President of the International Commission of Prison Pastoral Care

Very Rev. Fr. Brian Gowans was born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland in February 1957. Today he is the parish priest in his birthplace where his parents and two sisters live close by.

At the age of 12 he entered the junior seminary first in Glasgow 1969-71 then Aberdeen 1971-75; at 18; he entered the senior seminary near Edinburgh from 75-80 but wishing to experience life in the wider world he worked on a ship in the Shetland Isles for a year, then in the local hospital for two years 1980-83; convinced he should be a priest he continued with his studies in Durham near Newcastle and was ordained in 1985 for the Diocese of Hallam (Sheffield -South Yorkshire).

In 1993 he returned to his home Archdiocese of St. Andrews & Edinburgh and a year later was appointed as Chaplain to Polmont Young Offenders’ Institution which was the beginning of a long career in the Scottish Prison Service.

In 1998 he was appointed to post of Specialist Advisor to the SPS in effect the Head Roman Catholic Prison Chaplain based at SPS HQ; a post he held till 2017.

In 2007 he became the Vice-President of the International Commission of Catholic Prison Pastoral Care (ICCPPC) and succeeded to President in 2011 a post he currently holds.

Fr. Brian has represented the Holy See at the Council of Europe on two occasions and is a regular participant at the UNODC Crime Commission in Vienna where he is a keen lobbyist on such matters at the Mandela Rules, Mental Health issues and Overcrowding to name a few.

Today Fr. Brian is a Parish Priest in his hometown of Kirkcaldy and is the Dean of Fife, and he currently represents the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland in the Scottish Prison Service’s Chaplaincy Steering Group.

President of the Louisiana Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild

Sister Alison McCrary, SFCC is a social justice movement lawyer, restorative justice practitioner, Catholic nun, and a tribal citizen of the Ani-Yun-Wiya United Cherokee Nation (a Native American tribe). She ministers as a national criminal justice reform strategist supporting about 50 formerly-incarcerated-people-led non-profits, a spiritual advisor on Louisiana’s death row, founding Director of the Louisiana Re-Entry Mediation Program.   She formerly served as the Statewide Campaign Manager for the Unanimous Jury Coalition abolishing a 138-year-old Jim Crow law in the state of Louisiana (USA) the Executive Director of the National Police Accountability Project, President of the National Lawyers Guild, and Founding Director of the New Orleans Community-Police Mediation. As a 2010 Soros Justice Advocacy Fellowship in New Orleans, she challenged and changed policing practices and policies to transform relationships between police officers and the bearers of New Orleans’ indigenous cultural traditions.  She works on issues related to criminal justice reform, environmental justice, immigrant rights, international human rights, cultural preservation, voting rights, disaster recovery, housing rights, and provides support to various social justice movements and organizations locally, nationally, and internationally. Prior to law school, she worked at the Capital Post-Conviction Project of Louisiana providing litigation support on death penalty cases and at the United Nations monitoring the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolutions relating to women, peace, and security.  In 2009, she was an Ella Baker Fellow at the Center for Constitutional Rights.  She received her J.D. from Loyola University’s College of Law in New Orleans and her B.A. in English at Georgia State University in Atlanta. She also completed coursework and programs at Johannes Gutenburg Universität in Mainz, Germany, University of Surrey in London, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Loyola University Chicago, and Catholic Theological Union.

Muslim chaplain at Sheffield University, Sheffield Federation of Mosques

Imam Sheikh Mohammad Ismail is a prominent British Muslim scholar from Sheffield. He worked as a school inspector, education and safeguarding consultant. Gen secretary of Association of Muslim Theologians in Great Britain and Chief Imam of Birmingham Central Mosque. He served the community as a Lead Imam (Khateeb), teacher and lecturer for more than 35 years. Previously he served in HMS as prison chaplain in the 1980s. He supported and shared coordination in the NIACE national faith leaders’ training programme in the North which helped in integration of different faith communities. After studying Islamic theology, Arabic and Eastern languages, he joined Sheffield Polytechnic and Sheffield University to study and conduct research in education. He was a lecturer for 10 years in social and community education in Rotherham College of Arts.

