Dr Anita MacKay was the recipient of the 2021 Christine M Alder Book Award in 2021 for the book ‘Towards Human Rights Compliance in Australian Prisons’.
It is a huge honour to be awarded the 2021 Christine M Alder book award for my 2020 book Towards Human Rights Compliance in Australian Prisons (ANU Press), providing recognition by the society for making a ‘valuable and outstanding contribution to criminology’.
My book takes a cautiously optimistic approach to prison reform in Australia, framed by reference to the new requirements imposed by Australia’s ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT). It considers the current monitoring systems and how they will need to change to become preventive in focus in order to ensure OPCAT compliance. The book sets out 5 prerequisites for human rights compliance that are categorised as macro and micro-level – to be pursued at a system-level and within individual prisons, respectively.
A 2021 review of the book by Professor Matthew Groves notes that ‘a key feature of the book [is] the finely judged balance between cataloguing a dismal range of problems, whilst also providing a framework for reform that is as practical as it is legally sound. This striking emphasis on the practical dimension of prison reform draws the book into the realm of public policy, which may be its greatest strength. Mackay marshals an enormous amount of material from many jurisdictions and disciplines, but the book is as readable for a prison guard as it is for a judge’ (Law in Context, Vol 37, Issue 2).
The book is available for free download on the ANU Press website. Hard copies are also available for purchase.
