Speakers
Plenary Session
What if the reason our justice systems struggle to create lasting change is not because we lack solutions—but because we don’t yet fully understand the problem? Drawing on lived and professional experience from both sides of the justice system, Gethin Jones challenges delegates to look beyond prison walls and consider the wider systems that shape the lives of those who enter them. From childhoods of trauma and education to poverty, addiction, mental health and social exclusion, this keynote explores how these interconnected systems create the pathways into custody and why no single organisation can solve the challenge alone. Through his own journey—from growing up in care, imprisonment and addiction to leading international justice consultancy—Gethin demonstrates how understanding every perspective is essential to creating meaningful change. He argues that lasting reform requires a 360-degree view of justice, bringing together practitioners, policymakers, researchers, people with lived experience and communities as equal partners. This keynote provides the foundation for the conference panel, Partnering with Lived Experience, challenging delegates to rethink how lived experience is used—not as a symbolic voice, but as an essential source of insight for creating justice systems that are fairer, more effective and fit for purpose.
Gethin Jones is the Founder and CEO of Unlocking Potential, an international consultancy working across the UK, Australia and the United States to help create justice systems that are fit for purpose and fairest for all; this includes those who work within it, live within it and the communities it serves. Through consultancy, leadership development, keynote speaking and programme design, Gethin works with prisons, probation services, governments, charities and private sector partners to strengthen collaboration and improve outcomes across the justice system.
What makes Gethin’s perspective unique is that he has experienced the justice system from both sides of the same door. After spending much of his early life in care, followed by eight years in prison and addiction, he rebuilt his life before going on to spend more than a decade working in public services, progressing from volunteer to senior manager responsible for a £1.5 million programme tackling health inequalities. Today, he combines lived and professional experience to challenge assumptions, bridge divides and bring together the voices of those who work within the system, those who have lived through it, and the communities it serves. His plenary session, Two Sides of the Same Door, explores why lasting reform depends on moving beyond single perspectives towards genuine collaboration and a 360-degree understanding of justice.