Campaigners have attacked the make-up of the panel chosen to review prisons in England and Wales. All five people leading the review are White women. As far as anyone knows, none has spent time in custody.
In July, then-justice secretary David Lammy named Dame Amber Rudd, the Conservative former home secretary, to lead the review. That was weeks before Andy Burnham became Prime Minister. Her Independent Review of Prisons will look at safety, security, staffing and capacity, among other issues.
Last week the Ministry of Justice said Justice Secretary Alex Norris had appointed four people to help Ms Rudd. Critics immediately called the line-up unbalanced.
Around 95 per cent of prisoners are male, and around 25 per cent come from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds.
Who is on the panel
Dame Lynne Owens is a former Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and former Director General of the National Crime Agency. She brings expertise in organised crime.
Sue McAllister is a former prison governor. She has served as Director General of prisons in Northern Ireland and as the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, and brings expertise in running prisons.
Lara Newman used to lead LocatED, the Department for Education’s property company. She has advised governments on capital investment and brings expertise in construction.
Dame Clare Barclay is a former senior executive at Microsoft. She brings expertise in technology and artificial intelligence.
Calls for lived experience
Paula Harriott, chief executive of the ex-prisoners’ charity Unlock, welcomed the review. But she said: “You cannot redesign prisons solely through the eyes of those who manage them.”
She argued that any serious reform must draw on people who have lived inside prisons, and that rehabilitation should sit at its heart alongside security. Unlock is also concerned that the panel does not reflect the racial diversity of people in prison. Ms Harriott said racial disproportionality and unequal treatment must be central to the review, not side issues.
Gloria Morrison helped found Joint Enterprise Not Guilty by Association, a campaign group. She said the panel should reflect the ethnic mix in prisons if the review is to achieve anything meaningful. She added that written submissions alone would not be enough.
Former prisoner Sean Bw Parker said: “They wouldn’t appoint an all-male panel to review women’s prisons.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said the panel “brings a wealth of expertise, but its work will be informed by a much broader range of voices”. The spokesperson said these would include frontline staff, governors, charities, unions and people with lived experience. They will contribute through a public call for evidence and visits to prisons across England and Wales.
Ms Harriott said people with lived experience should do more than send in comments. In her view, the test of the review will be whose knowledge it values and whose voices shape its findings.
Ms Rudd and her team will visit prisons before they publish their report. At the time of Mr Lammy’s announcement in July, the review was due to report its findings by December 2026.
