Frances Crook OBE (born 1952) is the former Chief Executive of the

Howard League for Penal Reform The Howard League for Penal Reform is a registered charity in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest penal reform organisation in the world, named after John Howard. It was founded as the Howard Association in 1866 and changed its name in 1921, ...

, the oldest

penal reform Prison reform is the attempt to improve conditions inside prisons, improve the effectiveness of a penal system, or implement alternatives to incarceration. It also focuses on ensuring the reinstatement of those whose lives are impacted by crimes. ...

charity in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Early life and career

Frances Crook grew up in London, her father was Jewish and had a successful business selling 'home movies and comedy films' She graduated in history from

Liverpool University , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

, and subsequently qualified as a teacher, working in secondary schools in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

until 1980. Having grown up with a strong sense of social justice, she was the campaigns co-coordinator at the British Section of

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

from 1980 to 1985, and was twice elected as a

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Councillor for

East Finchley East Finchley is an area in North London, immediately north of Hampstead Heath. Like neighbouring Muswell Hill it straddles the London Boroughs of Barnet and Haringey, with most of East Finchley falling into the London Borough of Barnet. It has ...

in the

London Borough of Barnet The London Borough of Barnet () is a suburban London boroughs, London borough in North London. The borough was formed in 1965 from parts of the ceremonial counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. It forms part of Outer London and is the largest ...

, serving from 1982 to 1990, leading on

housing Housing, or more generally, living spaces, refers to the construction and assigned usage of houses or buildings individually or collectively, for the purpose of shelter. Housing ensures that members of society have a place to live, whether it ...

and

planning Planning is the process of thinking regarding the activities required to achieve a desired goal. Planning is based on foresight, the fundamental capacity for mental time travel. The evolution of forethought, the capacity to think ahead, is consi ...

and holding weekly surgeries.

The Howard League for Penal Reform

Appointed in 1986, she was responsible for the Howard League's research programmes and campaigns to raise public concern about issues including

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

s in

prison 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, correc ...

, the over-use of custody, poor carceral conditions, young people in trouble and mothers in prison. Under her direction the number of staff and turnover of the charity grew twenty-fold. She described this work as her 'life’s mission'. and joked that she suffers from nominative determinism as her name literally means “free the criminals”. Crook has campaigned for the whole UK penal system to be subject to a radical overhaul. She has highlighted the structural inequalities and injustice of the existing system and argued that a smaller more ethical and compassionate prison system would save public money, transform lives and change incarceration for good. During her career she worked with nearly 20 different cabinet ministers responsible for prisons and finds that the barriers to reform change with the government and politics of the day. She has spoken publicly and written in a range of media to highlight 'the most despicable and nastiest' rules such as banning of books in prisons. The charity has secured a contract with the Legal Services Commission to provide legal advice to children in custody and has taken a number of successful

judicial review Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incompat ...

s that have improved the treatment of children and young people in custody and on release. Working with the police to reduce the number of children who are arrested has had a significant impact. Reflectng in 2021 she said "''The arrest is the gateway, the door to the system. When we started this campaign there were a third of a million child arrests, last year there were 70,000. The result of that, there used to be three and a half thousand children in prison, now there are 500.''” She announced her retirement in 2021 after 30 years.

Other work

Crook has been a

school governor In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, school governors are the overseers of a school. In state schools, they have three main functions: *Giving the school a clear vision, ethos and strategic direction *Holding the headteacher to account for the ...

and chaired various local community organisations. She was a Governor of the

University of Greenwich The University of Greenwich is a public university located in London and Kent, United Kingdom. Previous names include Woolwich Polytechnic and Thames Polytechnic. The university's main campus is at the Old Royal Naval College, which along with it ...

for 6 years and chaired the Staff and General Committee, retiring in 2002. In 2005 to 2008 she served on the board of the

School Food Trust A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compul ...

, the non-departmental public body charged with overseeing the implementation of national standards for school food to every school in England and Wales. In 2009 she was appointed an NHS non-executive director of Barnet Primary Care Trust, responsible for a budget of £550 million delivering health services to 350,000 people. In 2010 she was appointed a Senior Visiting Fellow at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

. In 2022 she established the Commission on Political Power along with

Frances D'Souza, Baroness D'Souza Frances Gertrude Claire D'Souza, Baroness D'Souza, (''née'' Russell; born 18 April 1944) is a British scientist and politician. She held the office of Lord Speaker from 1 September 2011 to 31 August 2016. Early life, education and early career ...

as co-convenor. to generate a national debate on potential legislative and structural reform of the UK’s political system.

Honours

She was awarded the

Freedom of the City of London The Freedom of the City of London started around 1237 as the status of a 'free man' or 'citizen', protected by the charter of the City of London and not under the jurisdiction of a feudal lord. In the Middle Ages, this developed into a freedom or ...

in 1997 and the

Perrie Award The Perrie Award has been presented annually since 1995 by the Perrie Lectures Committee to the person who has done most to promote an understanding of the work of the Prison Service in England and Wales, and pushed forward the development of p ...

in 2005. Crook was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) for services to youth justice in the 2010

New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

. She has honorary doctorates from

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

and

Leeds Beckett University Leeds Beckett University (LBU), formerly known as Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) and before that as Leeds Polytechnic, is a public university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has campuses in the city centre and Headingley. The univ ...

. In 2010 she was appointed a Senior Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics and is an Honorary Visiting Fellow at Leicester University

References

External links

Howard League for Penal ReformFrances Crook's Blog

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crook, Frances 1952 births Living people Alumni of the University of Liverpool British activists British women activists Councillors in the London Borough of Barnet Labour Party (UK) councillors Officers of the Order of the British Empire People associated with the University of Greenwich School governors Prison-related organizations British Jews Women councillors in England