Prison Insights 2025: a shift, a decision and a new direction.

For more than a decade, I dedicated my work to criminal justice. I believed In a future where prisons would be replaced by detention houses. When I started working at RESCALED, there was a concrete mission, replacing prisons with detention houses. Together with partners across Europe, we worked for the past decade on making these detention houses a reality. And yet, somewhere along the way, something started to shift. 

In 2025, I found myself in rooms across Europe, speaking with policymakers, practitioners, activists, researchers. We spoke about transformation, about systems change, about ‘alternatives’ for prisons. But increasingly, I felt a discomfort growing inside me. Because while we were talking, convincingly, passionately, the reality outside those rooms seemed to be moving in the opposite direction. Prisons were not disappearing. They were expanding. Faster than many of us could keep up. It was in that context that I arrived at Prison Insights 2025, organized by RESHAPE, where I had the privilege of contributing as a moderator. What I did not expect was that this gathering would become a turning point in my working life.

An organization that practices what it preaches

I have known RESHAPE for years. I have seen them grow from a relatively small organization, driven by deeply committed people, into an organization with real impact. But what has always stood out to me is not just their growth, it is their integrity. RESHAPE is an organization that truly talks the talk and walks the walk. They work according to their stated principles, backing up their words with concrete action. Whether through programs in prisons, (re)integration initiatives, or collaborations that connect institutions with communities, they are constantly translating values into practice. Looking at the program of Prison Insights 2025, this became even more visible. The day brought together voices from across the globe, from grassroots organizations to international organizations, addressing themes such as education as a bridge between prisons and communities and the role of art and storytelling in systemic change. What struck me most was the diversity of perspectives and the shared commitment to action while being very much aware of reality.

From prisons to communities

During Prison Insights 2025, something shifted in how I looked at my work. If we want prisons to disappear from our societies, we cannot only focus on detention houses, because these to become easily a tool for oppression. We need to focus on the conditions that make prisons (im)possible. We need to invest in communities. In relationships. In social infrastructures that prevent harm before it happens and that can hold it when it does. Across Europe, we are already seeing glimpses of this. Cities experimenting with restorative approaches, where conflict is addressed through dialogue rather than punishment. Initiatives where people with lived experience are central to shaping solutions. Programs that connect education, art, and justice, creating pathways that do not rely on exclusion. These are not utopias. They are practices already in motion and Prison Insights 2025 has showed us this. They show us that another reality is possible.

A personal turning point

Prison Insights 2025 gave me clarity. There is no single moment I can point to that changed everything for me. It was something more layered. I realized that I had been talking about change for too long, while witnessing too little of it in reality and doing too little about that. That realization is uncomfortable. It forces you to reflect not only on the systems you are trying to change, but also on your own position within them. The end of one oppressive system often marks the beginning of another. This is a painful truth. But it is also a necessary one. Because it asks us not only to persist but to adapt. It is perhaps that realization that made me make the decision at Prison Insights 2025 to leave my all too comfortable position at RESCALED. 

Why spaces like Prison Insights matter

Today, my work still centers on justice. But my focus has shifted. I no longer see the transformation of the prison system as something that can be achieved solely from focusing on criminal justice. I see it as something that must be built from the outside, in the heart of our communities. If we want prisons to be excluded from our societies, we need to build societies that no longer depend on them.

In a time where incarceration continues to expand and political discourse often leans toward more punishment rather than less, spaces like Prison Insights are essential because they create space for reflection, for confrontation and most importantly for connection. They bring together people who are not only imagining change but actively working towards it. Prison Insights 2025 for me was a shift, a decision and a new direction.