Given the climate of hostility and numerous free speech violations in Egypt, conference participants gathered in Beirut to discuss a myriad of themes related to the Egyptian carceral experience and the country's vast population of prisoners, looking at past and present regimes. Academics, artists, former detainees, filmmakers, human rights experts, and others drew upon a wide array of experiences dealing with an assortment of issues linked to Egypt's long but unfortunate history using detainment as a tool of social, political, and religious suppression.

Presentations included the actions taken by regimes to avoid the iconism that sometimes accompanies detaining and killing movement leaders; the watering down of human rights language amid the harsh realities of Egypt today; the normalization of incarceration in film, and the vast body of prison-inspired literature, amongst other topics. Finally, discussions focused on the failure to bring about prison-related change using current tactics, something the MENA Prison Forum intends to tackle through its innovative approach towards themes of imprisonment in the region.