This multi-format event has been oraginsed by the Criminal Justice Centre, University of Warwick as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science. It brings together different perspectives on the experience of punishment, in order to raise awareness of, promote social science research on and generate debate around prisoner wellbeing and its consequences for criminal justice policy and practice. It encourages interactive debate between academics and non-academics by drawing on perspectives ranging from those of key actors responsible for formulating and implementing prison policy, those of social scientists researching punishment and criminal justice, to those with first-hand, lived experiences of punishment through imprisonment.

Full programme:

9.30am – Coffee

9.45am – Welcome and introduction

10am – Session 1: Perspectives from the Ground

In this session, we hear about recent research on the impact of a prisoners’ penfriends scheme and two organisations that deal directly with prisoners and their experiences will showcase their work and their own perspective on punishment and imprisonment. Each presentation (15 min) will be followed by a discussant (10 min), who will reflect on the relevance and impact of the organisation/group’s work, as well as the importance to policy and social science of perspectives from the ground. The session will end with time for general questions and discussion from the audience.

10am – Researching Prisoners’ Penfriends Professor Jackie Hodgson (Law/CJC, Warwick); discussant: Susan Howard (Governor, HMP Ranby)

10.25am – Safe Ground; discussant: Dr Anastasia Chamberlen (Criminology, Birkbeck)

10.50am – Empty Cages Collective; discussant: Dr Henrique Carvalho (Law/CJC, Warwick)

11.15am – Questions and discussion

11.45am – Introduction by the Koelster Trust to the display of prisoner art showing in Warwick Arts Centre foyer

12pm – Lunch

12.40pm – Session 2: Herman’s House

This session is a screening of the film Herman’s House, directed by Angad Bhalla. Herman’s House is a powerful film about the reality of and the problems surrounding solitary confinement, as well as the resilience of the human spirit. Here is a synopsis of the film:

Herman Wallace may have been the longest-serving prisoner in solitary confinement in the United States — he's spent more than 40 years in a 6-by-9-foot cell in Louisiana. Imprisoned in 1967 for a robbery he admits, he was subsequently sentenced to life for a killing he vehemently denies. Herman's House is a moving account of the remarkable expression his struggle found in an unusual project proposed by artist Jackie Sumell. Imagining Wallace's "dream home" began as a game and became an interrogation of justice and punishment in America. The film takes us inside the duo's unlikely 12-year friendship, revealing the transformative power of art.

The audience will be invited to tweet their thoughts on the film to the CJC twitter feed. Tweets will be displayed on screen and used to stimulate interactive debate during the concluding plenary session.

2.10pm – Session 3: Plenary and roundtable

In this final session, all the event’s participants are invited to join the roundtable and discuss the issues and reflections raised by the event. Short reactions to the film will be provided from individuals working in different areas connected to imprisonment. On sentencing and corrections, Dr Lorana Bartels (Law, Canberra/Cambridge); on writing to prisoners, Gwyn Morgan (Prisoners’ Penfriends), and on a human right against social deprivation, Dr Kimberley Brownlee (Philosophy, Warwick), followed by a general discussion.

3pm – Drinks reception (foyer)