Decarceral Visions Conference

This 2023 conference was for people and organizations committed to ending mass incarceration and immigration detention. Specifically, the conference was designed to address important questions that come up in the work to close or prevent the construction of jails, prisons, and immigration detention centers:

• What will happen to the facilities and spaces themselves, and when should we repurpose them for community use? How can we meaningfully repurpose carceral facilities?
• What will happen to people held in these facilities? How can we ensure their release rather than transfer to another facility?
• How can we stop jail and prison construction or expansion plans in ways that direct government spending toward our communities, collaborate with planners and architects for community-led repurposing, and further just transitions?
• How do we address job loss and community economic impact upon closure? How do we critically analyze claims that new facilities will be an economic boon?
• How can government funds used for incarceration be redirected to community priorities, including just transitions and economic development?
• What can we learn from the labor and environmental movements’ just transitions framework as we move to close or prevent new carceral facilities?

Topics Covered

• Participatory and community-based planning and architecture processes in campaigns to repurpose jails, prisons, and detention centers;
• Lessons learned from campaigns to close, repurpose, and/or prevent the construction of jails, prisons, and detention centers;
• Understanding public and private financing, data analysis, and budget interventions when proposing carceral facility closure or opposing new construction;
• The role of public officials in carceral closure and just transitions;
• Just transitions for incarcerated and detained people, workers, and communities directly impacted by facility closure;
• Lessons on just transition from the environmental justice movement and consideration of the role of public officials; intersections with the environmental justice movement;
• Building and implementing a just transition framework for and with incarcerated and detained people, workers, and communities directly impacted by facility closure;
• Public health and social work perspectives on carceral closure and just transitions;
• Gender dynamics of carceral closure and just transitions;
• And more!

You can find the program for the conference here.

A password is required to access the recordings. If you were a conference participant, you should have received a password. If you did not attend the conference and would like a password, please email decarceralvisionsconference@aclu.org.

• Keynote Panel
• Welcome, Opening, Introductions / Plenary Panel: Another World Is Possible: Lessons from Campaigns to Repurpose Facilities and Plan for Just Transitions
• Workshop 1A: Just Transitions for People and Communities Directly Impacted by Closure: Incarcerated and Detained People
• Workshop 1B: Follow the Money: Understanding the Financing of Prisons, Jails, and Detention Centers
• Workshop 1C: Envisioning a New Future: Community Planning and Architecture in Re-envisioning Carceral Sites and Preventing New Facilities
• Workshop 2A: Green Justice: Lessons from the Environmental Movement
• Workshop 2B: Understanding Budgets and Fiscal Impact Statements for Carceral Closure 101
• Workshop 2C: Lawyering and Carceral Closure Campaigns
• Workshop 2D: Communications and Narrative Work for Carceral Closure
• Workshop 3A: Just Transitions for People and Communities Directly Impacted by Closure: Workers and Local Economies
• Workshop 3B: Healing Bodies and Minds: Closing Prisons, Jails, and Detention Facilities: Public Health and Social Work Perspectives
• Workshop 3C: Budget Advocacy for Carceral Closure and Just Transitions
• Workshop 3D: Post-Release Needs and Housing
• Closing

• The Jail is Everywhere: Fighting the New Geography of Mass Incarceration – webinar recording, May 23, 2024
• And Water Brings Tomorrow: Film Screening – webinar recording, January 16, 2025