The 24th International Corrections and Prisons Association Conference Orlando, Florida from 23-28 October 2022.

1. INTRODUCTION
The International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA) held its 24th annual Conference, in Orlando, Florida from 23 October to 28 October 2022.
The theme for this year’s conference was “Excelling Beyond the ‘Old Normal:Corrections after the Global Pandemic”.

The ICPA’s annual conference is a key event in the world of corrections and prisons.
This year’s session included more than 70 presentations and 150 speakers in its rich
and diverse programs, covering various topics ranging from justice strategy and
reform, correctional healthcare, facility design, human rights, technology solutions,
staff training and wellbeing, community corrections initiatives, and pandemic
responses.
Founded in 1998, ICPA is a non-profit association for prison professionals, with an
aim to contribute to public safety and healthier communities by encouraging and
enabling best correctional practices in prisons. The ICPA is headquartered in
Brussels, Belgium.

The conference was attended by over 1000 professionals and experts from all over
the world, representing government and state corrections agencies, as well as
academic and civil society organizations.
The delegation of Rwanda, led by CG Juvenal Marizamunda, Commissioner General of RCS, was composed of SP Alex Mugisha, Director of Cooperation at RCS;
Frank Kayitare, Interpeace Rwanda Country Representative; and Odette Mukansoro, Executive Director of DiDE Rwanda.
We would like to give thanks and appreciation to Interpeace Rwanda for having
covered travel related costs for the whole delegation.
The conference started on 23 October and concluded on 28 October 2022. The
format of the conference comprised a variety of plenary, parallel plenary and
thematic workshops.
The presentations made in the abovementioned sessions were a good opportunity
to learn from the experience and success stories shared by participants from
different countries in the area of correction services based on the thematic
discussion items of the conference program. In this regard, CG Juvenal Marizamunda
shared the experience of Rwanda in relation to the programs set for prisoners in
Rwanda especially in the education sector whereby inmates equipped with skills
that will improve their wellbeing after serving their sentences.
For DiDE, the ED benefited from networking with various organizations, experience
sharing sessions, as well as other sessions related to its core activities.
We learned about approaches in prison shaping success for women" a Gender responsive Technologies based approach for Reintegration example of USA and Reducing tension inside prison example of Mexico, promoted thought humanitarian
partnership for women deprived on Liberty.

DiDE’s participation to this important forum provided the following outcomes:
– The ED engaged and established contacts with colleagues from similar
organisations for future cooperation and partnership
– Learnt from a variety of sessions across a wide range of topics, practices and
experiences with over 70 presentations and more than 150 speakers from
around the world especially the experience shared by ICRC’s
– Participated in different events that will enable us to improve our work in
programs such as in gender, psycho-social support, rehabilitation and
reintegration, …
– Identified the latest products available in prison today that can be integrated
in the Rwandan context