ICPA Honours Excellence and Humanity in Corrections With Eight Awards

This year's honourees range from frontline practitioners and national prison services to international development banks and grassroots reintegration programmes.

Among the top honours, the President's Award was presented to two recipients. The first was presented to the Citizen Security Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the leading multilateral development bank for Latin America and the Caribbean. Its financing, knowledge generation and regional leadership have helped place prison rehabilitation and reintegration at the centre of the development agenda. The Division's Chief, Eduardo J. Vergara B, accepted the award.

The second award was presented to Diane Williams, former President and CEO of the Safer Foundation, in recognition of a career spanning nearly two decades of leadership in workforce development, housing and treatment for justice-involved individuals. Ms Williams has also served on the boards of ICPA and the International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology (IACFP).

The Peter Severin Award, which honours a head of a correctional service or agency, was presented to Caron McCaffrey, Director General of the Irish Prison Service. As the first woman to lead the service, she has championed safe, humane and rehabilitative prisons. Her leadership has extended across Europe, advancing collaboration and innovation in the profession.

The Outstanding Contribution to the Association Award was presented to Hans Meurisse, former Director General of the Belgian Prison Service and former ICPA Vice-President. Over nearly two decades with the Association, he provided institutional, personnel and financial support that helped professionalise ICPA and launched lasting initiatives, including the Technology in Corrections Conference, the International Correctional Research Symposium and IPIC.

The Research Award was presented to Professor Shadd Maruna, Head of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology at the University of Liverpool and Past President of the American Society of Criminology. His book Making Good: How Ex-Convicts Reform and Rebuild Their Lives earned the American Society of Criminology's Outstanding Contribution to Criminology award.

The Outstanding Correctional Service Employee Award was given to Dr Melvinder Singh, a senior correctional psychologist with more than 25 years of public service in the Singapore Prison Service. He has strengthened the consistency of correctional psychological practice through evidence-based frameworks, professional supervision and applied research.

The Correctional Healthcare Award was presented to the Singapore Prison Service for the Psychiatric Correctional Unit (PCU). Established in 2011 with the Institute of Mental Health, the PCU combines psychiatric treatment, psychological interventions and therapeutic activities such as art, music, gardening and work therapy. Matthew Wee Yik Keong, Commissioner of Prisons, accepted the award.

The Community Corrections Award was presented to The RISe Foundation of Malta, a non-governmental organisation running a community-based residential programme for people in the final stage of their incarceration. Its structured, therapeutic approach supports a gradual, sustainable return to society. Charles Mifsud, Chairperson and Founder, accepted the award on the Foundation's behalf for its Social Reintegration Programme.

ICPA congratulates all of this year's winners. Their work, the Association says, demonstrates what is possible when corrections puts dignity, rehabilitation and public safety at its core.