Cruel and Not Unusual: Can America’s Prisons and Jails Change, and, If So, How?

Location: Eidman Courtroom

Friday, February 3, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm

Saturday, February 4, 9:00 am – 1:30 pm

This symposium brings together leading experts on prison and jail conditions to reflect on some of the most critical and challenging issues in the field. We will discuss what can be done to address the seemingly intractable horrific conditions in certain correctional systems, and debate whether meaningful reform of America’s prisons and jails is truly possible.

There will be four main sessions:  the first is focused on “The Depths of Deliberate Indifference,” with case studies of four different corrections agencies (Rikers, Alabama, Arizona, and Texas); the second examines “The Levers of Change,” and asks about the tools available to turn a prison or jail around, even after a win in the courts; the third presents some rare examples of innovations in prisons that seek to change institutional culture; and the fourth asks whether meaningful change is truly possible and whether there is hope for reforming America’s prisons and jails.

For more information and to register, visit: Cruel and Not Unusual: Can America’s Prisons and Jails Change, and, If So, How?  | Prison and Jail Innovation Lab (utexas.edu)

Hosted by the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at the University of Texas

Co-sponsored by the William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law and the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs

Event series: Conference