Home |  Contact UsSitemap

READ

Prisons

Insight into the Future of Prisons

 

Nelson Mandela - was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.

“It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails."
 

Alexander McLean - British lawyer and Founder of The African Prisons Project

“In Uganda and other sub-Saharan African countries, 80% of prisoners never meet a lawyer. In countries where many people are illiterate, courts are often conducted in English, but in Uganda, for instance, maybe 50 different languages are spoken. The environment is totally alien to the average person being taken from a village to the police station and then to court. It is just a bewildering, overwhelming system.

When people think about human rights and access to justice, it’s usually about making sure everyone has access to a lawyer. But justice is something we should all be able to engage with. It shouldn’t be the preserve of a particular class or something that is just done to people."
 

Kathleen Falk - served as Dane County Executive in Wisconsin for 14 years. She was elected a record four times by 500,000 citizens.

“We know more about how to help people succeed than we do about how to change them after they have failed."
 

Kevin Lockyer - has governed three prisons and his experiences ranges from large, high security prisons, to the development and implementation of specialist regimes for young prisoners aged 15-21 years.

“In every prison cell there will be a thin client touch screen that will allow prisoners to book visits, appointments with doctor, and even choose meal options, as well as check how much money they have in their account.

To move away from the traditional prison environment with its clanging doors and locks. Biometrics and passive tagging would, for example, allow prisoners who have booked an appointment with the doctor to pass from prison cell to prison wing and then to the doctor's surgery around the time of their appointment without having members of staff to walk them there locking and unlocking doors as they went.

My vision is to give prisoners a greater degree of responsibility for their own actions. So prisoners don't become dependent on prisons and it becomes more like the real world."
 

Robert A. Hood - Former Department of Justice Senior Executive, Warden, Chief-Internal Affairs, National Security Specialist, Professor

“…reintegration must and will take place, and for everyone involved in every area of corrections, from judges to architects to administrators to staff, the byword is re-entry. Sentencing, conditions and treatment are oriented to that end. We need to develop and apply better metrics when it comes to the assessment of inmate risks and needs, and facility objectives and operations.

It is my belief that inmates are sent to prison as punishment not for punishment. The process should flow from that, because if you look in the mirror and see an ugly face, that’s what you’re going to get back."
 

Martin F. Horn - Distinguished Lecturer in Corrections at the John Jay College, City University of New York.

“As a nation, we lack imagination about how to respond to crime. If the only tool in your belt is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. If the only tool in our tool belt of crime responses is imprisonment, then every solution to crime looks like imprisonment."
 

Dana Liebelson - Reporter at the Huffington Post

“Because adolescents’ brains are still developing, their patterns of behavior not yet fixed, they have a far better chance of being rehabilitated than adults. And yet this potential is lost in prisons and jails, which barely recognize any distinction between adults and minors …"
 

PARTNERS & SPONSORS

new-sampnode-logo rockefeller-logo-footer-new

Foresight For Development - Funding for this uniquely African foresight site was generously provided by Rockefeller Foundation. Email Us | Creative Commons Deed | Terms of Conditions