Sarah Harte: We need political courage and social confidence to change our penal philosophy

A female prisoner works in a Finnish prison; the prison system in Finland is much more open than in Ireland. Picture: Antti Aimo-Koivisto/AFP

Upon visiting American prisons, philosopher Alexis De Tocqueville and prison reformer Gustave de Baumont wrote in 1832, “guard against extremes and do not let the zeal with which you advocate certain means obscure the object sought to be obtained by them.”

Mick Clifford wrote in this paper last Saturday that most “ don’t care about what goes on in Irish prisons”, and that this “apathy is reflected in official circles”. He writes that the “body politic knows that there are no votes in prisons”.