What are prisons for, and how did they become a growth industry?

Featuring: Chris Munro, Eric Schlosser and Debbie Kilroy

John Safran (Chair)

Chris Munro was the Managing Editor of Tracker Magazine, Australia's most read Aboriginal Affairs publication which was shut down in 2014. Prior to this he was the Political Editor for the National Indigenous Television news team based at Parliament House and a reporter for the National Indigenous Times newspaper. Chris currently works as a freelance journalist. 

As an investigative journalist, Eric Schlosser continues to explore subjects ignored by the mainstream media and gives a voice to people at the margins of society. He’s followed the harvest with migrant farm workers in California, spent time with meatpacking workers in Texas and Colorado, told the stories of marijuana growers and pornographers and victims of violent crime, gone on duty with the NYPD Bomb Squad, and visited prisons throughout the US. Schlosser’s first book, Fast Food Nation (2001), helped start a revolution in how Americans think about what they eat. His second book, Reefer Madness (2003), looked at America’s thriving underground economy.  Both were New York Times bestsellers. His most recent book, Command and Control (2013), examines the efforts of the military, since the atomic era began during World War II, to prevent nuclear weapons from being stolen, sabotaged, or detonated by accident. Command and Control was a New York Times Notable Book, a Time Magazine Top 10 Nonfiction Book, was a finalist for the 2014 Pulitzer Prize (History) and also received the Gold Medal Award (Nonfiction) from the 2013 California Book Awards.

Debbie Kilroy was imprisoned for drug trafficking in 1989 for 6 years. She was stabbed and witnessed the only murder inside an Australian women’s prison, and lost almost everything: her marriage, her home and her children. After her release in 1992, she established Sisters Inside, which advocates for the human rights of women in the criminal injustice system. Sisters Inside has won international acclaim for its work and for a unique structure which ensures it is driven by women inside prison. Debbie was awarded the OAM for services to the community for working with women in prison 2003 and in 2004 she was awarded the National Human Rights Medal. She has a degree in social work and is a qualified gestalt therapist. Debbie was the first person in Australian who has serious convictions to be admitted by the Supreme Court of Queensland to practice law in 2007.

John Safran (chair) is an award-winning documentary-maker of provocative and hilarious takes on race, the media, religion and other issues. 

About VICE

VICE is the world’s preeminent youth media company and content creation studio. Launched in 1994, VICE now operates in over 30 countries and distributes its programming to hundreds of millions of viewers each month across digital, linear, mobile, film and socials. VICE includes an international network of digital channels; a television and feature film production studio; a magazine; a record label; an in-house creative services agency; and a book-publishing division. VICE's award-winning programming has been recognised by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Peabody Awards, Sundance Film Festival, PEN Center, Cannes Lions, Frontline Club, Knight Foundation, American Society of Magazine Editors, LA Press Club, and Webby Awards, among others.

http://sydneyoperahouse.com/ideas

Subscribe and find more videos from Ideas at the House: http://www.youtube.com/ideasatthehouse

Get a new talk every week on our podcast:
Audio - https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/sydney-opera-house-ideas-at/id640445035
Video - https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/sydney-opera-house-ideas-at/id640444896

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/IdeasAtTheHouse
Twitter - https://twitter.com/ideasatthehouse

Incarceration: A VICE Panel, Festival of Dangerous Ideas 2015

As a result of tough-on-crime legislation, high recidivism rates, and a whole range of other factors, Australia is locking up more people than ever before. But does more people in prison mean less crime on the streets? The evidence says otherwise.

To help launch _[The Incarceration Issue](http://www.vice.com/en_au/magazine/22/9a)_, VICE Australia and the [Festival of Dangerous Ideas 2015](http://fodi.sydneyoperahouse.com/) put together a panel featuring Eric Schlosser, Debbie Kilroy, Chris Munro, and a lot of very disturbing statistics around prison, and the booming industry it creates.

VICE Australia

​To help launch The Incarceration Issue, VICE Australia and the Festival of Dangerous Ideas 2015 put together a panel featuring Eric Schlosser, Debbie Kilroy, Chris Munro, and a lot of very disturbing statistics around prison, and the booming industry it creates.

FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Watch Our FODI Panel on Incarceration Chaired by John Safran

FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Watch Our FODI Panel on Incarceration Chaired by John Safran

ONE EMAIL. ONE STORY. EVERY WEEK. SIGN UP FOR THE VICE NEWSLETTER.