(1st Term, 2023 – 2026)
Dr. Kerstin Ashauer is the Director General of Prison and Probation Services at Bremen Ministry of Justice and Constitution, Germany.
Dr. Ashauer is a lawyer by profession. She worked in various scientific institutions in Germany, Switzerland and the United States in the fields of Human Rights Law and International Criminal Law. She received her doctorate in 2004 in the field of international terrorism under international law. Back in Germany, Dr. Ashauer worked as a public prosecutor for almost 10 years in Bremen and Bremerhaven.
Dr. Ashauer entered the prison system in 2018 as a legal advisor and deputy director of Bremen Prison. Since 2019, Dr. Ashauer has taken over the role of Director General of Prison and Probation Services at the Ministry of Justice and Constitution, Federal State of Bremen (Bremen Ministry of Justice), Germany.
Dr. Ashauer’s primary focus is to work strategically at the intersection of administration and policy. Her aim is to further improve the prison system, both ‘in front of’ and ‘behind’ the walls: most recently this has meant focusing on concepts for preventing imprisonment, on making transition management better integrated and more efficient with external partners and providers, on prison staff training and on better care for prisoners suffering from mental illness.
Dr. Ashauer has contributed as an international expert for the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) on issues of treatment and rehabilitation of violent extremist prisoners, most recently in Kazakhstan.
