Message from the Chair
This is a quick update and summary from this year’s annual International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA) conference, held in Buenos Aires, Argentina from October 27 to November 1, 2019.
The conference was a great success, with well over 400 participants from 80 countries in attendance!
The theme of the conference,
Strengthening our Correctional Cornerstones: Rights, Dignity, Safety and Support
, allowed for a constructive dialogue on the benefits of external prison oversight. There was broad consensus that the above-mentioned cornerstones complimented an evidence-based approach to corrections, and would result in the best correctional outcomes.
All the delegates were invited by the Argentinian Correctional service to visit a selection of federal prisons. I had the pleasure of visiting Complejo Penitenciario Federal (complejo 1), and I would like to thank the prison service for their hospitality.
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Five heads of external prison oversight agencies attended the conference:
Patricia Gilheaney
(Inspector of Prisons, Ireland),
Fiona Rafter
(Chief Inspector of New South Wales Custodial Services, Australia),
Paul Dubé
(Ontario Ombudsman, Canada),
Francisco Mugnolo
, (Procurador Penitenciario de la Nacion, Aregentina), and myself. External prison oversight organizations were also well represented, including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Office of the Ombudsman for the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Our Network hosted two panels. The first was a parallel plenary session titled, “External Prison Oversight, Dignity and Human Rights.” Panelists for this session included our esteemed friends from Argentina,
Francisco Mugnolo
and
Diego Zysman
, and my Canadian colleague,
Michael Jackson
. I'm also pleased to share a paper (see below) prepared by Professor Jackson on the topic of prison oversight, dignity, and human rights, which I'm certain you will find illuminating and highly instructive.
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The second panel took the form of a workshop titled, “Dignity, Human Rights and Solitary Confinement,” and featured
Rosemary [Rose] Ricciardelli
,
Howard Sapers
, and
Ilina Taneva
. For those who did not have the chance to be at the conference,
we have included their presentations at the end of this bulletin
.
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From left to right:
Rose Ricciardelli, Ilina Taneva, and Howard Sapers.
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From left to right:
Michael Jackson, Diego Zysman, and Francisco Mugnolo.
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I also had the privilege of being part of the closing panel with
Silvia Martinez
(Public Defender in Criminal Issues, Argentina) and
Mary Murphy
(Advisor, Detention Unit, ICRC), which was masterfully moderated by
Michael Spurr
, ICPA board member and former Chief Executive Officer of Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service.
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We hosted two Network meetings during the conference. In the end, we were able to add to our membership
21 new members,
resulting in a
total membership of 107 from 31 countries
. There continues to be a lot of interest in prison oversight and human rights. During our two Network meetings, several members made suggestions to improve our network activities, including:
- Connect members via email to provide each other with technical advice, information and support.
- Continue to improve the Newsletter.
- Connect members who are seeking specific training on conducting prison oversight and meeting human rights standards.
- Capitalize on regional meetings and events to connect members.
- Explore the possibility of developing a tool to map oversight mechanisms in various jurisdictions.
I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate and welcome ICPA’s newly elected President,
Peter Severin
(Commissioner, Corrective Services New South Wales, Australia), and Vice-President
Hans Meurisse
(Senior Advisor and International Expert with EuroPris). Both have been strong supporters of our network.
Please mark your calendar!
Next year’s 2020 ICPA Annual Conference is scheduled to be in Hong Kong (October 25-30, 2020).
The title of the conference is
Collaboration in Corrections: Partnerships for Success
. It would be great if we could, again, propose and coordinate two panels on external prison oversight. I can think of several themes for these panels. For example, how do prison inspectors and Ombudsman offices collaborate? How do partnerships enhance systemic investigations? I welcome any and all suggestions from our network members!
Finally, we will be issuing our
next newsletter sometime in March 2020
. The theme for the next issue will be
Effective Prison Oversight and Independence
. If you would like to contribute an article on this theme, please contact me or Emad Talisman. We are excited to announce that
The Republic of Maldives
will be the featured jurisdiction for our next issue, and we are grateful to
Mr. Ahmed Mohamed Fulhu
, the Inspector for the Maldivian Correctional Service, for his enthusiastic offer to collaborate on this.
Thank you to all of our members who continue to contribute to the success of this network.
With appreciation,
Ivan Zinger, Correctional Investigator of Canada.
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ICPA Panels - PowerPoint Presentations and Materials
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Dangerous offenders and violent extremists (VE): Should they be treated differently as a matter of course?
Ilina Taneva,
Deputy Head of the Criminal Law Division,
Director General, Human Rights and Rule of Law, Council of Europe.
Procuracion Penitenciaria de la Nacion Argentina
Francisco Mugnolo,
Procurador Penitenciario de la Nacion, Argentina.
Reforming the Use of Segregation in Corrections.
Howard Sapers,
Canada.
Canada's Office of the Correctional Investigator.
Ivan Zinger,
Correctional Investigator of Canada.
External Prison Oversight, Dignity, and Human Rights.
Diego Zysman-Quirós,
University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Reforming segregation: Best intentions within complicated realities.
Rosemary Ricciardelli,
Professor of Sociology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada.
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Phone: 1 (613) 990 8904 |
Email | Fax: 1 (613) 990 9091
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