Dr Joanne Prescott

Building a Prison for North Wales: The Story of HMP Berwyn book - Lottery-funded legacy book project in collaboration with A Degree of Responsibility (ADOR) at Wrexham Glyndŵr University, the Ministry of Justice, and Lendlease. Published in 2017, the book documented the construction of a new prison- HMP Berwyn, capturing the journey from planning to completion. This project provided a unique insight into the scale, challenges, and impact of prison design and development, incorporating perspectives from key stakeholders.

By preserving this process in print, the book serves as an important historical and educational resource on the intersection of architecture, justice, and rehabilitation.

Victims of crime have a greater prominence within the criminal justice system, therefore, policymakers and criminal justice agencies are motivated to implement a range of victim-centered services to meet their needs. As a first point of contact after a crime, the police have a significant responsibility to support victims. With this in mind, the aim of this research was to explore if the needs of victims of crime in North Wales are being met by North Wales Police, and whether reforms to victim-centered services are perceived as providing an improved and beneficial service.

The findings of this study revealed mixed perceptions about the service provided by North Wales Police, which had an impact on overall satisfaction with the police. The study suggests that areas of good practice exist, however, more needs to be done to ensure that an enhanced quality of service is experienced by all victims of crime.

This inspection of youth offending work in Portsmouth is one of a small number of full joint inspections that were undertaken annually with colleagues from the criminal justice, social care, health and learning and skills inspectorates. The inspection in Portsmouth was a reinspection given that performance had shown poor outcomes for children and young people in 2013.

The number of children and young people entering the youth justice system in Portsmouth had continued to rise. Custody rates had fallen. The published reoffending rate for children and young people in Portsmouth at the time of inspection was 45.6%. This remained worse than the average performance for England and Wales (36.6%) but showed an improvement on previous reoffending rates. We found that over the past 18 months Portsmouth YOT and its partners had worked hard to raise performance standards. The improvements achieved were significant and in every criterion that was inspected, progress had been made. The YOT Management Board had set an ambitious improvement plan following the last inspection and this had required the full engagement of YOT staff and stakeholders.

All had effectively risen to the challenge. The resilience shown was impressive and the platform for achieving better outcomes for children and young people had been laid. The recommendations made in this report are intended to assist Portsmouth in its continuing improvements.

As a member of the Academic Development Team’s TrACE (Trauma-Informed and Adverse Childhood Experiences) strand, my role involves contributing to the integration of trauma-informed practices across the University. I work alongside colleagues to embed these practices into teaching, learning, and support services, ensuring a more responsive and supportive environment for students.

Additionally, I collaborate on research initiatives focused on understanding the impact of trauma and adverse childhood experiences, helping to inform best practices and enhance the University’s approach to supporting affected individuals.

As a member of the Ethics Committee, my role involves reviewing applications for ethical approval to ensure that all research conducted under the auspices of the University meets the highest standards of ethics and integrity. I assess projects often involving human participants, human material, personal data, animals, or research with potential environmental impact to ensure that they uphold the dignity, rights, and welfare of all those involved.

This includes evaluating the proposed methodologies, identifying potential ethical concerns, and ensuring that researchers comply with established ethical guidelines and legal requirements. My responsibility is to contribute to maintaining the University's commitment to ethical, responsible, and impactful research.