This chapter examines prisoner enfranchisement in the Republic of Ireland. As with many other jurisdictions, the issue was historically, socially and politically charged, with the debates and outcome reflecting local characteristics. The chapter begins with an outline of prisoners’ involvement in politics pre-independence, and later in that part of Ireland that achieved independence. Although prisoners were not allowed to vote for much of Irish history, this did not prevent them from engaging with, and at times, challenging the political system, especially during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Yet, despite using their prison experience for political advancement, on release, few political leaders became vocal advocates of penal reform in general, or prisoner enfranchisement in particular. This chapter considers why there was relatively little change in the prison system with almost no penal reform and no desire for enfranchisement from many of those who had experience of imprisonment. The final section examines the low-key introduction of legislation to allow prisoners to vote.

This chapter investigates how reserved workers bodies were affected by the pressures of war and prevailing work-health cultures in wartime. Occupational medicine, welfare and rehabilitation expanded during hostilities. Concurrently, the pressures of war production led directly to a rise in occupational injuries, disabilities and disease. In this context, there were threats to embodied masculinity as well as opportunities to rebuild it. Reserved men’s bodies were subject to an unprecedented level of control in the workplace as well as medical surveillance which posed a threat to male identities constructed around notions of independence, discretion, skill and autonomy in the labour process. At the same time, however, full employment and the pace of work enabled labouring bodies to be reconstructed after the ravages of the Depression. Moreover, an alternative site of masculinity could be drawn upon in narratives about the heightened hazards and exhausting nature of wartime work regimes and air raids. The exposure of bodies to increased risks in wartime enabled reserved men to rebuild their sense of manliness and enact patriotic masculinity.

This chapter examines the level of active citizenship in prison based on the interviews with 50 prisoners. Recognising that citizenship encompasses more than just rights and responsibilities but is intertwined with participation, it considers their activities prior to imprisonment, the opportunities for participative citizenship behind bars and outlines some reasons for involvement in what are characterised as citizenship activities inside. The chapter concludes by reviewing the impact of an institution that limits agency, freedom of choice and movement, and restricts individuals’ involvement in civic society. While engaging in activities traditionally associated with freedom is problematic in prisons, different institutions provide opportunities for various levels of purposeful activity, programme participation and civic engagement. What impact, if any, does prison have on civic engagement and activities associated with citizenship among those who are sent there?

The two portraits including the trial mutates and satisfying needs portrays Active-Back Sooner as "it" starts to disintegrate. They show how upon arrival in one of the municipal units charged with the implementation of the trial, the original project design is undermined and recreated by the multiple local concerns to which it must adapt or defer. The text documents how contradictory decisions were being made from minute to minute, all generated by attempts to make the interventions sensible and purposeful. It concludes that when implementation fails, it does so because implementation is in fact a planning phase in its own right and one characterized by a high degree of instability. Weeks before the official start of Active-Back Sooner, during the regional launching seminar on 17 December, 2008, it had become clear that most of the participating municipalities had no "active offers" ready.

The 2007 general election was the first opportunity for Irish prisoners to cast their ballots. This chapter examines their voting behaviour and political engagement. The first part sets out the research process, briefly sketches some key characteristics of the Irish penal landscape, and gives a description of the three institutions where prisoners were surveyed. Using data collected in these institutions, the second part outlines the results of the first survey of its kind among prisoners. It examines voting behaviour, party preference, political involvement and wider issues around levels of trust in political institutions and concludes with an analysis of who votes in prison. The final section examines the level of voting among prisoners in subsequent polls, to try to determine preliminary trends.

This chapter focuses on Flora Annie Steel's fictional representations of gendered problems in both rural as well as small-town Punjab. It discusses her representations of the devaluation of women among the agricultural community and examines her representations of girls' schooling in small-town Punjab, including the role played by European female evangelicals. Through these, the chapter explores the ambivalences in Steel's perspective on social reform. As an education officer, Steel felt that the provincial Punjab government needed to systematise female education, control expenditure and increase enrolment. Female education formed an important plank of colonial gender reform in Punjab in the nineteenth century. By focusing upon her critique of missionaries and their methods, the chapter draw outs the complexities within the 'civilising mission'. The chapter reveals how far from being a unified enterprise, it was undercut by internal tensions, divisions and contradictions within the white community in India.