The Commissioner General for Rwanda Correctional Service (RCS), CGP Juvenal Marizamunda and his delegation, are on a five-day visit in Florida, US, to participate in the International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA) annual meeting. The ICPA is a non-profit association for prison professionals, with an aim to contribute to public safety and healthier communities by encouraging and enabling best correctional practices in prisons. It is based in Brussels, Belgium, and hosts an annual conference in a different city each year. This year’s theme, ‘‘Excelling beyond the ‘old’ normal: corrections after the global pandemic,’ is seeing discussions around strategy and reform in response to the Covid-19 Pandemic, innovations in community corrections, digital change strategies for reducing reoffending, creating effective correctional and rehabilitative cultures, and human rights, among others. In 2015, RCS was awarded an international trophy in recognition for protecting the environment by effective use of biogas in Rwanda’s prisons. Rwanda is also set to host the ICPA conference in 2025, becoming the second African country to do so, after Namibia which hosted it in 2014. This year’s conference started on October 23 and will run through October 28.
