Team
The Team
The Centre has a small number of full-time staff. Much of its work is carried out by Associates working on an ad hoc basis on particular projects. This way of working helps to fulfil one of the aims of the Centre, which is to make a network of prison experience available on an international basis.
Dr Peter Bennett, Director
Peter is a social anthropologist by training. He studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies in the University of London and graduated with a PhD in 1983, having focussed his studies on South Asia. He is a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Peter joined the Prison Service of England & Wales in 1983 and subsequently governed HM Prisons Wellingborough and Nottingham. He was Governor of HM Prisons Grendon and Springhill between 2002 and 2011.
Helen Fair, Research Associate
Helen has a degree in Psychology and Sociology from the University of Sheffield. She joined the Centre in 2001 and is the first point of contact for the Centre’s research work.
Veronica Murrey, Administrator
Veronica joined the Centre in 2009 and is the first point of contact for all administrative matters.
Andy Barclay, Projects Director
Andy has been ICPS Projects Director since 1997 and has led many of the Centre’s long term projects in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, South Asia, Latin America and currently in North Africa His previous career in the Prison Service of England and Wales spanned 27 years as a prison governor in a variety of posts in prisons and in headquarter policy units.
Roy Walmsley, World Prison Brief Director
Roy Walmsley worked until 2000 in the Research, Development and Statistics Directorate of the UK Home Office. He worked for two years with the European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations (HEUNI), carrying out a study of prison systems of Central and Eastern Europe. He has also worked as a consultant with the Council of Europe and the UN Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division. Roy maintains contact with prison services around the world as he updates the statistics on World Prison Brief.
Colin Allen, Associate
Colin worked for many years as a prison governor before becoming Deputy Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales in 1989. He takes a particular interest in women prisoners and juvenile prisoners. He is a Trustee of the Prison Reform Trust and Prisoners Advice and Care Trust. Colin joined ICPS as an Associate in 2003 and has worked on projects in Brazil, Libya and China.
Rob Allen, Associate
Rob Allen was Director of ICPS from 2005 until July 2010. Between 2001 and 2005 he was Director of Rethinking Crime and Punishment at the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation in London. His previous experience includes being Director of Research and Development at the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders, Head of the Juvenile Offender Policy Unit in the UK Home Office and a member of the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales. He has extensive experience of international penal reform work, mainly in the field of juveniles and alternatives to prison.
Tomris Atabay, Associate
Tomris joined ICPS in 2011. She has a degree in Russian Studies from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London. She has worked in the field of human rights and penal reform for many years in an international capacity, including with Amnesty International, Penal Reform International and most recently as Criminal Justice Reform Expert for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), where she was responsible for leading the development of the Office’s prison reform programme. She is the author of numerous UNODC publications.
Peter Atherton, Associate
Peter was a prison governor for many years. Latterly he was Deputy Director General of the Prison Service of England and Wales, having previously been Director of High Security Prisons. He leads ICPS prison reform project in Algeria and is also involved in its research into high security prisoners and issues relating to extremism in prisons.
Alistair Bailey, Associate
Alistair is a management consultant specialising in public service management and strategic management of prison systems. He has a background in social work, community development and psychotherapy and has worked with juvenile offenders in a residential setting. He has been involved in ICPS prison improvement projects in Chile, Brazil, Morocco, Libya and Algeria and has assisted the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the International Committee of the Red Cross in preparing senior management development courses.
Jamie Bennett, Associate
Jamie is currently Governor of Grendon and Spring Hill Prisons and has worked in a range of prisons. He is Editor of Prison Service Journal and has written widely on criminal justice issues.
Dr Shane Bryans, Associate
Shane has worked as an operational prison governor in the Prison Service of England & Wales and as a prison policy specialist for over 20 years. For a number of years Shane was deputy head of the prison staff training college, before moving to the national headquarters to work on strategic planning, prison regulations and prison policy. He is currently a Director in an agency of the UK Home Office. He is a Visiting Professor at Staffordshire University Law School in England. Since 2008 he has undertaken work for the UN in Haiti, Mauritius, occupied Palestinian Territories, Uganda, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Philippines. He also spent three years in Turkey as the Council of Europe’s senior advisor to the Ministry of Justice on its Penal Reform Programme. He is currently project managing the ICPS project in Libya.
