Building Resilience in the Northern Ireland Prison Service

ICPA 2025 Presentation by Beverley Wall and Brendan Giffen (PID323)

Authors

Beverley Wall

Director General, Northern Ireland Prison Service, Northern Ireland

Beverley was appointed as Director General of the Northern Ireland Prison Service & Director for Reducing Offending Policy, Department of Justice (NI) in July 2023.

Her focus since taking up post has been on improving both the rehabilitation support available for people in prison and recruitment and professional development support for staff. She is currently leading the development of the Northern Ireland Executive’s strategy to reduce offending and reoffending.

Beverley joined the Northern Ireland Civil Service in 1990 and has worked in a number of government departments, in both policy and operational roles in areas including the Prison Service, Community Safety, Urban Regeneration, the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry and Housing policy. She has worked as Private Secretary to Ministers under both Direct Rule and Devolved Government Administrations. She was previously Director of Governance in the Department of Education, a role that involved the establishment of a single Education Authority for Northern Ireland. She also served as Deputy Secretary of Strategic Policy and Professional Services Group in the Department for Communities.

She holds a BSc (Hons) in Business Management and an MSc in Innovation Management in the Public Service.

Beverley was appointed to the Board of the European Organisation of Prison and Correctional Services (EuroPris) in September 2025. EuroPris is a membership association connecting prison professionals around Europe that promotes ethical and rights-based imprisonment, facilitates information exchange, and provides expert support to members, partner organisations and policy makers.

Brendan Giffen

Strategy & Governance, Northern Ireland Prison Service, Northern Ireland

Brendan Giffen is currently the Head of Strategic Communications and Public Affairs for the Northern Ireland Prison Service. He has held various roles in the public sector since graduating from Ulster University in 1993. He worked on media relations during the peace negotiations in Northern Ireland in the early 2000s before working as Secretary on the Review of Parading in Northern Ireland. He joined the Prison Service in 2012 and held key roles in prison reform, staff wellbeing and Communications.

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