Events

CRS – Online Dialogue

The Hidden Casualties of Covid? Understanding Prison Staff Well-Being in a Crisis

Due to the current situation with Covid-19 and the travel restrictions that many jurisdictions are facing, it was decided to cancel the 2020 Correctional Research Symposium and organize instead an online dialogue. The 90-minute session is planned to take place on 15 April 2021, between 15:00 – 16:30 CET, via the Zoom platform.

Introduction

Why are prison staff so invisible in the current pandemic?

How has staff well-being been impacted, managed, and thought about, in the last year?

What can we learn from rapidly developing practice? What are the best sources of understanding and support?

The problem of invisibility is longstanding. How can the research and practitioner communities respond constructively to the moral and operational challenges of working in prisons in 2021 and beyond?

This online dialogue provides an opportunity for practitioners and the research community to (re)consider the position, needs, and role of prison staff at a time of unprecedented strain.

Alison Liebling and Guillermo Sanhueza will moderate the dialogue with Prison Service leaders and experts from Portugal, Singapore, Sweden and Oregon (US).

The dialogue will address questions like:

Will the strain of working in prisons during this period be long lasting? With what impact?
Will the quality of staff-prisoner interactions be affected into the future?
Will the future recruitment of staff to work in prisons be more difficult?
Will technology continue to be used (abused) to limit in-person interactions?
What can we do to mitigate some of these possible consequences?

You are kindly invited to join this dialogue, which has been organized jointly by EuroPris, ICPA and CEP.