ARE YOU COMING FOR THE 24^TH APCCA IN SINGAPORE?

The 24^th Asian and Pacific Conference of Correctional Administrators (APCCA) will be held in Singapore, Pan Pacific Hotel, from 3 October 2004 (Sunday) to 8 October 2004 (Friday). The registration and information package on the 24the APCCA has already been sent out for all APCCA members and participating jurisdictions. We welcome more participants to visit our garden city! 

Conference Programme

As agreed at the 23^rd APCCA, There will be five agenda items for the Conference. They are:

Our APCCA Rapporteurs, Dr Neil Morgan and Mrs. Irene Morgan have prepared a comprehensive Discussion Guide to assist delegates in the preparation of papers. Delegates are encouraged to refer to the Discussion Guide when drafting their papers to assist in structuring the conference discussions and to allow comparison across countries.

Three workshops have been tentatively planned for the Conference and delegations are invited to present on any of the topics. Depending on the interest of the participants, the specialist workshops may be reduced to 2.

What’s New!

Exhibition! There will also be an exhibition on the Application of Technology and Innovation in Correctional Settings during the 24^th APCCA.   The exhibition will showcase some of the latest prison-related technologies. The exhibits will include both hardware and software equipment, ranging from security and communications to IT.

More Interaction! This is the first time that the Singapore Prison Service is hosting the APCCA. We would be revising the format for discussion of agenda items to facilitate more in-depth sharing amongst participants:

As in previous Conferences, presentation and discussion of agenda 1 will be held at a Conference setting where all delegates will be present. Participating countries/ areas will take turns (in alphabetical order) to present their papers and 10 minutes of presentation time will be allocated for each country. As discussed at the 23^rd APCCA, all delegates are strongly encouraged to make use of Powerpoint in their presentations.

The discussion of agenda items 2 – 5 will be conducted concurrently in small breakout group sessions to facilitate closer interaction between participants. The Conference will then reconvene as a whole to discuss the conclusions and views of the breakout groups.

The process of discussion at breakout group session is as follow:

a.                   First, the 24^th APCCA Secretariat will provide a content summary based on the papers submitted by the countries. This will be followed by discussion among the delegates in the breakout group.    

b.                  Each breakout group will be managed by a process facilitator (Singapore Prison Officer) and a content facilitator (participating countries/ areas). The process facilitator will manage the process of discussion while the content facilitator, an expert on the agenda topic, will work with the process facilitator to manage the content of discussion during the breakout group session.

c.                   At the end of each breakout group, time will be allocated for the groups to discuss and summarise its main findings. Each group will then appoint a presenter to present these findings when the Conference reconvenes as a big group.  

d.                  A delegate from the group will be nominated as the presenter.  After the nominated presenter has presented the group’s views to the full conference, the item will be opened up for detailed discussion, including questions and answers.

This is the first time that discussion of agenda items will be held in the format of breakout group discussion. Conducting discussion in small groups will help to:

a.                   Provide opportunity for every delegate to share his/her views and comments on the agenda items

b.                  Promote spontaneous group interaction such that delegates are able to build on each other's ideas and comments to provide an in-depth view. This would have been more difficult to attain at a big group setting.

c.                   Encourage delegates to express their feelings and opinions fully.

The Singapore Prison Service, together with the Rapporteurs, hope that the revised format for agenda items will help to facilitate more in depth discussion and sharing of expertise among the delegates. The Singapore Prison Service will do our best to offer all delegates a fruitful and enjoyable Conference. Details on the 24^th APCCA, including the 24^th Registration and Information Package, will be available on the APCCA Website at http://www.apcca.org by end of May 2004.