Prison Staff as Key Actors in Implementing International Prisoner Rights Standards: A Study from the Sincan Prison Campus

ICPA 2025 Presentation by Süleyman Kaçmaz and Elif Gökçearslan (PID155)

Authors

Süleyman Kaçmaz

Visiting Lecturer and PhD Candidate, Ankara University, Türkiye

Süleyman Kaçmaz is a lecturer at the Department of Social Work, Ankara University, and a PhD candidate in Social Work. He holds a BA in Social Work from Hacettepe University and an MA in Human Rights from Ankara University. His professional career started in Germany, providing services for young migrants at Arbeiterwohlfahrt in Nuremberg. Between 2007 and 2010, he worked as a social worker with juvenile offenders in closed institutions under the Turkish Ministry of Justice. He has also contributed as a trainer and practitioner in EU-funded rehabilitation programs and served as a national trainer in pre-service and in-service training for prison staff. From 2010 to 2021, he worked in the Research, Development, and Project Office at the General Directorate of Prisons and Detention Houses, coordinating over 20 EU projects aimed at improving the prison system. Since 2021, he has been teaching and supervising students at Ankara University, focusing on forensic social work, rehabilitation, and human rights in prisons.

Prof Dr. Elif Gökçearslan

Academician, Ankara University, Türkiye

Prof. Dr. Elif Gökçearslan is a faculty member at the Department of Social Work, Ankara University, Turkey. She holds a PhD in Social Work, focusing on social exclusion and criminal behavior, and has extensive experience in correctional social work, child protection, and community-based interventions. Prof. Gökçearslan has served in various administrative positions, including Head of Department and Vice Dean. She has been involved in numerous national and international research projects, including as a principal investigator, and has acted as an expert for UNICEF, WHO, and UNFPA. Her international experience includes research stays and teaching mobility programs in Germany and the United States, where she conducted post-doctoral research on child protection at the University of Texas with the support of TÜBİTAK. She has published extensively and supervises master's and doctoral theses on topics such as psychosocial support, restorative justice, disability, and professional capacity building. She is currently continuing her professional development in psychodrama and mindfulness-based approaches.

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