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Abstract: 

This article reviews the International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA) conference held in Buenos Aires, Argentina (October 27–November 1, 2019). The theme of the conference was “Strengthening Our Correctional Cornerstones: Rights, Dignity, Safety and Support,” and plenary sessions and workshops included: A discussion on offending and re-offending among minorities in Singapore; A number of presentations on creating and sustaining respectful institutional environments; Presentations on developing and implementing human rights principles in prison settings; A discussion on lessons learned from the Dominican prison reform project; Panels on the use of solitary confinement as this form of control relates to the call for safety and respects the humanity of those so confined. The journal’s editor, Donald Evans, attended the conference. Discussions dealt with finding methods of accountability that would provide incarcerated persons with protections of their right to be treated with dignity and respect as human beings. Missing was more discussion about how to improve the moral climate of our institutional spaces, including re-imagining the form and structure of prisoner housing to reflect the conference theme. In this overview, Evans concludes that the ICPA should encourage both scholars and correctional leaders to engage in a dialogue about confinement options and the use of non-confinement methods that are community based, including a critical examination of the role the present arrangement of community corrections plays or fails to play in efforts to address issues of mass incarceration.

Keywords: International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA)

Affiliations:  1: Journal Editor.