JUSTInnovate: Changing Correctional Culture, international partnership bringing humanity, dignity and safety to U.S. prisons

• In Event: Lightning Talk: JUSTInnovate: Changing Correctional Culture, International Partnership Bringing Humanity, Dignity and Safety to U.S. Prisons

Abstract

JUSTInnovate, a partnership between the University of California (UC) and Norwegian Correctional Service, integrates Norwegian correctional approaches rooted in human rights, normalization and dignity into U.S. prisons with the goals of improving health and criminal justice outcomes for incarcerated people and improving health and job satisfaction among correctional staff. This lightning talk will describe the 5-year development of the program’s core international partnership between the University of California and Norwegian Correctional Service and detail the integrated public health and organizational change framework that structures the ongoing collaboration. This lightning talk will also introduce JUSTInnovate’s pilot intervention in the Oregon Department of Corrections. This presentation will establish context that is important to understanding the findings featured in subsequent presentations around changes in department policies to promote respect for human dignity; improvements in residents’ quality of life, safety and engagement in programming improvement in participating correctional staff job satisfaction, health, and attitudes towards incarcerated people; and reductions in solitary confinement, use of force against residents, and staff assaults. The talk will conclude by suggesting that an international exchange program for correctional officers has the potential to play a critical role in advancing U.S. penal reform.

Author

• Brie Williams, University of California, San Francisco