Access to Justice in Prison is not a Crime, is it?

Abstract

This paper explores the extent to which prisoners who claim their rights in cases of conflict within the prison setting are subject to criminalisation or sanctioning. It examines the significance of effective legal protection in the prison system from a legal and sociological perspective before presenting empirical findings. These stem from an international research project titled “Prisons: The Rule of Law, Accountability and Rights (PRILA)” as well as experiences from several years of project work in the Berlin prison system (“Recht verständlich”, “Uni im Vollzug”). Finally, by drawing on perspectives from prison theory, the paper discusses key findings.