Past Events

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.

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.

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.

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. She describes the troubling conditions she has witnessed, and discusses the kids she has encountered in the course of her work who have persuaded her about the need to change the laws and policies that permit this practice.