He is amongst nine people who have been appointed as Deputy Lieutenants for South Yorkshire. This prestigious position means Sheikh Mohammad Ismail will fill in for Her Majesty's Lord Lieutenant of South Yorkshire, Andrew Coombe, as one of the Queen's representatives at ceremonial events.

He is very actively involved in multi-faith work and with different Muslim theological groups nationally and locally for more than 30 years. He through his position as a Lead Imam and through his work in education is effectively promoting community cohesion. Mr Ismail conducted training and lectures on Cultural Awareness and community cohesion in Northern Residential College Barnsley for 4 years. In South Yorkshire where he lives, he served the United mosque council for a very long time. Member of Imams and Rabi Council (MJLC) KAICIID.

At present, he is the executive board member of Sheffield Federation of Mosques. He is a patron of St Luke Hospice and other charities in Sheffield. Nationally he is a member of The National Council of Imams and Rabbis and an executive member of UK Interfaith Network. Locally he is a member of Sheffield faith leaders group. At present he is the Muslim chaplain at The University of Sheffield and a member of Sheffield Institute for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies.

Researcher and Lecturer at the Zefat Academic College

Dr. Yitzhcak Ben Yair is a researcher and lecturer at the Zefat Academic College, located in northern Israel. Yitzchak is interested in subjects such as youth at risk in the Haredi religious society (Ultra-Orthodox Jewish), religion,spirituality and especially Judaism in relation to the field of criminology. His latest research topic presents spiritual Jewish criminology - a spiritual criminological approach based on religious scriptures. This faith-based theory explains criminology from its point of view in theoretical and applied perspectives. It describes individuals and their behavior in the criminological context. This approach includes unique references to life purpose, human nature, and tendencies, freedom of choice, perception of punishment and rehabilitation. Spiritual Jewish criminology offers a universal paradigm that explains a person’s life as a spiritual journey, completed according to the Pyramid Model. The pyramid is built on two axes that describe a person’s desirable movement: the first, ranges from egocentrism to altrocentrism, while the second ranges from materialism to the spiritual. This model explains the causes of delinquency, the onset of a criminal career, and the way out of this criminal world through treatment and rehabilitation.

Founder & President of the Interfaith Youth Coalition on Aid in Myanmar

Mr. Shine is a professional Humanitarian and Social Worker who has been working in this field since before 1998 and served in several fields of expertise mostly in the field of HIV & AIDS, Youth, SRHR, Youth, Peacebuilding and Conflict Mitigation & Managements, Youth & Drugs, Mental Health & Counselling, Emergency Relief and Humanitarian field of works. He has been involved in 1st and 2nd National Strategic Planning for HIV/AIDS in Myanmar since 2006 as a Technical Support Group member and who took lead to first ever Youth Policy in Myanmar 2018. Nevertheless, being as an Imam, most of his approaches are Faith based and involved as a member of ASIAN Interfaith Practitioners Network on Religion, Peace & Conflict. Shine has formed several Youth Led Organizations and Networks around the country and also a founding member of Myanmar Interfaith Network on AIDS (MINA) and a member of Asian Interfaith Network on AIDS (AINA). He formed Interfaith Youth Coalition on Aid in Myanmar (IYCA - Myanmar) in 2004 and he is wearing several Hats in Interfaith and Youth related Networks and Consortiums not only in Myanmar but also ASIAN Regional and International Levels. Shine served as a County Coordinator for Malaysian Relief Agency(MRA) in Myanmar for 4 years and trained several Trainings of MyCorp Programme in Malaysia, which is of the Programme under Prime Minister Department of Malaysia for Empowering Young People to become a Humanitarian Heroes in the field ground.

