Sciences Po, 27 rue Saint Guillaume 75006 Paris
Amphitheatre Boutmy
7:15 - 9 pm
The United States has often been presented as champions of incarceration. According to the World Prison Brief, the United States counted 1.77 million prisoners as of late 2021. Behind these numbers are shattered lives, difficult reinsertion, and past inmates whose lives will be forever marked by their time in a prison cell. In the face of these harrowing statistics, the Innocence Project was created in 1992 and has been a driving force in reforming the criminal justice system, fighting to clear the names of those wrongfully convicted, and advocating for a prison system that heals instead of hurts. With a mission to overturn miscarriages of justice, the Innocence Project sheds light on flaws in the legal system, offering hope and redemption to innocent individuals behind bars.
With 73,080 inmates as of April 1st, 2023 and an average occupancy rate of 142.2%, France has set a new record for incarceration. Regularly pointed out by the European Court of Human Rights, its carceral system is increasingly characterized by this overpopulation, as well as by alarming detention conditions for inmates.
In a transatlantic conversation where oversight meets advocacy, Vanessa Potkin, Director of Special Litigation at the Innocence Project, will be joining Dominique Simonnot, France’s General Controller of Places of Deprivation of Liberty, to discuss prisoners’ rights and systemic reforms to the criminal justice systems in France and the United States.
This conference is linked to WRONGED, a group exhibition at Galerie Marguo organized with Olivier Renaud-Clément, on view from February 22nd to March 30th, 2024. Gathering the works of Isabelle Armand, Winfred Rembert, and Yvonne Wells, WRONGED reflects on the failings of the American judicial system and the legacy of racial oppression in today's carceral and penal practices.
OPENING REMARKS & MODERATION
Jeremy Perelman, Director of the Sciences Po Law School Clinic, Associate Professor at Sciences Po Law School
SPEAKERS
Vanessa Potkin, Director of Special Litigation at The Innocence Project
Dominique Simonnot, General Controller for Places of Deprivation of Liberty
Produced with Olivier Renaud-Clément
