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Conference Session: Luncheon Address: Reflections on 40 years of Outside Scrutiny of Prisons and Prison Policy in the U.S.

Speaker(s): Former U.S. Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach, Co-Chair, Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons; Chair, 1967 Commission on Crime in the United States

Date:

Length: 19 minutes

Description: In this lecture, which was given at an LBJ School conference called "Opening Up a Closed World: What Constitutes Effective Prison Oversight?," Nicholas Katzenbach provides insights on the topics of oversight and imprisonment by drawing on his experience as a prisoner of war in 1943. He then discusses oversight in a more modern context by focusing on its need and examining why it is slowly gaining some level of acceptance. Katzenbach also talks about the need for oversight groups to define problems so that prison officials understand the reasons for these problems. In his final segment, Katzenbach discusses the need to educate and sensitize special groups in American society to increase support for oversight and human rights.

Introduction by LBJ School Adjunct Professor Michele Deitch.

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.