India to host 33rd Asian and Pacific Conference of Correctional Administrators

India will be hosting the 33rd Asian and Pacific Conference of Correctional Administrators (APCCA) in New Delhi from 22nd to 27th September.

The conference will be inaugurated by Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde. This is a prestigious event for the correctional officers to share ideas and learn from others' experiences and give direction to innovative ideas in correctional administration and welfare.

Apart from delegates from 23 member countries, the delegates from States/UTs dealing with correctional administrations will also attend the conference.

The theme of this year's conference is "Correction-Transformation-Re-integration". This pushes the agenda of the correctional welfare beyond conventional practices to assist the reintegration of the released inmates back to the society. This entails strategically planned custodial interventions which will enable inmates to gainfully employ themselves in the society and also to sensitise the societal acceptance so that they are mainstreamed without any stigma.

This ambitious agenda puts an onus on the entire criminal justice system to go beyond the ambit of their currently defined role.

Asian and Pacific Conference of Correctional Administrators (APCCA) is an organisation of 23 countries viz., Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, China, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kiribati, Korea, Macao, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga and Vietnam. India is a founder member of this organization.

India is an elected member of the Governing Board of the organization since 2008.

Every year, the annual conference is organised by the member countries on rotational basis where Correctional Administrators of member countries exchange ideas in relation to the prison reforms in the Asia Pacific region.

The conference gives correctional officers a chance to express their knowledge and exchange best practices being adopted in various countries. The conference was organised by Brunei last year.