About the Conference

Prison systems worldwide face persistent and interrelated challenges, including overcrowding, high recidivism, limited access to rehabilitation, mental-health needs among incarcerated populations, gaps in the protection of human rights, and insufficient pathways to effective social reintegration. These widespread challenges, present in Africa, Europe, North America and Latin America, necessitate international cooperation, comparative research and innovation in public policy within the correctional sector.

Building on the First Global Conference held in Santo Domingo on 10 December 2025, the Congress seeks to expand this initiative into a sustained international platform for research, policy development, academic exchange, and technical cooperation. Led by ONAPREP, it aims to advance the modernization of penitentiary systems through sustainable, evidence-based rehabilitation, reintegration, and mental-health-informed correctional models.

The Congress will open on 10 December, Human Rights Day. This hybrid high-level academic and technical forum will bring together researchers and universities, correctional authorities and policymakers, international organizations, mental-health and rehabilitation specialists, civil society, and technical experts.