New ECOH interview: Ian O'Donnell
editor
ESC
07-21-2025
Ian O'Donnell is a Professor of Criminology at University College Dublin (UCD), where he was the Director of the Institute of Criminology. He is a member of several national and international academic societies, including the Royal Irish Academy and the Academia Europaea.
Having been a Council of Europe expert and a member of numerous government committees and advisory groups, Ian O’Donnell is currently the co-editor of the journal Incarceration: An International Journal of Imprisonment, Detention and Coercive Confinement. His recent book ‘Prison Life: Pain, Resistance, and Purpose’ has won awards given by the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences International Section and the American Society of Criminology’s Division of International Criminology.
Ian O’Donnell is interviewed for the ESC European Criminology Oral History (ECOH) by UCD’s Deirdre Healy. In this ECOH interview, O’Donnell revisits his main research achievements, including his studies on solitary confinement and the penal and non-penal forms of coercive confinement. He examines the emergence of Irish criminology by the turn of the twenty-first century, its development and current state, which has led Irish scholars to be increasingly involved in cross-national academic networks. He ponders as well the specific traits of this academic field in a small country such as Ireland, among them the impact of the (colonial) past and the strong connections with Northern Ireland, and more generally, UK academic circles. In addition, O’Donnell reflects on the experience of Irish criminologists in partnering with policymakers, practitioners and other crime and justice stakeholders.