Conference Video

Return to index of conference videos

These streaming videos require the free QuickTime player software from Apple Computer.

Conference Session: Welcome, Overview, and Session I—Introduction and Exploration of the Various Functions of Prison Oversight

Speaker(s): Michele Deitch, Conference Chair; Adjunct Professor, LBJ School of Public Affairs, and Soros Justice Fellow

Alvin Bronstein, Director Emeritus, ACLU National Prison Project, and Board President, Penal Reform International—The Americas

Michael Mushlin, Professor, Pace Law School

Date:

Length: 41 minutes

Description: Conference Chair Michele Deitch welcomes conference participants, noting that this is perhaps the highest caliber group of experts and stakeholders ever to have been assembled for a conference of this magnitude. Conference Vice-Chair Michael Mushlin opens the session by providing an introduction entitled “U.S. Prisons in the 21st Century and Renewed Calls for Oversight.” He opines that the time has come to develop meaningful oversight mechanisms for prisons, and he uses a short story by Franz Kakfa to demonstrate the urgency of working together to achieve change. Al Bronstein then speaks on “Independent Inspections as an Alternative to Court-Based Oversight.” He describes his long history in litigating expensive and lengthy prison conditions cases, and notes that although litigation will still be necessary in some instances, the future of prison reform in this country will emphasize external oversight mechanisms. Finally, Michele Deitch gives a presentation entitled “Distinguishing the Various Functions of Prison Oversight,” in which she outlines six distinct functions of oversight (regulation, audit, accreditation, investigation, reporting, and inspection/monitoring) and argues that these functions serve different goals and different constituencies. Effective prison oversight is a robust and multi-faceted system serving all of these functions through different entities, both inside and outside the correctional agency.

The statements made here represent the speakers' own thoughts. Neither the LBJ School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin, nor any organization providing support for this effort necessarily endorses the views and statements included here.