Minister announces prison review team
Monday, 21 June 2010Justice Minister David Ford today announced the composition of the team which will review the conditions of detention, management and oversight of prisons.
In a statement to the Assembly, the Minister said that the review presented an opportunity to look innovatively at the issues affecting prisons and to draw on best practice more widely.
The five person review team will be chaired by Dame Anne Owers, who is due to retire shortly as HM Chief Inspector of Prisons. She will be supported by Phil Wheatley, retired Director General of NOMS, Fergus McNeill, Professor of Criminology and Social Work at Glasgow University, Paul Leighton, former Deputy Chief Constable of the PSNI and Clodach McGrory, barrister and former Human Rights Commissioner, who is currently a Parole Commissioner and a Chairman of Appeal Tribunals.
Mr Ford said: "The Review team which I have assembled has a wide range of expertise and I trust that their deliberations will provide a route map for the future direction of the Prison Service. I envisage that their work will be undertaken in several stages, the first of which will include a review of the regime at Maghaberry Prison.
"Secondly, it will examine other issues identified in the Hillsborough Agreement, such as the replacement prison for Magilligan and the accommodation for women offenders. It will also consider wider issues pertaining to the Service, including the future composition of its workforce and its culture and ethos."
The review team will begin their work next month and the Minister has asked them to report to him in two stages, firstly in the autumn of 2010 and the second stage by early 2011.
In wishing the team well the Minister said: "I trust the work of these experts will enable us to achieve a new consensus on the role of custody and its management, as the Prison Service and the wider justice system emerges from the legacy of the past.”
Notes to editors:
1. The review team is as follows;
Dame Anne Owers
Dame Anne Owers was appointed HM Chief Inspector of Prisons on 1 August 2001. From 1992 to 2001 Anne was Director of JUSTICE. During that time she was a member of various Government committees including the Home Office Task Force on the implementation of the Human Rights Act and the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Legal Education and Conduct. She carried out work on human rights, asylum and the provision of legal services, becoming a member of both the Public Interest Advisory Panel of the Legal Services Commission and the Bowman Review of the Administrative Courts.
She was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2009 New Year honours list and stands down as HM Chief Inspector of Prisons on 14 July 2010.
Phil Wheatley
Phil read Law at Sheffield University and on graduating in 1969 joined HM Prison Service as an Officer. He worked in a variety of prisons before becoming Governing Governor of Hull Prison in 1986. In 1990, he moved to HMPS Headquarters where he held a variety of operational management jobs. He was Director General of HMPS from 2003 to 2008, before becoming Director General of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), a post he held until recently. In 2004 he was made a Companion of the Order of Bath (CB).
Fergus McNeill
Fergus is a Senior Lecturer in the Glasgow School of Social Work (a joint venture of the Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde) and a Network Leader in the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (at the University of Glasgow). Prior to becoming an academic in 1998, he worked for a number of years in residential drug rehabilitation and as a criminal justice social worker. His research interests and publications have addressed a range of criminal justice issues including sentencing, community penalties and youth justice. Latterly his work has focused on the policy and practice implications of research evidence about the process of desistance from offending.
Paul Leighton
Paul Leighton retired in 2009 as Deputy Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland. He worked closely with the Chief Constable in providing overall direction to the service. Prior to this he had been an Assistant Chief Constable with the Northumbria Constabulary. In the 2005 Birthday Honours, Paul was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal in recognition of his services to policing and he was made a CBE in 2010.
Paul is currently Chair of Crimestoppers in NI, a regional Board member of the Prince’s Trust and an Advisory Board member for Childline and NSPCC. In 2009 he was appointed by the Home Secretary to sit on the Hillsborough Independent panel dealing with issues arising from the Hillsborough football tragedy in which 96 people died in 1989.
Clodach McGrory
Clodach practiced at the Bar in Northern Ireland from 1990 to 1995 and subsequently worked at the Law Centre (NI). She was a member of the Standing Advisory commission on Human rights from 1998 to 1999 and served on the Irish Human Rights Commission from December 2000 until august 2006. She is currently a part-time Chairperson of Social Security Appeal Tribunals and is also a parole Commissioner. She was a Sentence Review Commissioner from 1998 until earlier this month.
2. In January 2010 Phil Wheatley was appointed a non Executive Director of the Northern Ireland Prison Service. He is stepping down from that role for the duration of the review.
3. The terms of reference for the review team are as follows;
To conduct a rolling review, in line with the agreement at Hillsborough Castle of 5 February 2010, encompassing the conditions of detention, management and oversight of all prisons. The review is to report to the Minister of Justice.
It is envisaged that the review will consist of several stages. The first will include a review of the regime at Maghaberry Prison. That will take account of:
(a) recent reports on Maghaberry (including the CJINI/HMCIP inspection and the two Pearson reports);
(b) developments in both the integrated and the separated regimes already in place and previous reviews of the regime;
(c) the development plans already in hand by the Governor of Maghaberry, in consultation with Prison Service management;
(d) NIPS management’s programme for Workforce Reform and associated projects.
Second, the review will cover the remaining matters identified in the Hillsborough Agreement, building on the work achieved in the first stage. It is envisaged this stage may be in two strands. One strand would include:
(a) issues specific to Magilligan Prison, including particularly the replacement of the prison recognising that much of the accommodation and infrastructure is not fit for purpose; and
(b) issues at Hydebank Wood relating in particular to the development of the strategy for women offenders including the scope for a discrete facility, and developments in relation to juvenile offenders at Hydebank Wood in liaison with the Youth Justice Agency.
The second strand would consider wider issues affecting the future development of the Northern Ireland Prison Service, including its future composition and its culture and ethos.
The Review Team will draw on the extensive body of work that has been undertaken by the Criminal Justice Inspectorate in its consideration of the current issues facing the Prison Service. The Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice will also act as an adviser to the Review on these issues, including the current review of governance.
In all its work, the Review Team will wish to take the views of the full range of stakeholders, including prison management, staff, trades unions, prisoner fora and other prisoner representative groups, and the Assembly Justice Committee. It will also be informed by developments in Prison Services across these islands. It is envisaged that the first stage of the review should be reported to the Minister by autumn 2010 and the second stage by early 2011.
4. Media enquires to Prison Service Press Office on 028 9052 5354 or out of hours contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.
5. For photograph of Minister with the review team contact the NIPS Press Office
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