Events

The conference offered an opportunity for collective reflection by the country’s leading experts on prison and jail conditions on one of the most critical, challenging, and urgent issues in our field. 

We assembled an incredible group of speakers to lead our discussion of these issues, and there was tremendous expertise among our audience participants as well. Our speakers and participants included: oversight practitioners; medical professionals; researchers; people with lived experience; journalists; advocates; corrections officials; academics; litigators; and more. 

Recordings

Speakers

Program

Proceedings

November 14th-16th, 2024
Location: The LBJ School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin

On October 7th, we screened the 2023 short film “The Box: 27 Years in Solitary,” which explores the use of solitary confinement in prison. It focuses on the case of Dennis Hope, a man who spent 27 years in solitary confinement in a Texas prison and who took a lawsuit about his situation to the US Supreme Court. 

After the screening, we hosted a panel discussion with Jeremy Young, Senior Producer for Fault Lines, Al Jazeera’s current affairs news program, and the producer of the film; Molly Petchenik, an attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project which represented Dennis Hope following his Supreme Court challenge; Chanel Jones from the Lioness Justice Impacted Women's Alliance who has lived experience in solitary in a Texas women's prison, and Robert Lilly from Grassroots Leadership, also with lived experience in solitary. The panel was moderated by UT LBJ/Law professor and PJIL Director Michele Deitch.

View recording of the panel discussion

Students in the “Prisons and the Environment” class are partnering with Texas Prisons Community Advocates (TPCA) and the LBJ School’s Prison and Jail Innovation Lab (PJIL) to raise public awareness of the ongoing issue with extreme heat through TPCA’s mock prison cell exhibit, on display outside the Harry Ransom Center on the University of Texas campus. The mock cell will be heated to allow participants to experience a simulation of the temperatures faced by people in Texas prisons. There will also be speakers with lived experience talking about conditions behind bars, and displays with more information. 

The exhibit is part of TPCA’s “85 to Stay Alive” campaign, which advocates for keeping Texas prisons below 85 degrees during the summer heat.

Wednesday | April 17, 2024 | 2-5pm CT
Location: Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin

The Prison and Jail Innovation Lab hosted a symposium that brought together the country’s leading experts on prison and jail conditions to reflect on some of the most critical and challenging issues in our field. We discussed what can be done to address the seemingly intractable horrific conditions in certain correctional systems, and debated whether meaningful reform of America’s prisons and jails is truly possible. 

Speakers and audience participants included people with lived experience; journalists; litigators; oversight practitioners; advocates; corrections officials; academics; and more.

Recordings: https://pjil.lbj.utexas.edu/cruel-and-not-unusual-conference-recordings

Program:  https://pjil.lbj.utexas.edu/cruel-and-not-unusual-conference-program

Speakers: https://pjil.lbj.utexas.edu/cruel-and-not-unusual-conference-speakers

February 3-4, 2023 
Location: Texas School of Law, Austin, Texas | Eidman Courtroom

Author Robert Chase will discuss his book “We Are Not Slaves,” a history of the prisoners’ rights movement in Texas in the second half of the 20th century told from the vantage point of prisoners themselves. The book weaves together untold truths from the histories of labor, civil rights, and politics in the United States as it narrates the transition from prison plantations of the past to the mass incarceration of today.

Professor Talitha LeFlouria (History Dept.) will introduce Chase and his work. Following Chase’s talk, Michele Deitch, Distinguished Senior Lecturer and PJIL’s Director, will lead a panel discussion with local advocates focused on current prison labor practices and the “end the exception” movement.

This important and timely event is hosted by William Wayne Justice Center at UT School of Law and co-sponsored by the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab and UT’s Initiative for Law, Societies, and Justice.

Thursday | November 3, 2022 | 5:00pm CT
Location: Townes Hall

The Prison and Jail Innovation Lab (PJIL) at the LBJ School of Public Affairs hosted an evening of conversation with author and journalist Keri Blakinger, as she discussed her new acclaimed memoir, Corrections in Ink, with LBJ School Professor Michele Deitch.

