a rethink?

The concept of prisoner rights was contested during a Socio-Legal Studies Association (SLSA) seminar organised by academics from Cardiff and Liverpool.

Cardiff University’s Wales Governance Centre and the University of Liverpool’s School of Law and Social Justice co-hosted the seminar on July 26th in Liverpool. Dr Robert Jones and Wales Governance Centre alumnus Dr Greg Davies, who have recently published academic research on prisoner rights, led the event which featured academics from across the UK.

The seminar saw the presentation of a range of papers which offered a ‘critical appraisal’ of prisoner rights. These rights are supposed to provide a guarantee of humane conditions for prisoners in the face of state power. However, the seminar heard that even when successfully litigated, these rights (including the right to vote) have rarely led to significant change.

As mainstream UK political parties commit themselves to the expansion of prisons and the use of custodial sentences, further research on imprisonment is being undertaken by the Wales Governance Centre to investigate the implications for Wales and its citizens.