The work of IPRT is led by a number of standards developed by international bodies, organisations and courts in relation to imprisonment and wider issues of the State’s penal policy. In particular, our work is based on the commitment to implement in Ireland a human rights-based approach to penal policy.
With this in mind, IPRT’s research, policy and awareness-raising campaigns are developed to support and monitor the implementation in the context of penal policy in Ireland of the United Nations and Council of Europe standards.
The IPRT is also committed to the promotion of best practice examples that have proved effective in other jurisdictions. To this end, we aim to provide a comprehensive library of good practices that can be accessed and used by practitioners, academics, prisoners, and anyone else interested in penal reform and penal policy. The Library is updated on a regular basis to take into account most recent developments in this area.
5th December 2024
IPRT welcomes the launch of a new resource called the Prison Life Index (PLI) - a new composite index that evaluates the respect for the fundamental rights of people in prison across the world. The first version of the Prison Life Index covers 12 countries, including Ireland.
7th June 2024
The Council of Europe (CoE) has published 'SPACE I' Annual Penal Statistics on Prison Populations 2023. The report contains a detailed breakdown of penological trends across Europe.
21st March 2024
On 20 and 21 March 2024 RESCALED hosted their European Symposium on Detention Houses in Brussels. IPRT Policy and Research Coordinator and Detention House Ambassador for Ireland, Pamela Drumgoole, attended the event alongside other esteemed Irish company.
18th March 2024
IPRT, alongside eight other Irish organisations, contributed to the Liberties EU Rule Of Law Report 2024. The international report lays out the most striking developments concerning justice, corruption, civic space, media freedom, checks and balances, and systemic human rights issues across 19 states.
31st January 2024
IPRT contributed to the Mapping Solitary Confinement project, which seeks to draw a picture of how, when, why and for how long people can be placed in solitary confinement (also known as 'segregation' 'isolation' and 'secure care', amongst other names) in different countries across the world, and what their daily lives look like. The project, published in January 2024, also aims to identify common patterns and issues as well as good practice, and help inform reform efforts.
30th November 2023
Results from over 100+ studies in the UK show that on average, evidence suggests that custodial sanctions increase reoffending compared to non-custodial sanctions.
21st February 2023
IPRT contributed to the Liberties EU Rule Of Law report 2023. It lays out the most striking developments concerning justice, corruption, civic space, media freedom, checks and balances, and systemic human rights issues across 18 states.
9th February 2023
Following the recent examination of Ireland under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, IPRT responds to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UN CRC) Concluding Observations.
15th August 2022
This IPRT submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child makes 22 recommendations relating to child justice and children with a family member in prison in Ireland.
5th July 2022
Consideration and questioning of Ireland by the UN Human Rights Committee under ICCPR took place on 4-5 July 2020. Here, we summarise the main questioning relating to penal reform.
Respect for rights in the penal system with prison as a last resort.