The lived experiences of Irish prisoners in England and Wales in the context of their mental health

This thesis is a qualitative study into the lived experiences of Irish prisoners in England and Wales in the context of their mental health. It is the first such study to examine the mental health of Irish prisoners in this jurisdiction and it is hoped that it may pave the way for future research to be conducted in this area. This study utilises an indicative approach and can be considered as a postmodernist examination of mental health in the prison setting. In order to examine this topic a series of semi-structured interviews were conducted with 37 Irish ex-prisoners who had served a sentence in England and Wales. Thematic analysis of data was undertaken. Theoretical and data led themes include: identifying mental health needs, the availability of healthcare services, depression, isolation and paranoia in prison, self-harm and suicide in prison, addiction, education, family contact, accommodation and being Irish in prison. This research addresses a gap in the prison literature by providing a sociological and criminological assessment of Irish prisonersm as well as investigating aspects of mental ill-health amongst this group of prisoners in England and Wales. previous research has identified foreign nationals as a vulnerable group within the prison system and there has been an increasing amount of research undertaken on the subject of foreign national prisoners in recent years. However, there has been very little research undertaken on the various sub-categories of foreign national prisoners and this includes Irish prisoners. This thesis considers the position of foreign national prisoners, Irish prisoners, and Irish Travellers in prison in England and Wales. It demonstrates that Irish prisoners in England and Wales appear to share a similar mental health experience to that of the general prisoner population. It also demonstrates that Irish Travellers suffer a wide range of difficulties in prison on a daily basis, including racism and discrimination, mental health problems and difficulties relating to poor levels of literacy.