Navigating the Road to Reform: Lessons from Northern Ireland (PID083)

11.30am – 12.30pm BST, 15 May 2025 ‐ 1 hour

Plenary

This panel examines the challenges associated with undertaking penal reform from a practice, oversight, academic and lived experience perspective. It does so using a case study of penal transformation in Northern Ireland. More specifically, this session will take an in-depth look at the realities of transforming Hydebank Wood from a Young Offender Institution into the first Secure College in the UK. In this session, the realities of implementing the reforms are discussed, as well as academic research on the mechanisms underpinning the reforms presented. How effective these reforms have been is also investigated from an oversight and lived experience perspective.

Speakers

Michelle Butler

Professor in Criminology, Queen's University Belfast, United Kingdom

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Jacqui Durkin

Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice in Northern Ireland, Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

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Richard Taylor

Governor In Charge at Hydebank Wood College, Northern Ireland Prison Service, United Kingdom

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Michelle Butler

Professor in Criminology, Queen's University Belfast, United Kingdom

Michelle Butler is a Professor of Criminology at Queen’s University Belfast and Co-Director of the Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Her primary research interests include imprisonment, penal reform, desistance and criminological psychology. She has a consistent track record of conducting research in prisons, including prisons in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Uganda and Colombia. In recent years, she has investigated prison misconduct, the outcomes people experience in prison, penal policy and prison-based parenting programmes. She has also been involved in projects assessing how a history of conflict may affect penal reform, desistance and reintegration.

Jacqui Durkin

Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice in Northern Ireland, Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

Jacqui Durkin was reappointed by the Minister of Justice to serve a second term as the Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice in Northern Ireland in November 2024.
Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (CJI) was established in 2003, as a statutory corporation sole and arm’s length body of the Department of Justice. The Chief Inspector is independent and develops and delivers an inspection programme across the criminal justice system in organisations within its legislative remit. As a United Kingdom National Preventive Mechanism member, CJI inspects places of detention in Northern Ireland including prisons, the Juvenile Justice Centre, court custody and police custody. CJI reports are laid in the Northern Ireland Assembly and published.

Prior to her first term of appointment as Chief Inspector, Jacqui was a Senior Civil Servant in the Department of Education in two policy Directorates.
Jacqui was the first Chief Executive and Accounting Officer of the Northern Ireland (NI) Courts and Tribunals Service, created as an agency of the Department of Justice on the devolution of justice in Northern Ireland in 2010. She has over 30 years’ experience in the Northern Ireland justice system in a number of NI Court Service leadership roles.
Outside work, she sits on the Board of Governors of two schools and is a Home Start volunteer.

Richard Taylor

Governor In Charge at Hydebank Wood College, Northern Ireland Prison Service, United Kingdom

Richard Taylor is a career Prison Officer having joined the Northern Ireland Prison Service in 1988. He has experience of working with all categories of offenders through a variety of multi-disciplinary roles from Prison Officer through to Governor In Charge. Previous roles include the Governor In Charge of the Prison Service College with responsibility for the introduction of the new Custody Prison Officer role and the design, delivery and evaluation of a comprehensive induction learning programme for new recruits. Richard is currently the Governor In Charge of Hydebank Wood College and Women’s Prison having returned to the role in 2021 following his term as Governor In Charge at Magilligan Prison.
Richard holds a Master of Science degree from the University of Ulster in Human Resource Management. He is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personal Development and over the last thirty years has held posts as the NI Treasurer, Committee member and Employment Law Advisor. In 2014 he was awarded a Professional Fellowship from the United States of America State Department following his secondment and studies on the ‘Rule of Law’, correction facilities, rehabilitation and reintegration into the community. In 2007 his work was recognised in London with the presentation of a Senior Butler Trust Award & Bursary for an outstanding contribution to the effective care of offenders
In 2024 Hydebank Wood underwent a full unannounced inspection of both the Female and Young Offender facilities and achieved top marks (16/16) for each inspection, resulting in Hydebank Wood now being recognised as a model of good practice.
Richard’s personal interests include restoration of vintage vehicles, trial motor cycling and long distance running.