6th Annual Future Justice & Corrections Summit Australia 2021

I found the two days exciting and challenging – bringing together international delegates with vast experience and expertise in a broad range of issues around custodial security and rehabilitation. The focus on doing things differently to reduce the disparity experienced by indigenous peoples in the justice system was an important theme, and the conference showcased some innovative approaches. It was thought-provoking to hear the experts in facility design and construction bounce ideas with the experts in rehabilitative program development, and how good modern design principles can shift the emphasis from security and control to repair and rehabilitation.

The Future Prisons Summit in Sydney was essentially a showcase conference of the amazing work being conducted for the provision of safer, cost effectiveness in building, management, and rehabilitation of this cohort, and service delivery within Australian prisons. The delegates and attendees were from various prison related services, and participated with vigour and enthusiasm; there was a plethora of information sharing and understanding of each of the service providers, and their respective innovative programs. I would encourage all industry participants within this sector to attend next year’s conference as the preliminary program looks extremely interesting and resonates with current trends.

For me Future Prisons is much more than a conference it’s a collaboration of industry professionals whom are passionate about improving prisons and operational systems. To hear from industry speakers and delegates in round table discussions covering design, technology and systems that all contribute to reducing recidivism rates of prisoners was fantastic. The opportunity to have a guided tour by the director of a prison and hear directly from young prisoners about their experiences was invaluable and quite humbling. If you want to learn, network and make a genuine difference in a challenging industry I couldn’t recommend this conference highly enough.