PWG-Disciplining Prisoners: Looking for Pathways to Accessing Justice

Session Submission Type: Pre-arranged Panel

Abstract

This panel presents the findings of a collaborative research project by the Access to Justice Network on disciplinary measures in prisons. It explores this issue in the context of the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, India and Switzerland. Unlike India, European countries have standardised records of disciplinary practices. The key question the panel seeks to answer is how disciplinary mechanisms are designed and implemented in different countries, and what barriers and opportunities prisoners face in defending their rights. More broadly, it examines the impact of these procedures on prisoners' conditions and the balance between maintaining prison security and promoting prisoner rehabilitation. A key aspect of this analysis is procedural justice and how prisoners and other stakeholders perceive the legitimacy of sanctions, which may significantly influence future legal philosophy and penal policies.

Subtopic

• Topic 5: Social Control and Criminal Justice / Imprisonment, Prisons, Prison Life and Effects of Imprisonment (Prisons WG)

Chair

• Christine Graebsch, University of Dortmund

Individual Presentations

• PWG-Access to Justice and Disciplinary Measures in Indian Prisons: A Case Law Analysis - Riolia Mascarenhas, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Dortmund

• PWG-Disciplinary Proceedings in Czech Prisons: Between Security and Reintegration - Petra Zhrivalova, Institute of Criminology and Social Prevention; Tereza Raszková, Institute of Criminology and Social Prevention (IKSP)

• PWG-Justice denied? How disciplinary regimes undermine prisoners’ human rights - David Peregrin Mühlemann, Universität Bern

• PWG-Prisoners’ Access to Justice Against Disciplinary and Security Measures in Germany - Christine Graebsch, University of Dortmund