Life Behind Bars: Compassion & Reform

The Humanist Society of Santa Barbara has been working with other groups within the Southern California Secular Coalition (SCSC) to develop and present this full-day conference entitled “Life Behind Bars: Compassion and Reform”

This one-day conference will examine issues around incarceration, from various perspectives including that of formerly incarcerated people with lived experience. The Live Oak UU Social Justice Committee is generously co-hosting the in-person event by providing the use of their facility.

We seek to better understand the causes, effects, and challenges of incarceration, and explore reform from a humanistic perspective. A wide range of expert speakers will provide valuable education and insight, to help us understand how we can all become advocates for a more humane and effective system.

Conference Agenda
Session #1: 9:00 am -11:00 am PST

• Welcome. Dave Rice - SCSC President, Margaret Downey - Freethought Society Founder & President, and Adam Conover- host of Adam Ruins Everything which has explored several aspects of the criminal justice system,
• Why Incarceration Reform Matters to Humanists. Nadya Dutchin, Executive Director of the American Humanist Association,
• A Dangerous Culture of Incarceration: Physical & Mental Health in Prison. Dr. Michael Golding, lead psychiatrist for the California Department of Corrections,
• The Prison Experience. Jon Guy will speak about what life in prison was like in a Wyoming prison, and what supported him in his journey from being incarcerated to being a published author and science communicator who writes about critical thinking, science, and philosophy. His new book is Think Straight: An Owner’s Manual for the Mind.

Session #2: 11:00 am - 12:30 pm PST

• Can Scandinavian Principles of Humanity Work in American Prisons? Preliminary Lessons from Pennsylvania. Jordan Hyatt, Ph.D., J.D. Associate Professor at Drexel University, and Gina Clark, Superintendent of the Little Scandinavia Prison.
• Drugs and Punishment in an Exceptional Country. Dr. Paul Larsson, founder of Law Enforcement Action Partnership, (L.E.A.P.) Scandinavia, and Professor of Criminology at Police University College in Oslo, Norway,
• Inside Out. Lawrence Larry, sharing his lived experience perspective,

Meal Break: 12:30 pm - 1:15 pm PST

Session #3: 1:15 pm - 3:30 pm PST

• Confessions of a Public Defender. Denise Gragg, J.D. an experienced public defender in Southern California capital cases, sharing professional & personal insights gained in dealing with defendants and their families,
• Adverse Childhood Experiences Behind Bars. Fritzi Horstman, founder of The Compassion Prison Project,
• Free Will and the Crimes of the Criminal Justice System. Dr. J. Anderson Thomson, evolutionary psychiatrist, former forensic psychiatrist
• Freedom To Choose Project: Change From the Inside. JoAnn Mermis and Benny Gutierrez on the impact of their work teaching emotional intelligence from the perspective of both a volunteer and as a previously incarcerated participant.

Session #4: 3:30pm - 5:30 pm PST

• Throwing the Book at Them: Shelving Nontheist Literature in Prison Libraries. Margaret Downey, President of the Freethought Society,
• From Prison to Microsoft. Shelley Winner-Dupree speaking on her lived re-entry experience,
• Reentry is a Journey: Challenges and Chances When Leaving Incarceration. Dr. Mona Minton and Dr. Andrea Dauber-Griffin of the Neighborhood House Association, San Diego County,
• Imagine No Religion: Towards a More Secular Criminal Justice System. Elizabeth Cavell, J.D. Associate Counsel, Freedom From Religion Foundation.

There will be time for Q&A throughout the day and short breaks at the end of each session.

This is a hybrid event which means that attendees can participate via Zoom from the comfort of their own home OR in person with a group of fellow attendees.

Santa Barbara area attendees have the option to participate in the conference with others at Fellowship Hall on the Live Oak Unitarian Universalist campus, 820 North Fairview Avenue in Goleta, CA 93117. The Live Oak Social Justice Committee is generously co-hosting the in-person event by providing the use of their facility.

Register for the in-person Goleta event on this Meet-Up site.

Register for the Zoom event at the following Zoom site:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYoc-yvqjMsGNJ9MjcMjlTzOSoj-Tz0j2bF

SCSC is a committee of The Freethought Society. The event is being cosponsored by the American Humanist Association and The Freethought Society and locally by the Humanist Society of Santa Barbara and the UU - Live Oak Congregation/Social Justice Committee.