Just Prisons Requests and Complaints in Prisons in Europe

This edited book explores how requests and complaints by prisoners are being dealt with by prison governors/administrations or independent bodies (such as complaint commissions), in different parts of Europe. It asks who complains and why? How are complaints from prisoners being dealt with, from a legal and empirical point of view? How do procedures work and can they be considered effective? Should administrative procedures be exhausted before appealing to a judge? It explores whether such systems comply with international regulation, such as the European Prison Rules, the UN Mandela Rules or the case-law of the ECtHR. It speaks to academics, NGOs and lawyers with an interest in prison law, human rights bodies and prison monitoring bodies.

Chapter 1. Taking complaints and requests in prisons seriously (Tom Daems and Elena Larrauri).- Chapter 2. The Dutch Complaint Procedure for Prisoners Under Pressure (Sonja Meijer and Megan Jansen).- Chapter 3. Who complains in prison, who doesn’t and why? A view from Germany (Christine Morgenstern and Mary Rogan).- Chapter 4. Irish Prisoner Complaints: the challenges of complaining from within (Sophie Van Der Valk).- Chapter 5. A new complaint system for prisoners in Belgium (Tom Daems).- Chapter 6. The system of prisoners’ complaints in Romania: law vs. Practice (Cristina Dâmboeanu).- Chapter 7. ‘They need to like you to get an answer’: Prisoners’ Perspectives on Requests and Complaints in Spanish Prisons (Elena Larrauri).

Tom Daems is Professor of Criminology at the Leuven Institute of Criminology, KU Leuven, Belgium.

Elena Larrauri is Professor of Criminal Law and Criminology at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain.