Gordon Harry Lakes MC (27 August 1928 – 23 April 2006) was a former Deputy Director General in the UK

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 ...

. He is credited with helping to achieve improved working conditions among UK prisons.

Life and career

Gordon Lakes was born in Bridlington,

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to t ...

, in 1928. After training at Sandhurst he saw action in the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

with the

Royal Northumberland Fusiliers The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers was an infantry regiment of the British Army. Raised in 1674 as one of three 'English' units in the Dutch Anglo-Scots Brigade, it accompanied William III to England in the November 1688 Glorious Revolution an ...

and was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

. He joined the UK Prison Service in 1961 as an assistant governor. After working at several different prisons and gaining experience, he used his expertise to analyse causes of staffing problems. Put in charge of Gartree prison in 1975, he improved the management structure. He was then transferred to Prisons HQ to apply his knowledge to help improve the prison service as a whole. This he did as Deputy Director General, helping achieve consensus between unions and management on difficult issues. In 1987 Lakes was granted a CB. Following his official retirement, Lakes spent another 15 years helping to resolve further prison crises. He also worked in Europe, for example in reviewing security following five murders in Swedish prisons, and advised on rebuilding the prison systems in the Baltic States.

References and further reading

* ''The Times'', Obituaries, 17 May 2006 People from Bridlington Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Recipients of the Military Cross Royal Northumberland Fusiliers officers British prison governors British Army personnel of the Korean War British prison reformers 1928 births 2006 deaths Military personnel from the East Riding of Yorkshire {{UK-crime-bio-stub