Maynooth University Department of Law

Webinar: 'Covid-19 and the Pains of Imprisonment: Should Sentencing Decisions Take Account of the Deterioration in Prison Conditions?'

Severe regime restrictions introduced to stem the threat posed by Covid-19 have had a hugely adverse effect on the lives of England and Wales’ 80,000 prisoners. Since late March, visits have been cancelled, inmates are confined to their cells for 23 hours a day and vocational, educational and spiritual provision has been curtailed. Prisoners and their families live with the constant fear of the virus taking hold. The latest figures show that 24 prisoners and nine staff have died from Covid-19. At least 16 prisoners have taken their lives since the regime changed. I will start this presentation by arguing that these regime restrictions have increased what Gresham Sykes referred to as the ‘pains of imprisonment’. Imprisonment has rapidly become more punitive.