Speakers
Prof. Michele Deitch
Alycia Welch M.P.Aff., M.S.S.W.
Network Session
This is the annual meeting of the Network on External Prison Oversight and Human Rights. It is an opportunity for members to meet each other and learn about their various roles, and to discuss and plan the Network's upcoming activities.
Michele Deitch is a Distinguished Senior Lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin, where she holds a joint appointment at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and at the UT School of Law and directs the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab (PJIL), which is home to the National Resource Center for Correctional Oversight. Professor Deitch is widely recognized as one of the leading experts in the U.S. on the issue of correctional oversight and prison reform, and she has written and published extensively on these topics. She also advises policymakers and agencies around the U.S. on prison and jail safety issues and on the development of independent correctional oversight bodies. In 2019, the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE) awarded her the Flame Award for her contributions to the field of prison oversight.
Professor Deitch chairs the ICPA’s Network on External Prison Oversight and Human Rights. She served as the original drafter of the American Bar Association’s Standards on the Treatment of Prisoners. Prior to entering academia, she served as a court-appointed monitor of prison conditions in Texas and as a criminal justice policy advisor to the Texas Legislature.
Professor Deitch holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School, an M.Sc. from Oxford University, and a B.A. from Amherst College.
Alycia Welch is the Associate Director of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab (PJIL) at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, where her scholarship focuses on the safe and humane treatment of people in custody and where she regularly advises policymakers and agencies on prison and jail conditions. She also co-instructs graduate-level policy research courses on prison reform. Recently, she was appointed as the Vice Chair of ICPA’s Network on External Prison Oversight and Human Rights.
Previously, Alycia directed a transitional housing program for women exiting prison or jail, developed an alternative to incarceration program for young adults, oversaw a multistate initiative providing training and technical assistance on behavioral health and criminal justice issues, and as an analyst in the Texas legislature, helped establish changes to the criminal legal and public health systems. The recipient of several national policy research awards, Alycia has authored numerous reports on developing more humane approaches to corrections. She is a co-author of The Pandemic Gender Gap Behind Bars, a report on how COVID affected women in custody and how correctional agencies should adjust their approach to better meet women’s needs. She also served on the Sheriff’s Advisory Committee on the Travis County (Texas) Women’s Jail and co-authored a roadmap for the county, which has been used to guide similar changes across the U.S.
Alycia holds a M.P.Aff. and an M.S.S.W. from the University of Texas at Austin, as well as two B.A.s from the University of Michigan.
