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ICOPA background
- Index
- Intro & History
- IFPS
- ICOPA VIII
- ICOPA IX
- ICOPA X

• ICOPA XI
- Information
- Papers & Briefs
A-C papers
D-M papers
N-Z papers
ICOPA XI   Papers & Briefs - 2
 Hobart, Tasmania. 7-11th of February 2006

The following were themes explored and expanded at the conference:

• The Politics of Imprisonment
Northern Ireland, Palestine and the Middle East, (Post) Colonial Justice Nigeria and West Africa, South Africa: ANC , Brazil, USA, Canada.
• Contemporary Forms of Penal Custom
Human Rights & Imprisonment: a Global Perspective, International trends, Imprisonment of Women, Marionization and Political Dissent in the USA, Refugee and Immigration Prisons, Prisons under Occupation.
• Post Carceral Resettlement
Organising Inside: Prisoners' resistance and the Outside Community, Writing and Art as Resistance, Barriers to Reintegration,  Surveillance, Organising in the Community - Exprisoners' Organisations, Convict Criminology.
• Action Now
Proposals for the future.
   Authors and Presenters Biographies

To view all presenters and authors biographies, click here (in PDF format)
 
  
     Index of Papers and Briefs - by Author
   
Authors - A-C  [click here]

Authors - D-M
Alternatives to Punishment
Caroline Dean (Australia)

A story to give strength to others who are suffering in silence
Vickie Douglas

Message to the Delegates at Hobart
Frank Dunbaugh

Prisoner Rape Support Package: Addressing sexual assault in men’s prisons
By David Denborough and the
Preventing Prisoner Rape Project

Clarifying the Goals of “Transformative Justice”
Frank M. Dunbaugh, Juris Doctor

Penal Abolition: Social Revolution Starts with Children
Marc Forget (Canada)

How the NSW Law and Order Train Ran Over Prison Abolition
Ian Fraser (Australia)

Abolitionism and the Prison Industrial Complex: Strategies for Change
Prof Bob Gaucher (Canada)

The Death Penalty
Prof Bob Gaucher (Canada)

Preventing Violence - Preventing Crime - Preventing A Prison Experience
Gregory Kable

Alternatives to Punishment
Pat Magill (NZ)

Being Heard - Stories of Tasmanian Imprisonment
Mick Marlow

Prison Enlightenment
Michael J. Marlow - Risdon Prison

Pathways to Resettlement
Melissa Munn (Canada)

Pathways to Resettlement
Brenda Murphy (Northern Ireland)


Authors - N-Z  [click here]
  
Alternatives to Punishment
Caroline Dean (Australia)

This paper discusses the alarming increase in prison populations despite an overall drop in crime rates. This growth can be explained by changes in criminal justice policy but asks the question, at what cost? This paper will examine the significant social and economic implications of these policy decisions and look at the efficacy of reducing prison populations through the model of decarceration using the Finnish experience as an example.

A story to give strength to others who are suffering in silence
Vickie Douglas

I am speaking here today in honor and love for my son Chris. Chris died on the 4th August 1999 at Risdon Prison….he was just 18.

I am currently suing the State of Tasmania for not keeping my son alive and safe…… the trial is due to commence ….so I am somewhat restricted to what I can say due to these proceedings.
My 17 years old son Chris was held on remand at Risdon Prison. He was housed with the sex offenders and pedophiles.
Word / PDF:

Message to the Delegates at Hobart
Frank Dunbaugh

When I attended ICOPA 1 in Toronto in 1983, our sole objective was to ensure that ICOPA 1 was not the last ICOPA. We put together a small committee to see to it that ICOPA 2 would be organized in Europe. It was only through the immense efforts of our founder, the now departed Dr. Ruth Morris, that the ICOPA conferences have continued all of these years. Serious abolitionists must fear that without Ruth’s dedication and energy, the movement will stop moving.
Word / PDF:

Prisoner Rape Support Package: Addressing sexual assault in men’s prisons
By David Denborough and the Preventing Prisoner Rape Project

The following support package has been developed to try to provide assistance to men who have been raped or sexually assaulted in prison. It has been developed by the Preventing Prisoner Rape Project.
This project, based at Dulwich Centre in Adelaide, Australia, is hoping to: raise awareness about the issue of rape in prisons; reach out and support prison rape survivors; support those workers both inside and outside prisons who are trying to deal with the issue of sexual violence in detention; and bring about appropriate law reform and changes to prison administration in order to prevent prisoner rape.
Word / PDF:

Clarifying the Goals of “Transformative Justice”
Frank M. Dunbaugh, Juris Doctor

Penal abolitionist, Dr. Ruth Morris, the founder of ICOPA (International Conference on Penal Abolition), began in the early 1990’s to propose a new paradigm which she called “Transformative Justice.” This is Dr. Morris’ great legacy, and it should continue to guide ICOPA’s focus. She clearly articulated why the existing system of punitive (or retributive) justice is a failure. She asked abolitionists to reject the popular alternative of “restorative justice”, saying that it does not reach the underlying problems that lead people to anti-social behavior.