After spending nearly two years behind bars, Keri became a reporter dedicated to exposing to exposing our flawed prisons as only an insider could. This moderated discussion provided a forum for discussing prison conditions, women in custody, and the potential for redemption among justice-impacted people. Click here to learn more about our speakers and Corrections in Ink.

Tuesday | September 20, 2022 | 5:15pm CT
Location: LBJ Bass Lecture Hall

At the National Association for the Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE) annual conference, Michele and Alycia introduced the National Resource Center for Correctional Oversight website and reviewed the various components that can be of help to oversight practitioners, policymakers, and advocates. Attendees learned how to use this new resource in their work. 

Thursday, November 13, 2023 

Location: Chicago, Illinois

Wednesday, October 26, 2023 

Location: Antwerp, Belgium

At the National Association for the Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE) annual conference, Michele spoke with Terry Scheuster, the newly-appointed Corrections Ombudsman in New Jersey, about lessons he has learned about launching a new oversight body. 

Tuesday, November 13, 2022 

Location: Ft. Worth, Texas

At the National Association for the Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE) annual conference, Alycia facilitated a panel examining the distinct challenges faced by women in custody during the COVID-19 pandemic and identifying ways to mitigate the harm women experienced during the pandemic. The panel explored the possible steps policymakers and corrections officials could take to strengthen public health and improve safety for women in custody, their families, and communities.

Tuesday, November 13, 2022

Location: Ft. Worth, Texas

At the 2022 International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA)'s annual conference, Michele Deitch and Alycia Welch, authors of the report “The Pandemic Gender Gap Behind Bars: Meeting the Needs of Women in Custody During COVID-19 and Planning for the Future,” examined the distinct challenges faced by women in custody during the COVID-19 pandemic and strategies to address those needs. 

Wednesday | October 26, 2022 | 11:45am ET 

Location: Orlando, Florida

Alycia joined a roundtable discussion on the U.S. Capitol Hill hosted by U.S. Representative Karen Bass (D-CA) and U.S. Representative Nancy Mace (R-SC) to share her expertise on women in the criminal justice system and ways to reduce the harm women experience in correctional facilities.

Thursday | July 14, 2022
Location: U.S. Capitol Hill

Social Justice Research Forum, Office of the Vice President for Research, University of Texas at Austin. Alycia Welch and Michele Deitch highlight findings in their forthcoming report, “Pandemic Gender Gap Behind Bars: Meeting the Needs of Women in Custody During COVID-19 and Planning for the Future.”

April 30, 2021

In this episode of the LBJ School's new podcast series "Eye on the Lege: Inside the 87th Texas Legislature," PJIL Directors Michele Deitch and Alycia Welch discuss the bills surrounding criminal justice policy and policing this session.

 April 19, 2021

Michele joined the GovExec Daily podcast to discuss the pandemic in the corrections system and how the COVID-19 crisis has brought serious problems in the carceral system to the forefront.

February 1, 2021 

Michele sat down with LBJ alumna Nancy La Vigne (MPAff ‘91), then vice president for justice policy at the Urban Institute, and Dr. Ronald Day, vice president of programs at the Fortune Society, to discuss the far-reaching effects of COVID-19 on the criminal justice system, including policing, confinement conditions in jails and prisons, and state and local reforms.

April 8, 2020

Michele joined other national experts, members of the oversight community and others to share information about what jurisdictions across the country are doing to address COVID-19 in jails and prisons, strategies for reducing jail and prison populations, important COVID-19 policy recommendations, practices across the country, and what the current crisis says about the past, present, and future of American carceral policy.

March 24, 2020

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. PJIL Director Michele Deitch addresses the problem of youth who are prosecuted in the adult criminal justice system and confined in adult jails and prisons.

December 19, 2014