Richard Price - Chairman Expand Richard Price began his career as a Probation Officer in Inner London and then worked for an advisory body to government on the Personal Social Services before being appointed Deputy Director of the International Year of the Child. He then moved into the private sector and, having worked for a government backed IT company, founded the public relations and marketing consultancy The EuroPR Group where he was Managing Director for 25 years. During that time he was also a Board Director of The Public Relations Consultants Association and Chairman of its International Committee.He is a former Chairman of The Oxford and Cambridge Club and the Merton Chamber of Commerce and is a trustee of the English choral group, The Sixteen, and a trustee of the Merton Homelessness Project.
Christine Ashley Expand Chrissie used our services when her son was in prison in 2008 in Spain. Chrissie works as an Office Manager for Goldsmiths College. She has experience of event management, HR, training and compliance and is a trained Workplace Mediator amongst other skills. In her spare time she is currently Chair of Trustees for the Archway Project, a charity that seeks to enrich the lives of young people living in London, which is taking up a fair amount of her time. Chrissie has spoken at several Prisoners Abroad events and is passionate about our work and the positive impact it makes to people’s lives.
Mark Atkinson Expand Mark Atkinson is Chief Executive of the disability charity Scope which exists to drive change across society so disabled people have the same opportunities as everyone else. Prior to Scope, Mark spent almost four years with Ambitious about Autism, the national charity for children and young people with autism, supporting the development of new services and advocacy on autism education. He is currently a member of the British Bankers’ Association Consumer Panel which exists to advise the UK’s retail banking sector on consumer issues. Mark has worked in senior communications, policy and strategy roles for a number of leading national charities and not-for-profit organisations.
Mary Catterall Expand Mary has been a supporter of Prisoners Abroad since 2005, when she saw a documentary about Bang Kwang Central Prison, which featured a British prisoner who mentioned how the charity was helping him. Her interest in Prisoners Abroad grew steadily as a result of the charity’s inclusive approach to individual supporters and the inspirational quality of the newsletters. Mary has a corporate background with experience in business management and IT and has worked as a consultant and senior level leader in a number of large global corporations, most recently overseeing service transition for BP’s largest international IT programmes in Group Finance and Retail. She also has five years’ experience as a company-appointed Trustee Director for a UK occupational pension fund.
Martin Atkinson MA FCA - Treasurer Expand Martin trained as an accountant in London, initially working in the city before moving to the voluntary sector in 1995. He has been Finance Director for several medium size charities, most recently Ambitious About Autism, and currently combines working as a charities finance consultant with a second career as an artist. He travels extensively and has lived and worked in Zambia, where he managed a honey factory, and India. Martin became treasurer for Prisoners Abroad in 2018.
Prof Nick Hardwick CBE - Vice Chair Expand Nick became Chair of the Parole Board in March 2016. He also has a part-time role a Professor in Criminal Justice at the School of Law, Royal Holloway University of London. From 2010 to 2016 he was HM Chief Inspector of Prisons responsible for reporting on the treatment of prisoners and the conditions in prisons, immigration detention, police custody and other forms of detention throughout England and Wales. The inspectorate is an independent, human rights based body responsible for delivering the UK’s obligations that arise from its status as a party to the UN Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture. From 2003 to 2010 Nick set up and was the first Chair of the Independent Police Complaints Commission. The first half of his career was in the voluntary sector working with young offenders for the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (NACRO), young homeless people for Centrepoint and refugees and asylum seekers for the Refugee Council. He is the voluntary Chair of New Horizon Youth Centre and Patron for Unlock.
Dr Vivienne Nathanson Expand Vivienne recently retired from the British Medical Association where she headed departments including medical ethics, public health and human rights. She is currently Principal Advisor on Public Health to the World Medical Association as well as Chair of the Ethics Committee at RCOG. She has lectured on public health and on health care ethics for many years and is currently an honorary Professor of Health care ethics at the University of Durham School for Health, as well as lecturing regularly at the University of London. She has had a longstanding interest in prison health and has visited a number of overseas prisons with the International Committee of the Red Cross. She lectures regularly on prison health and health care ethics.
Matthew Rhodes OBE Expand After a degree in Archaeology and Anthropology at Cambridge Matthew moved into the law. He trained at City firm Ashurst and spent two years post qualification at the firm as a commercial litigator. He left in 2000 to set up www.rollonfriday.com, the online legal community, and has worked for it ever since. Matthew is also a founding director of BCKR, a venture designed to get partners at law firms on the boards of charities and NGOs, a visiting lecturer at BPP law school and a trustee of the Solicitors’ Benevolent Association. He launched a scheme in the last recession enabling lawyers made redundant to provide free advice to charities and law centres. He has just launched a new project in conjunction with St Mungo’s to get homeless people working at City law firms. He was appointed an OBE in the 2011 New Year's List for services to legal pro bono.
Toby Rogers Expand Toby was a service user of Prisoners Abroad while serving a 10 year sentence in the USA for firearms possession. The advice and support that he received from Prisoners Abroad was instrumental in securing his passport, which allowed for his deportation in a timely manner. He was deported back to the UK in April 2016, relying on Prisoners Abroad to get immediate help with food, shelter and benefits. Upon accessing support, learning the country, and regaining his feet, Toby began volunteering at Crisis Skylight London, and worked as a support worker with St. Giles Trust, while studying his NVQ in Information, Advice and Guidance. He now works full-time, with St. Giles as a Keyworker, helping people with their individual needs, and supporting them to get back into work. Toby has also volunteered with Prisoners Abroad, participating in a video production, and representing Prisoners Abroad at various events.
The Right Hon. Lord Neuberger Expand Lord Neuberger’s legal career started in 1974. His work in criminal justice and law include his appointment of Lord Justice of Appeal and a member of the Privy Council. Lord Neuberger’s rise to the Court of Appeal and then to the House of Lords was one of the quickest in recent times. Some of his notable achievements include his lead in an investigation for the Bar Council into widening access to the Bar, and serving on the Panel on Fair Access to the Professions. He retired from President of the Supreme Court in the summer of 2017, after a five year service. Read about Lord Neuberger joining Prisoners Abroad in December 2017.
Naetha Uren Expand Naetha Uren, was born in UK and went to USA at age of 8 and is a British citizen. Living in Texas, she qualified as a licensed chemical dependency advisor. She has worked in both the private and non-profit sectors with roles doing counselling and education related to substance misuse and the impact on families. Naetha became a client of Prisoners Abroad after being arrested in 1998. Her mother originally established contact with Prisoners Abroad in February 1999 and Naetha was deported five months later in July. We were able to help her with resettlement services on her return, which included: identification, National Insurance number, travel, accommodation, CV, etc. Thanks to the Resettlement Service getting her on her feet, within six months of her return she had both a job and accommodation. She was working in hotel management and then with student accommodation for the University of Reading. We are thrilled Naetha has joined Prisoners Abroad's Board of Trustees.