Shine also involved in an Advocacy Campaign on Abolishing Death Penalty in Myanmar and its Workshops, Meetings and Events. As a leading organizer of Myanmar Youth Forum every year, I always focused on the Peace and Drugs issue of Young people in Myanmar. Since 2003, Shine has arranged several Workshops and Programme partnering with AHRN (ASIAN Harm Reduction Network) in Myanmar and MANA (Myanmar Anti-Narcotic Association) targeting for Youth and Young Adults in Myanmar. Shine has been involving as a Regional Organizing Committee Member of ACSC/APF (ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN PEOPLES’ FORUM) since 2007 and he throw his concern about Youth & Drugs issues and always urged to put in agenda about Abolishing Death Penalty for Young Drug users those who have been manipulated by Drug Smugglers and Traders in their own areas around ASEAN and all over the World.

Currently, Shine is working closely with Drug Policy Advocacy Group - Myanmar and involved in some of the activities such as which we have recently achieved a successful Nationwide Campaign which is namely SDP (Support Don’t Punish) Campaign-Myanmar. And also planning to start a Project on Prevention and Awareness Raising about Drugs and Its Effects to Young Peoples’ Life: A Young Soul in Grief. Shine is still presiding IYCA-Myanmar and one of the Steering Committee members of Metta Setwaing Interfaith Consortium Myanmar (MSC) as well as being part of the Outcome Group Member of KAICIID’s ASIAN Regional Programme.

University Professor at the Sigmund Freud University Vienna

Dr. Karin Bruckmüller is University Professor for Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law at the Sigmund Freud University Vienna and project leader at the Johannes Kepler University Linz (Austria).

She also worked for the Ministry of Justice and NGOs in Austria and was research Assistant in Germany at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich.

Here research focuses are: Medical Criminal Law, Prison Law , Juvenile Justice and Victims’ Rights. In this fields she gave a lot of presentations and wrote numerous (inter)national articles. She also was an expert in working groups of the UNODC and EU. 

Malaysian Catholic Priest and Prison Chaplain in Malaysia

Fr George Harrison, a Catholic priest for 16 years had served as parish priest and passionately visited prisons. He organized talks, sessions, formations for volunteers training them to visit prisons all over Malaysia. He has great passion for the prison ministry and had worked closely with the persons and the families of the incarcerated. He is very involved in the ecumenical and inter religious dialogue. Worked closely with people of other faiths in building bridges to promote harmony and peace. Recently he has been appointed to serve at the Vatican Dicastery of the Integral Human Development, Vatican City to oversee the Prison chaplaincy.

Currently he is the Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. His official capacity also includes - prison chaplaincy at the Dicastery of the Integral human Development, Vatican City. 

Auxiliary Bishop of Vienna, Vicar for Prison Pastoral Care

At the beginning of his studies Franz Scharl was very distanced from the church as an institution but was unexpectedly confronted with his Christian identity during his engagement in a Viennese yoga community.

In 1982 he began studying Catholic theology and in September 1986 entered the Vienna seminary.

On June 29, 1990, Franz Scharl was ordained as priest in St. Stephen's Cathedral. First, he was chaplain in the parish Mödling-St. Othmar; then from September 1993 to August 2000 curate for the Erlöserkirche in the provost parish Wiener Neustadt. In the 1997/98 academic year he taught as a lecturer at the Institute for Philosophy at the University of Vienna. In September 2000 he was appointed pastor of "Resurrection of Christ" in Vienna-Margareten and later elected dean for the city dean's office in Wieden / Margareten. From September 2002 he was also active as a "teaching pastor" for seminary students according to the "Vienna model" of priest training.

On February 9, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Franz Scharl as auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Vienna with the titular diocese of Gerafi in North Africa.

He was consecrated bishop on "White Sunday", the "Sunday of Mercy", on April 23, 2006 in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna by Archbishop Cardinal Christoph Schönborn.