Per Colliander, Associate
Per spent his professional career in the Swedish Prison and Probation Administration, latterly as Director of Strategy and International Matters. He has been a regular expert for the Council of Europe on matters relating to prison reform, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, and took a leading part in establishing the Council's Nord-Balt project.
Christine Fisher, Associate
Christine spent 27 years working in prisoner education, first as a teacher, then as an education and training manager in a range of prisons for men, women and young offenders. She joined ICPS as an Associate in 2008 and worked on a project in Libya to develop training and education for prisoners.
James Haines MBE, Associate
Jim was Principal of a College in the north of England and has been a member of the Independent Monitoring Board at HM Prison Wymott since 1993. He has worked on the Centre's projects in Turkey as well as projects in Sudan, St Helena, Columbia, Peru, Argentina and Mexico. By training Jim is a linguist and handles material in Spanish on behalf of the Centre.
Richard Kuuire, Associate
Richard is a lawyer by training. He worked in the Ghana Prisons Service from 1980 to 2003, holding the position of Director General for his final three years. He has worked with the United Nations Department of Peace Keeping Operations as prisons co-ordinator in a number of countries and currently leads its work in South Sudan.
Danny McAllister CBE, Associate
Danny worked in the Prison Service of England and Wales for 27 years as a governor, area manager and as the Director of High Security. He was a member of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) management board. In 2009 he completed a report for the United Nations prior to the transfer of prisons in Kosovo from the UN to the Kosovan correctional services. He joined ICPS in 2012 working on the project in Libya.
Dr Mary McAuley, Associate
Mary is an academic and author with an internationally recognised expertise in Soviet and Russian politics. She headed the Moscow office of the Ford Foundation between 1995 and 2002, where she led the Foundation's programme on human rights and legal reform. She is currently working on a study of policy regarding juvenile offenders in Russia.
Michael Newell OBE, Associate
Mike served for over 31 years in the Prison Service of England & Wales, during that time he held a variety of operational posts. He has worked extensively with prisoners held in conditions of the highest security and those who had been assessed as being highly dangerous and disruptive. He has been a Non-Executive Director of a large Mental Health Foundation Trust as well as providing senior management coaching and mentoring services. He has experience in a variety of international settings and currently leads the work of ICPS with the Ministry of Justice in China
Vivienne O'Neale, Associate
Vivienne has 30 years experience in social work and has been involved with issues relating to race and safeguarding children and young people for many years. She retired from the Social Services Inspectorate in 2002, where she had monitored a range of provisions, including young offenders institutions. In her time, Vivienne has been a researcher, lecturer and has worked with government and non-governmental organisations in the U.K. and the Eastern Caribbean where she was Chief Welfare Officer to the Government of Grenada.
Dr Sharon Shalev, Associate
Sharon is a human rights worker and a criminologist. She is the author of 'A Sourcebook on Solitary Confinement' (www.solitaryconfinement.org) - a comprehensive reference point for prison practitioners, policy makers, lawyers and human rights organisations. Her latest book, 'Supermax: controlling risk through solitary confinement' was published by Willan in 2009.
Anton Shelupanov, Associate
Anton is an expert on innovation and justice, currently based at the Young Foundation in London. He has 11 years’ experience in the field of penal reform. Previously he led the work of ICPS on Prison Healthcare and managed a number of high profile projects in Europe and Asia. He has been an adviser and consultant to a number of governments and organisations including the Council of Europe, the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime.
Vera Tkachenko, Associate
Vera currently leads the UNODC prison reform project in Kyrgystan and was previously director of the Legal Policy Research Centre, an independent research institute in Kazakhstan. She is a board member of Penal Reform International and from 2001 to 2006 was Director of PRI Regional Office for Central Asia. As well as involvement in a range of criminal justice reform issues in Kazakhstan, Vera has wide experience of work in other countries of the former Soviet Union.
