OVERVIEW What is ICOPA? The International Conference on Penal Abolition (ICOPA) is bi-annual global gathering of a variety of people around the world including academics, activists, practitioners and people who are currently or were previously imprisoned. The conference encourages a dialogue for new ideas to work towards the abolition of imprisonment and the penal system.Click here for
Overview Crime, justice, and the media have long been intertwined. This is because crime constitutes a fertile ground for news production accounting for 35% of news produced daily. It is widely accepted that ideas, images, and narratives that dominate the media have a definitive impact on public opinion.1 The power of the media is unrivalled and
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Latest News ICOPA (International Conference on Penal Abolition) Overview The Penal Abolition movement rejects the use of incarceration as a form of social control and community maintenance. Penal abolitionists challenge the current use of policing, courts and prisons to control populations as a means of solving social problems. The movement fights against the overlapping interests
Contents Overview Justice Action has prepared a package of four research papers to change the culture of imprisonment. They represent a new paradigm of prisoner responsibility and empowerment dealing with the issues of recidivism and safe resettlement in the community. They propose that time in prison becomes a period of active development before release, and
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Contents Overview Imprisonment as a form of social control has not been fulfilling its purpose, with 42% of released prisoners return to prison within two years and 52.5% of released prisoners had returned to community services (prison or community corrections) within two years (Productivity Commission 2025). Despite the decreasing crime rates, the prison population has
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‘The huge expenditure of public funds, however, is contrary to a large body of evidence showing that prisons are an ineffective mechanism to reducing offending in the community – it amounts to double that spent on building new schools, yet recidivism in NSW is the worst of all states.’ Click here to learn more. Contents What
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Why capitalism needs jails and why the two must fall together “Crime pays. I hate saying that, but it really does.”Arthur McDonald, former owner of California’s largest private prison firm With violence and terror as its tools, the prison system works to serve capitalism and maintain the current social order. Prisons in collaboration with the
Crime Pays: Why Capitalism Needs Gaols and Why the Two Must Fall Together Read More »
Nordic Prisons less crowded, less punitive, better staffed Prison itself is not a modern idea. Putting people under lock and key, throwing them into the Tower of London, the Bastille in Paris, the Peter and Paul Fortress in St Petersburg, into dungeons underneath big castles or into small lock-ups or bridewells in towns and cities
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Tracy Brannigan’s avoidable death in custody marks the loss of a loved one and must force change in the prison system. She was owed a duty of care but rather than accepting responsibility, they isolated her in a cell away from her family and support. Their callous indifference caused her death. Download Report and Action Plan Update:Media
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