Program | Speakers | Recordings | Photos | Resource Materials
We were excited to host a symposium on “Deaths in Custody" which took place at the University of Texas in Austin November 14-16, 2024. The convening 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.
There were six main sessions. The first session was focused on “Data Transparency about Deaths in Confinement,” and examined how we can ensure accuracy and completeness in the reporting of deaths in custody. The second panel asked “Why are People Dying in Prisons and Jails?” and offered some in-depth analyses of the available data. The third session provided lightning talks by investigative journalists about their reporting on deaths in custody, drawing from a wide range of media outlets all over the country. Our fourth panel focused on “Investigating Deaths in Custody,” asking who should conduct these investigations and what kinds of questions need to be examined. The fifth panel provided a sobering look at “The Ripple Effects of Deaths in Custody and Secondary Trauma,” and highlighted the impact these deaths have on family members, fellow incarcerated people, and correctional staff. And finally, the sixth session looked at “Prevention Through Operational Changes and Policy Reform,” with some short- and long-term strategies for reducing the numbers of deaths in prisons and jails. We also held several break-out discussion groups where participants were able to join colleagues for more in-depth conversations to address these issues.
We were also thrilled to have two incredible keynote speakers at the conference. Prof. Andrea Armstrong, who directs Loyola University New Orleans College of Law’s IncarcerationTransparency.org and is a 2023 MacArthur “Genius” Award Fellow, gave our opening keynote. And Linda Franks, who founded Fair Fight Initiative in the wake of the horrifying death of her son in a Louisiana jail, offered inspiring remarks about turning her personal tragedy into a fight for racial justice and equality. 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.
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