 
  
Penal Abolition: Social Revolution Starts with Children
Marc Forget (Canada)

In order to become accepted as a legitimate social goal, penal abolition should not be discussed as an end in itself, but rather as one of the many things that must happen if we are to move along the long road toward a more democratic, just and peaceful society.

Penal abolition is only possible in the context of a deep and broad social transformation or revolution the likes of which humanity has yet to allow itself to dream of. To most people the mere suggestion that we should stop using punishment is simply ludicrous. Reaching these ordinary people requires the development of a cohesive and realistic vision.

To have credibility this vision must be set in a framework that acknowledges history, rejects any alignment with old political notions of left and right, and highlights practical alternatives we can feasibly adopt. As demonstrated in The Emperor’s New Clothes, children are the ones who can help us see through the age old conditioning that makes punishment, authority, and even war, seem rational, acceptable, and to some, even desirable. Therefore the emphasis of the presentation will be on how we can work with children, helping them create punishment-free environments beginning with schools, games and sports.

How the NSW Law and Order Train Ran Over Prison Abolition
Ian Fraser (Australia)

The need for prison abolition is even more evident with the breakdown of social services, education and health, to the community. Addressing these needs is the primary task of activists - a prerequisite for abolition. The brutal and racist prison regime ensures its own existence by damaging everyone it houses.

Abolitionism and the Prison Industrial Complex: Strategies for Change
Prof Bob Gaucher (Canada)

The current conditions of mass incarceration and entrenched industrialization; social exclusion through criminalization; and the history of failure and cooptation of soft end alternatives (eg restorative justice), demands that the penal abolition movement reassess its strategies. Author suggests that a renewed focus upon prisoners and prisons would reenergise the movement.

The Death Penalty
Prof Bob Gaucher (Canada)

James Allridge was executed by the state of Texas on August 26, 2004, after 18 years on Death Row. During those years he established himself as a writer and artist; his drawings were exhibited in Europe, USA and Canada.

He contributed to the campaigned against the death penalty in Texas/USA. The basis of Allridge`s final challenge of the death penalty was on the basis of his `rehabilitation` as exemplified by his work and the outside, international support he garnered.

Preventing Violence - Preventing Crime - Preventing A Prison Experience
Gregory Kable

Lack of social skills in my family brought on smacking and violence as a means to solve problems. When I learned how wrong this was it saddened me to learn that my own parents lacked the social skills needed to use dialogue for solving problems and taught me how to use violence.
Word / PDF:

Alternatives to Punishment
Pat Magill (NZ)

Napier, a city in New Zealand of only 56,000, provides 7 % of its people towards New Zealand’s growing prison complex. The Maori represent 50% of the prison population, and comprise only 16% of the New Zealand population.

 
  




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Being Heard - Stories of Tasmanian Imprisonment
Mick Marlow

What is the real reason behind solitary and segregation units? What are the effects and impact of using a management philosophy that houses prisoners in a punishment division (solitary confinement) and behaviour management unit (segregation) for long periods of time. This speaker will talk of his three years in solitary and the segregation unit and why he believes it is happening.

Prison Enlightenment
Michael J. Marlow - Risdon Prison

The quest and combine zest for prison reform and accompanying inner enlightenment, weighs rather precariously on so many shoulders. You're welcome attendance at this seminar, and forum, is a clear indication of your will and need to see positive changes in many, many, prisons, both in Australia and worldwide.

[pdf] [word]
Word / PDF:

Pathways to Resettlement
Melissa Munn (Canada)

Despite the considerable body of criminological literature on prisons, prisoners and release, the experience of resettlement by ex-prisoners is often overlooked; focus remains on what ‘causes’ recidivism rather than on the processes through which success is established. This paper examines the experiences of former long-term prisoners in Canada who have negotiated the carceral and post-carceral system effectively and have been able to re-establish themselves in the community. Based on ethnographic research gathered through in-depth interviews with men who have been out of prison for several years, this paper explores some of the major resettlement challenges encountered and management strategies employed. Major themes identified by those interviewed include lost time, stigmatization, work and vulnerability to the state.

Pathways to Resettlement
Brenda Murphy (Northern Ireland)

I intend to relate my own experience of imprisonment and its aftermath, and how this relates to others in other parts of the world, both in recent decades and today. More specifically I will seek to expand on how the nature of the penal system, and what happens to prisoners, is part of a bigger parallel process within communities and society at large. I will argue that active resistance is essential for survival both during incarceration and in the aftermath.

The penal system aims not only to punish and control, but also injure physically, emotionally and mentally. This process is not only intentional and perverse but also totally invasive of the person. I will argue that this is re-enacted by means of barriers to reintegration and at all levels in one’s life – personal, social and political. In particular is my experience of demonisation and being defined ‘out of existence’ and how we can and must redefine ourselves, as it were, back into existence.




Last modified:
Mon, Apr 17, 2006