The Case for Prison Reform

The next three years will be pivotal in shaping the future of UK prisons. At this critical juncture, the Prison Reform Trust comes to The Conduit to explore what a just, humane and effective penal system looks like in 2026. Join us for an urgent discussion of prevention and policy, featuring senior operational leaders from the sector.

With a panel made up of Alice Dawnay of the Common Ground Justice Project, Katy Swaine Williams from The Centre for Women’s Justice, writer and philosophy teacher Andy West, and Mark Day and Pia Sinha of the Prison Reform Trust, we’ll consider the perspectives of victims, prisoners and the wider public, seeking coherence between them, actionable solutions, and ways to reframe the voice of prison reform.

Speakers

Alice Dawnay founded pioneering London prison resettlement charity Switchback, leading its development into an award-winning organisation supporting thousands of young men to transform their lives after prison. With over 20 years’ experience working in criminal justice and therapeutic change, Alice has also worked as an Associate Prisons Inspector and consultant and last year launched the Common Ground Justice Project; an initiative to engage people across divides in the sometimes polarised debate around crime and justice.

Andy West has taught philosophy in over twenty-five prisons since 2016. He is the author of The Life Inside: A Memoir of Prison, Family and Learning to be Free (Picador 2022). His writing has featured in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Evening Standard, Aeon, 3AM Magazine and Huck. His book was recently adapted into the acclaimed BBC One series Waiting for the Out.

Katy Swaine Williams started as a solicitor in the private sector, and has since spent over 20 years in senior voluntary sector roles focused on criminal justice, human rights and equality. At the Prison Reform Trust she co-ordinated Lord Laming’s review of looked after children in the criminal justice system, pursued new legal protection for women whose offending is driven by their experience of domestic abuse, and helped develop the London Blueprint for Women in Contact with the Criminal Justice System. Working freelance since 2020, Katy continues to focus on overcoming gender discrimination against women and girls in and around the criminal justice system. At Centre for Women’s Justice, Katy leads a research and advocacy project which aims to achieve permanent change in the state’s treatment of women at risk of criminalisation due to domestic abuse. Other recent projects include work with Hibiscus Initiatives, Brighton Women’s Centre and MOPAC. Katy is an associate of Centre for Justice Innovation and Homeless Link, and served as a member of the independent Women’s Justice Board appointed by government in 2025 to help shape the work to reduce women’s imprisonment.

Pia Sinha joined the Prison Service in 1999 as a Higher Psychologist at HMP & YOI Holloway. After joining HMP Wandsworth as a Senior Psychologist, she took up the post of Head of Safer Prisons, followed by Head of Reducing Re-offending at HMP Wormwood Scrubs. She then took up her first Deputy Governor role at HMP Send, and subsequently Downview and Liverpool. In 2013 Pia was appointed to her first Governing role at HMP & YOI Thorn Cross, going on to govern at both Risley and Liverpool. In 2020 she became Acting Deputy Director Probation Reform Programme, then the Workforce Programme, before becoming Director of Women in November 2021. Pia’s vision for the Women’s Directorate was to enable safe, compassionate and individualised care for women. In April 2023 Pia became the CEO of the Prison Reform Trust.

Mark Day is Deputy Director at the Prison Reform Trust. He began his career at PRT in 2010 as the charity’s Head of Policy and Communications. Previously he was deputy director of the centre-left thinktank Progress and also deputy editor of Progress Magazine. Before that he was head of communications at the international thinktank Policy Network. Mark has worked in Parliament as a researcher for a Labour MP and also in the parliamentary office of the lobby group Stonewall. He is also Clerk to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Penal Affairs.