Global Learning Experiences
Since 2015, we have fostered an international community of practice dedicated to placing health, healing, and rehabilitation at the center of humane prison policy and operations. We bring this community together through immersion programs, peer-to-peer networks, job shadows, and virtual exchanges that connect people who are incarcerated with peers across correctional systems.
Amend’s international portfolio includes reciprocal programs with Norway, Northern Ireland, and Scotland.
In Norway, participants witness the “principle of normality,” where life inside prison resembles life on the outside as much as possible – in recognition that people who are incarcerated remain members of our community and that a successful return home starts on day one of a person’s incarceration.
In Northern Ireland and Scotland, participants experience prison systems that have made significant leaps in recent years to become trauma-informed and adopt restorative justice principles in their daily practice.
In addition to these cornerstone sites, we maintain vital partnerships in Finland, Sweden, England, and Ireland, ensuring a diverse range of perspectives on how prisons can be remade to honor and maintain the dignity of both incarcerated people and prison staff.
'Show, Don't Tell' to Inspire Change
Our immersion programs are not merely site visits; they are learning experiences intentionally designed to challenge long-held assumptions, inspire innovation, and spark systemic change. By stepping into facilities where officers and residents eat together or engage in shared programming, for example, US stakeholders experience a visceral proof of concept that data alone cannot provide.
Collaboration at All Levels
Grounded in evidence from adult learning and effective change management literatures, our international programs are committed to the power of peer-to-peer learning and multidisciplinary collaboration.
Purposefully diverse, our cohorts are designed to emphasize the importance of collaboration. By involving those who make the laws, those who work the cell blocks, and those who have lived — or are living — the experience of incarceration, we aim to ensure that the vision for transformative change is holistic and grounded in reality, proving that a more humane and effective justice system is within reach.