Ice in the Stomach: Reforming Prisons at Home and Abroad

ANNOTATED TRANSCRIPT

“ICE IN THE STOMACH”: REFORMING PRISONS AT HOME

AND ABROAD

Steven L. Chanenson, Synøve N. Andersen, Jordan M. Hyatt, Are Høidal,

Kenneth Eason, and Patricia Connor-Council*

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1775

TRANSCRIPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1776

CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1789

INTRODUCTION

Correctional culture is notoriously diff‌icult to change.

1

Simply recognizing that there

is a problem and wishing for better prisons is not enough to engender meaningful

reform. It takes hard work, dedication, and continuous support from multiple stakehold-

ers. At its core, however, improving carceral systems requires a team of people dedi-

cated to change. The Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons put it this

way: “Efforts at culture change cannot succeed and bear fruit . . . without recruiting and

retaining a highly qualif‌ied off‌icer corps and great corrections leaders.”

2

Those people exist. Several of them are engaged in an important experiment

attempting to make positive change a reality.

In October 2020, the American Criminal Law Review partnered with the National

Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers to host a multi-day Symposium entitled Prison

Brake: Rethinking the Sentencing Status Quo. The Symposium’s initial two panels high-

lighted the work of the Scandinavian Prison Project (“SPP”), which examines whether

variations on Scandinavian penal values and practices can work in Pennsylvania.

* Steven L. Chanenson is a Professor of Law at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law. Synøve

N. Andersen is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Sociology and Human Geography at the University of

Oslo. Jordan M. Hyatt is an Associate Professor in the Department of Criminology and Justice Studies at Drexel

University. Are Høidal is the Governor of Halden Prison in Norway. Kenneth Eason is the Superintendent of the

Pennsylvania Department of Corrections’s State Correctional Institution at Chester. Patricia Connor-Council is a

Unit Manager at the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections’s State Correctional Institution at Chester.

1. See, e.g., Brandon Moss, Dean Williams Pushes for a Culture Change, 1 INSIDE REP. 1 (2020), https://

tinyurl.com/InsideReportJuly2020; Michelle Theriault Boots, ‘What We Do Doesn’t Work’: As Warden, He

Tried to Radically Change the Culture of Alaska’s Maximum-Security Prison. It Led to His Exit., ANCHORAGE

DAILY NEWS (Mar. 5, 2020), https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/crime-courts/2020/03/05/what-we-do-doesnt-

work-as-warden-he-tried-to-radically-change-the-culture-of-alaskas-maximum-security-prison-it-led-to-his-exit/;

Mike Cason, Commissioner Says Alabama Prison System Culture Must Change, AL.COM (May 27, 2019), https://

www.al.com/news/2019/05/commissioner-says-alabama-prison-system-culture-must-change.html.

2. John J. Gibbons & Nicholas de B. Katzenbach, Confronting Conf‌inement: A Report of the Commission on

Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons, 22 WASH. U. J.L. & POL’Y 385, 406 (2006).

1775