His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons is the head of HM Inspectorate of Prisons and the senior inspector of

prisons A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correcti ...

, young offender institutions and immigration service detention and removal centres in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. The current chief inspector is Charlie Taylor. HM Chief Inspector of Prisons is appointed by the Justice Secretary from outside the prison service for a period of five years. The post was created by

royal sign-manual The royal sign-manual is the signature of the sovereign, by the affixing of which the monarch expresses his or her pleasure either by order, commission, or warrant. A sign-manual warrant may be either an executive act (for example, an appointmen ...

on 1 January 1981 and established by the

Criminal Justice Act 1982 In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

on the recommendation of a committee of inquiry into the UK prison service under Mr Justice May. The chief inspector provides independent scrutiny of detention in England and Wales through carrying out announced and unannounced inspections of detention facilities. Their remit includes prisons, young offenders institutions, police cells and immigration service detention centres. They are also called upon to inspect prison facilities in Commonwealth dependencies and to assist with the monitoring of

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

prison facilities. The chief inspector is not operationally part of

His Majesty's Prison Service His Majesty's Prison Service (HMPS) is a part of HM Prison and Probation Service (formerly the National Offender Management Service), which is the part of His Majesty's Government charged with managing most of the prisons within England and Wale ...

or the

Ministry of Justice (United Kingdom) , type = Ministerial Department , logo = Ministry of Justice logo.svg , logo_width = 140px , logo_caption = , picture = HomeOffice QueenAnnesGate.jpg , picture_width = 140px , picture_caption = Head ...

, and both have been criticised at times in the reports issued by the chief inspector after prison visits, or in their annual report, delivered to the Justice Secretary and presented to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. The inspectorate's independence has been interpreted differently by the different holders of the post. From the inspectorate of

Stephen Tumim Sir Stephen Tumim (15 August 1930 – 8 December 2003) was an English judge, and was Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons from 1987 to 1995. Tumim was the son of a barrister, and was educated at St Edward's School, Oxford and Worcester Colle ...

onwards, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons has been more willing to speak critically in public of government penal policy. There is also a separate post of

His Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland was established in 1981, following recommendations of the May Committee report of 1979. The Inspectorate is directly funded by the Scottish Government. As of July 2018, His Majesty's Chief Inspector of P ...

, and a

HM Inspectorate of Probation His Majesty's Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) is a statutory body and independent UK inspectorate funded by the Ministry of Justice, formed in 1936. Role and functions HMIP reports to the Secretary of State for Justice on the effectiveness of the ...

HM Chief Inspectors of Prisons

* 1981–1982: Philip Barry * 1982–1987: Sir James Hennessy, * 1987–1995: Judge Tumim * 1995–2001: General Sir David Ramsbotham, * 2001–2010: Dame Anne Owers, * 2010–2016: Nick Hardwick * 2016–2020: Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, * 2020–present: Charlie Taylor

External links

HM Inspectorate of Prisons
independent website Penal system in England Penal system in Wales {{UK-prison-stub