1.6 million behind bars: Are there any lesson to learn from the US prison system?

Clive Stafford Smith, John Podmore, and David Jessel

will take part in third annual Prisoners’ Advice Service/www.thejusticegap.com debate.

When: Tuesday May 21^st at 630pm

Where: Gustav Tuck Lecture Theatre, UCL, London

David Jessel (Rough Justice, Trial & Error) will chair a debate including:

• Clive Stafford Smith – founder of Reprieve;
• Hamja Ahsan – brother of Talha Ahsan, detained without trial in the UK for six years before being extradited to US last October (http://freetalha.org/)
• Dr Sharon Shalev – research fellow Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford, author of Supermax: controlling risk through solitary confinement, and www.solitaryconfinement.org
• John Podmore – ex-prison governor and inspector, and currently a writer, broadcaster & consultant
• Judge John Samuels QC – former Circuit Judge, current Judicial member of the Parole Board and Chair of the Criminal Justice Alliance
• Ian Birrell – former deputy editor of the Independent and a speechwriter for David Cameron