Poll reveals public opinion on Irish unification Author discusses incarceration

By GABBY BEECHERT new writer editor

a recent poll conducted in both n orthern i reland and the r epublic of i reland revealed information about public opinion regarding the unification of i reland and other related items. The poll was a combined effort of the i rish Times and the joint research organization a nalyzing and r esearching i reland n orth and s outh ( arins ). The organization is a collaboration between the Keoughn aughton i nstitute for i rish s tudies at n otre d ame and the r oyal i rish a cademy in d ublin.

a ccording to director of the Keough- n aughton i nstitute, p atrick g riffin, after the u nited Kingdom left the e uropean u nion, the institute was approached by the r oyal i rish a cademy and asked to help research the ways in which both n orthern i reland and the r epublic of i reland were going to be affected by the development. b rexit created many challenges for not only the b ritish state, but also for the people of i reland and n orthern i reland, g riffin said. For the first time since the g ood Friday a greement, the border has become a live question.

“ b rexit necessitates a border in some way, shape, or form. w ith it, unless you change the status of n orthern i reland within b ritain, you can’t have the free flow of people and the free flow of goods.

The g ood Friday agreement relied on fluid movement between north and south. s ome are concerned that the agreement will be strained,” g riffin said.

“a nd people have been really kind of stretching their brains to try to figure out a way of squaring a circle of ensuring that you could have n orthern i reland be in the e uropean u nion, but not really in the e uropean u nion. c an n orthern i reland be bound to i reland but also bound to b ritain at the same time? That’s the question people are trying to figure out.” b ut voter opinion becomes much more complex when asked certain questions about what

The recent poll asked 1,000 respondents in both n orthern i reland and the r epublic of i reland how they would vote in a referendum based on their current views and related questions. voters in n orthern i reland would have elected to stay in the u nited Kingdom. o f those who answered this question, 50% of pollers said they wanted to stay in the u.K., and 27% of pollers would support i rish unification.

66% of pollers in the r epublic of i reland support i rish unification. This means there is more than twice as much support for i rish unification in i reland compared to that in n orthern i reland.

By PETER BREEN news writer

reuben Jonathan m iller, a mac a rthur “g enius grants” Fellow and university of c hicago sociologist, spoke Friday evening in g eddes hall about carceral citizenship, a condition of rejection borne by those with criminal records. m iller is the first of four guest speakers in the c enter for s ocial c oncerns’ spring lecture series on mass incarceration.

portraying “mass incarceration’s afterlife” and thinking about what the journey home from the u s. prison system entails, m iller began the lecture by calling upon his muse: a merican singer-songwriter and political activist nina simone.

person’s life.

“The sinnerman runs to the rock, to the river, the sea,” m iller said. “The sinnerman runs to the good l ord. The rock says, ‘i won’t hide you.’ The river bleeds. The sea boils. w hen he gets to g od, g od says, ‘go to the devil.’”

Throughout the rest of his time on stage in the a ndrews auditorium, m iller chronicled the lives of three men on their way out the door of the u. s. prison system, reinforcing his arguments about carceral citizenship with statistics concerning criminal justice in the land of the free. To understand how justice is administered in the country, m iller said, it is essential talk to the unprotected. m iller met a man he referred to only as “Jimmy”, who epitomized the sinnerman, on his first day out of prison after serving eight years for grand larceny. Jimmy, who is diagnosed with bipolar disorder, spent his years behind bars without access to treatment. per his conditions of release, see ireland PAGE 4 see booK TalK PAGE 4

For m iller, simone’s version of the spiritual “sinnerman” captures the experience of what it means to be rejected because of one’s position within the “social body.” The song considers how being marked by a criminal record and being called a criminal alters a

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