Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 11:22:18 -0500
To: Recipient List Suppressed:;
From: UT Public Affairs <utopa@www.utexas.edu>
Subject: Leading prison experts to convene
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_____________________________________________________________
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Contact: Michele Deitch
(512) 328-8330
(512) 296-7212
Date: April 11, 2006
Leading prison experts to convene to advance transparency and
accountability in U.S. prisons
AUSTIN, Texas--"Opening Up a Closed World: What Constitutes Effective
Prison Oversight?" is the title of a three-day conference on prisons to be
held at The University of Texas at Austin, April 23 to 26.
The groundbreaking event will bring together some of the world's leading
experts on independent prison oversight, American corrections policy and
human rights to discuss a variety of methods for ensuring transparency and
accountability in U.S. prisons.
The by-invitation-only gathering features experts from all over the United
States Canada and Europe, including dozens of prison monitors, top-level
correctional administrators, state and federal policymakers, human rights
advocates, prisoners' rights attorneys, journalists and scholars. Among the
distinguished speakers are former U.S. Attorney General Nicholas
Katzenbach, the president of the Council of Europe's Committee for the
Prevention of Torture and the chief British prison inspector.
"The United States is one of the only Western countries without a formal
and comprehensive system in place providing for the routine, external
review of all prisons and jails," said conference organizer Michele Deitch,
an adjunct professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at
UT Austin and a Soros Senior Justice Fellow.
"In the absence of external scrutiny, conditions are ripe for human rights
violations," said Deitch. "Typically, problems come to light only when there
is a lawsuit or a disturbance, either of which can have disastrous financial,
human, or legal consequences for the agency. But external monitoring helps
prevent abuses from occurring in the first place and helps prison officials
identify and correct dangerous conditions early on."
To address these problems, the conference will focus heavily on examining
ways that international and domestic models of oversight can be adapted for
wider use in the United States. Conference details are available at
http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/prisonconference/ .
Co-sponsored by the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the
University of Texas and Pace Law School, the event is a follow-up to a high
profile symposium titled "Prison Reform Revisited: The Unfinished
Agenda," held at Pace Law School in 2003.
Additional cosponsors include the university's School of Law,_William
Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law, Swedish Studies Endowment
Fund and Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault at the
university as well as Penal Reform International - The Americas.
For additional information, contact Michele Deitch at (512) 328-8330 or
(512) 296-7212.
Related Links:
"Opening Up a Closed World: What Constitutes Effective Prison
Oversight?" a conference held at The University of Texas at Austin, April
23-26.
http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/prisonconference/
"Prison Reform Revisited: The Unfinished Agenda," a symposium held at
Pace Law School and the New York State Judicial Institute, October 2003
http://www.library.law.pace.edu/research/prison_reform_revisited.html
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