The Effect of Global Crises on Countries Struggling with Violence and/or Conflict - the Resilience of Prison Services (PID100)

2.15pm – 3pm EDT, 25 October 2022 ‐ 45 mins

Parallel Plenary

The ICRC, and some of the prison authorities they work with, will present a reflection on the impact of global crises on countries already struggling with conflict and other forms of violence.

The sacrifice of many human lives in overcrowded and under-resourced places of detention around the world that was predicted with the advent of COVID-19 largely did not occur as feared. What contributed to the resilience of the prison systems? Why were things not as bad as initially feared?

These reflections will be followed by a Question & Answer session in which the audience can ask their questions in Spanish, French or English.

The session will be developed in partnership with the African Correctional Services Association (ACSA) and various Director Generals and Commissioner Generals of Prison Services.

Speakers

Yves Guimont

Prison System Adviser, International Committee of the Red Cross, Burkina Faso

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Anthony Hassall

Prison System Advisor, International Committee of the Red Cross, Philippines

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Stephen James Johnston

Prison System Adviser, International Committee of the Red Cross, Lebanon & Jordan

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Zoia Khasia

Prison System Advisor, International Committee of the Red Cross, Ukraine

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Dieudonné Koyenga

Prison System Adviser, International Committee of the Red Cross, Côte d'Ivoire

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Maria Noel Rodriguez Tochetti

Prison System Adviser, International Committee of the Red Cross, Colombia & Venezuela

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Yves Guimont

Prison System Adviser, International Committee of the Red Cross, Burkina Faso

With nearly 28 years of experience at the Correctional Service of Canada, Mr. Guimont has acquired a wide range of experience and knowledge about the correctional environment and its issues in many fields.

Having begun his career as a correctional officer, Mr. Guimont has, over the years, climbed through the ranks that have led him to hold several senior management positions, namely: Director of the National Monitoring Centre; Warden of the Penitentiary; Regional Director, Security and Operations; Director of Inmate Incident Investigations and, later, Acting Director General, Inmate Incident Investigations. This is in addition to his involvement and leadership in the establishment and implementation of the Correctional Service of Canada’s national correctional officer deployment standards and work schedules.

In 2019, Mr. Guimont was approached as a consultant by the International Committee of the Red Cross to support a unique project to provide the Bureau of Jail and Penology of the Philippines with a standardized and consistent security personnel deployment strategy and also, with a planning tool. Finally, in January 2021, Mr. Guimont joined the International Committee of the Red Cross as a prison systems advisor and has since worked in many settings in Africa, including Burkina Faso, Burundi, Tunisia and Nigeria.

Anthony Hassall

Prison System Advisor, International Committee of the Red Cross, Philippines

Tony joined the ICRC in February 2021. He is currently a Prison System Advisor based in the Philippines. Tony supports the ICRC’s ability to analyse and understand detention as a whole, provides analytical, strategic and methodological advice to the ICRC delegation. He supports the national prison authorities in developing and implementing sustainable solutions to humanitarian problems encountered in detention.

Tony started UK. He held a range of policy and operational positions. He has been in charge of a number of prisons before becoming senior civil service as director responsible for one of the ten Corrective Services regions.

He moved to Canberra, Australia in 2009 as Chief Operating Officer of Immigration Detention Services responsible for Immigration Detention Centres across Australia. In 2014 he moved to Perth, Western Australian, as Deputy Commissioner Corrective Services before being appointed Commissioner of Corrective Services where he was responsible for Adult Justice Services, Youth Justice Services and Community Corrections.

Tony has over 34 years corrections and immigration experience and holds qualifications in Business Administration (Executive) and Social Science.

Stephen James Johnston

Prison System Adviser, International Committee of the Red Cross, Lebanon & Jordan

Stephen Johnston has 33 years’ experience in prisons and corrections. He has been working as a Prison Systems Adviser for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) since 2014. In this position, he has supported ICRC work in many countries, to include Thailand, Cambodia, Philippines, Malaysia, Myanmar, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Jordan and Lebanon. Prior to joining the ICRC, Stephen held various positions within the EU(EULEX) and UN(DPKO) in the Balkans and West Africa. Stephen started his career with HM Prison service of England and Wales.

Zoia Khasia

Prison System Advisor, International Committee of the Red Cross, Ukraine

Dr. Zoia (Maia) Khasia has 31 years of experience in prisons and corrections. She has been working as a Prison Systems Adviser for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) since 2015. In this position she has supported ICRC work in Central Asia and Eurasia regions. Before joining the ICRC, she has experience working as a short-term expert for Penitentiary and Probation for the EU, CoE and NORLAG projects. She started her career in the Prison system of Georgia (Former head of the penitentiary administration and the penitentiary system training center of Georgia).

Zoia Khasia is a Doctor of Law, Associate Professor, author of several publications and articles on prisons and probation.

Dieudonné Koyenga

Prison System Adviser, International Committee of the Red Cross, Côte d'Ivoire

Dieudonne Koyenga has 22 years experience in prisons and corrections. He has been working as a Prison Systems Adviser for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) since 2015. In this position, he has supported ICRC work in various countries, including Rwanda, Burundi, Chad, Madagascar, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger and Cameroon. Before joining the ICRC, Dieudonne served in the Burkina Faso Prison Service as both Head of Service in charge of operations and capacity building, and as National Director (2006 to 2010). He worked for the UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti for two years before being appointed as the first Director General of the Penitentiary Training School of Burkina Faso. He managed the process (including resource planning and the development of policies and operational procedures) to implement the full operation of this institution which still runs successfully today.

Maria Noel Rodriguez Tochetti

Prison System Adviser, International Committee of the Red Cross, Colombia & Venezuela

Mrs. Maria Noel Rodriguez joined the International Committee of the Red Cross in June 2018 as a Prison System Advisor in the Regional Delegation of Mexico (covering El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras) and also, as a focal point for women deprived of their liberty at the Latin American level. As of January 2022, Mrs. Rodriguez was affected to the Colombia and Venezuela delegations as a Prison System Advisor, and also, integrates the CETIP project in charge of the gender component.

Mrs. Rodríguez began working as a penitentiary official in Uruguay (1993-1997), then was Coordinator of social reintegration programs of the Citizen Security Project implemented by the Ministry of the Interior of Uruguay (IDB/UNDP, 1998-2001). She was Advisor on Penitentiary Policy at the Ministry of the Interior of Uruguay (2005-2010). During her career, she worked in several United Nations agencies. At the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime -UNODC- she was coordinator of the Prison Reform Team for Central America and the Caribbean in Panama (2010-2018), at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights -OHCHR- Coordinator of the project "Strengthening of national institutions involved in the penitentiary system" (2003-2004), in ILANUD, coordinated the "Study of the conditions of women deprived of liberty in Central America" (2002-2003). She was also a consultant to UNDP and the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights on security, prison systems and human rights, and a Rómulo Gallegos Fellow at the Inter-American Human Rights Commission.

Mrs. Rodríguez holds a master in Law and Social Sciences from the Faculty of Law of the University of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, and holds a "Diploma in Penitentiary Law” at the Barcelona University.