Round-up: Know Your Rights: Information, Advocacy and Remedies event

22nd August 2024

Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) held our fully subscribed Know Your Rights: Information, Advocacy and Remedies conference on 22 August 2024 in The Richmond Education and Event Centre, Dublin 7.

• The full conference report is available here and available for download below.
• The recordings of the event are available on our IPRT's YouTube channel.

The conference brought together a wide variety of service providers, information and advice givers, people with direct experience of the prison system, family members of people with direct experience, and relevant organisations from across the academic, civil society and statutory sectors.

Across three panel discussions, we explored the current challenges that people in prison face in understanding what their rights are, what remedies are available to them, and how to empower them to assert their rights through self or peer advocacy.  We explored the vindication of rights, particularly for minority groups, and how state institutions can take a more active role in providing rights-based information in an accessible and meaningful way. 

James Leonard provided expert moderation, shared timely insights, and explored themes with panel members. James has appeared on the Tommy Tiernan show speaking about his first-hand experience with addiction and the criminal justice system and has since spoken on the Late Late Show, Prime Time and many other TV and radio shows. He is an award-winning podcaster and full-time PhD student at the Dept. of Sociology & Criminology in University College Cork.

The event was made up of three distinct panels. The first panel focused on Identifying and Accessing Rights and Information, with presentations from:

• Gemma Culleton, Prisons Information Officer, South Leinster Citizens Information Service
• Christopher Bowes, Legal Officer, Free Legal Advice Centres (FLAC) 
• Dr Amina Adanan, Lecturer/ Assistant Professor, Maynooth University School of Law and Criminology
• Paula Kearney, BRIO Coordinator, SAOL Project
• Darina Ryan-Pilkington, Risk and Compliance Manager, Irish Prison Service

Our second panel then discussed Remedies and Making Complaints, with considered reflections from:

• Dr Ciara O’Connell, Senior Inspector, Office of the Inspector of Prisons
• Jacqui Durkin, Interim Ombudsman, Prisoner Ombudsman or Northern Ireland
• Damien Hernon, Director, Oberstown Children Detention Campus
• Susan McKay, Press Ombudsman, Office of the Press Ombudsman
• Áine Bhreathnach, Senior Solicitor, Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC)

Our final panel explored Advocacy in Prison, welcoming insights from:

• James Leonard, Expert by Experience and award-winning podcaster
• Warren Graham, Advocate with lived experience based in Loughan House
• Miriam Healy, Chaplain, Wheatfield Prison
• AnnMarie Sweeney, Traveller Outreach Worker
• William Lawrence, Mental Health Worker, Exchange House Ireland

The full conference report is available here and available for download below.

The recordings of the event are available on our IPRT's YouTube channel.