External Prison Oversight, Human Rights and the Pandemic: International Perspectives (PID096)

1.30pm – 3pm EDT, 25 October 2022 ‐ 1 hour 30 mins

Parallel Plenary

This panel is an opportunity to hear from three Heads of external oversight agencies from three distinct jurisdictions as they reflect on the impact of the pandemic on their respective operations. The panel will also examine how they will modify their approaches to continue to deliver their important legal mandate after the global pandemic. Heads of external oversight agencies from the United States (Inspector General for DOJ), Australia (ACT Inspector of Correctional Services) and Canada (Correctional Investigator) will discuss (1) the impact of covid on incarcerated individuals in their respective jurisdictions; (2) how they reorganized themselves during the pandemic to maintain their respective legal mandates; and (3) how their oversight operations and priorities may change moving forward.

Speakers

Dr. Ivan Zinger

Correctional Investigator, Canada's Office of the Correctional Investigator, Canada

Find out more

Michael Horowitz

Inspector General, United States Department of Justice

Find out more

Fiona Rafter LLB LLM EMPA

Inspector, Custodial services, New South Wales, Australia

Find out more

Dr. Ivan Zinger

Correctional Investigator, Canada's Office of the Correctional Investigator, Canada

Dr. Ivan Zinger received his degree in Common Law from the University of Ottawa in 1992, and completed his articles of clerkship at the Federal Court of Canada. In 1999, he obtained his Ph.D. at Carleton University (Ottawa) in Psychology of Criminal Conduct. He is an Adjunct Professor with the Law Department at Carleton University.

Dr. Zinger joined the Public Service of Canada in 1996. He held a variety of senior managerial, policy and research positions in public safety-related federal departments and agencies. In 2004, he joined his current employer, the Office of the Correctional Investigator (Federal Prison Ombudsman), and in 2009 he became the Executive Director and General Counsel. On January 1, 2017, Dr. Zinger was appointed as Correctional Investigator of Canada pursuant to the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, and he was reappointed for a 5-year term on January 1, 2018.

Over the years, Dr. Zinger has developed expertise in domestic and international human rights law in prison settings. His academic publications are significant and include articles on a variety of subjects, including prison oversight, ethics, dangerous offenders, correctional treatment, the diagnosis of psychopathy, conditional release, penal segregation and the impact of tough on crime measures on corrections.

Dr. Zinger recently launched the Expert Network on External Prison Oversight & Human Rights under the governance of the International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA). The Mission of the Network is to "share information, best practices and lessons learned on effective external prison oversight to enhance openness, transparency and accountability of prison authorities". Dr. Zinger is the recipient of the 2014 APEX Partnership Award. This prestigious award is one of six presented annually by the Association of Professional Executives in the Public Service of Canada (APEX).

Michael Horowitz

Inspector General, United States Department of Justice

Michael E. Horowitz was sworn in as the Inspector General of the Department of Justice (DOJ) on April 16, 2012, following his confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Mr. Horowitz was previously confirmed by the Senate in 2003 to serve a six-year term as a Commissioner on the U.S. Sentencing Commission. As Inspector General, Mr. Horowitz oversees a nationwide workforce of more than 500 special agents, auditors, inspectors, attorneys, and support staff whose mission is to detect and deter waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct in DOJ programs and personnel, and to promote economy and efficiency in Department operations. Since April 2020, he has simultaneously led the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, a Committee of 22 federal Inspectors General that Congress created to oversee the over $5 trillion in federal pandemic-related emergency spending. From 2015 to 2020, Mr. Horowitz served as the Chair of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), an organization comprised of all 75 federal Inspectors General. Mr. Horowitz worked from 2002 to 2012 as a partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham, & Taft LLP, where he focused his practice on white collar defense, internal investigations, and regulatory compliance. He also was a board member of the Ethics Resource Center and the Society for Corporate Compliance and Ethics. Prior to working in private practice, Mr. Horowitz worked in DOJ from 1991 to 2002. He served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1991 to 1999, where he was the Chief of the Public Corruption Unit and a Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division. In 1995, he was awarded the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service for his work on a complex police corruption investigation. Mr. Horowitz earned his Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School and his Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, from Brandeis University.

Fiona Rafter LLB LLM EMPA

Inspector, Custodial services, New South Wales, Australia

Fiona was appointed as the Inspector of Custodial Services NSW in Australia in March 2016 and is a member of the Expert Network on external Prison Oversight and Human Rights. The Inspector of Custodial services NSW is an independent statutory position that reports directly to NSW Parliament and has jurisdiction over all adult custodial facilities and youth detention centres in NSW.

As a legal practitioner with over 30 years experience in the private and public sector practicing in litigation, criminal law and administrative law, Fiona has been involved in advocating for adults and young people in custody since the early 1990’s. Before commencing as the Inspector, Fiona was a senior executive in the Queensland government. This included a period as the Deputy Director-General of Queensland Corrective Services, the Government’s representative on the Queensland Parole Board, and leading a review of corrective services legislation in Queensland, culminating in the development and implementation of new legislation.

Since being appointed as the Inspector of Custodial Services for New South Wales, Fiona has completed over 75 inspections of custodial facilities and published 26 reports. The office of the Inspector has also undertaken significant reviews into managing radicalisation in prisons, the use of restrictive practices in youth detention, rehabilitation services in NSW prisons, the delivery of health services in prisons, and prisoner transfers and transport. The Inspector also manages the largest Official Visitor program in Australia and is committed to increasing the number of Aboriginal people appointed as Official Visitors. The current work of the office includes a review of the response to COVID-19 in NSW custodial facilities.