The right to receive information and the right to communicate: Keys to the Romanian translation and interpreting policy in prisons

Abstract

This article analyzes Romanian prison legislation to describe the normative element of its translation and interpreting (T&I) policy regarding prisoners who do not speak Romanian. A modified version of Martínez-Gómez’s model for the classification of prison systems according to the maturity of their language policies (2018) is applied. In Martínez-Gómez’s model, T&I provisions are foregrounded as instruments to safeguard language-based rights. My study adds a distinction to determine whether the legislation establishes the same rights for foreign prisoners in informational situations, where prisoners receive information, and in communicative situations, where they are able to express themselves and be heard. Furthermore, we add a comparison with relevant international instruments to determine how many of the discursive situations recognized in those instruments have been included in the Romanian legislation. The results show that the Romanian prison system provides for few specific T&I measures as part of the linguistic rights of prisoners who do not speak Romanian. Moreover, an intermediate level of transposition is observed considering the situations related to life in prison established in international instruments. The study reveals imbalances between the measures adopted for the enjoyment of the rights to communication and information and opens the debate on the extent to which the legislation silences prisoners who do not speak Romanian.