Next CIM Online Seminar: Mental Health Research in Prisons: Knowledge, Resources and Needs – Tuesday 22nd February 2022 17.00-19.00

Pamela Taylor, CBE, is a professor of forensic psychiatry in the School of Medicine, Cardiff University, and has worked clinically at all levels of secure hospital care and in the community.

Her main research has been into associations between mental disorder and violence and into mental disorders among prisoners.

She has strong international links – problems in the field are similar, but solutions differ and we can learn so much from each other.

She has a number of lines of work with the Royal College of Psychiatrists and is leading College support for community alternatives to imprisonment for people with mental disorder whose offending is related to that.

She is Editor-in-Chief of the journal "Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health".

Associate clinical director for Greenwich prison cluster. Very involved in all areas of prison mental health both locally and nationally .

Professor of Forensic Psychiatry at Cardiff University, and a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist with Swansea Bay University Health Board and Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust.

He has worked as a psychiatrist in prisons and other criminal justice settings for 25 years, and written over 1000 reports to the Courts, mainly in criminal proceedings. Professor Forrester’s clinical and research interests relate to mental health conditions as they present in the criminal justice system, including prisons, courts, police custody, probation, and other places of detention, with a focus on vulnerability and marginalisation.

Professor Forrester is also forensic lead at the National Centre for Mental Health, Director of the Offender Health Research Network Cymru, and chair of the Criminal Justice Steering Group Traumatic Stress Wales.

He chairs the Quality Network for Prison Mental Health Services, Royal College of Psychiatrists, and am Academic Secretary to the Faculty of Forensic Psychiatry, Royal College of Psychiatrists. Professor Forrester is Editor-in-Chief of the BJPsych Bulletin, Editor in Chief of the SAGE journal Medicine, Science and the Law, and sits on the editorial board for the journal Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health. He also sits on the executive committees of the Forensic Faculty of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the British Academy of Forensic Sciences, and the charity Crime in Mind.

Professor Forrester chairs the World Psychiatric Association's prison mental health task-force, is  a member of the Howard League’s advisory board for sentencing principles for young adults a member of the Society of Expert Witnesses, the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland, and the Royal Society of Medicine.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, an honorary member of the World Psychiatric Association, and a former member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Working Group on the Mental Health of Refugees and Asylum Seekers.

Dr Huw Stone worked as a consultant forensic psychiatrist for over 25 years in secure services for adults and adolescents, in prisons (male remand, lifer and women’s) and community forensic services. He retired from the NHS in 2019. Dr Stone was the Independent Clinical Advisor to the National Oversight Group for High Secure services from 2014 – 2021. In 2015, with a colleague, Dr Stone jointly developed standards for prison mental health teams and since then has developed and jointly led the Quality Network for the Royal College of Psychiatrists for prison mental health services. Since 2016, Dr Stone has been a specialist member of the Parole Board of England and Wales. He also undertakes independent reviews of services with the Royal College of Psychiatrists and Niche.

Bio to follow