Perrie Lecture 2026: Life Beyond the Sentence
Understanding the Implications of Long-Term Imprisonment
10:00 - 15:00
June 10th 2026
The Perrie Lecture 2026 will explore the far-reaching implications of long-term imprisonment. Not only for those living and working within prisons, but also for families, communities, and wider society. As prison populations age and sentences lengthen, the personal, social, and systemic effects of long-term incarceration demand urgent attention. This conversation is critical to shaping fair, sustainable, and compassionate responses for individuals, institutions, and the communities they eventually return to.
This year’s lecture will bring together practitioners, policymakers, researchers, people with lived experience, justice, and community organisations to examine the realities of long-term imprisonment and to consider new approaches to rehabilitation, reintegration, and justice.
Discussions will address key questions: How do people sustain hope and identity during long sentences? What are the long-term impacts on mental health, families, and community cohesion? And how can systems adapt to support dignity, purpose, and connection both inside and beyond prison walls?
Who should attend: Professionals and leaders from the prison and probation services, voluntary and community organisations, policymakers, academics, and anyone committed to building a more humane and effective justice system.
About The Perrie Lectures
The Perrie Lectures is an annual event which has the purpose of stimulating dialogue between criminal justice organisations, the voluntary sector and all those with an academic, legal or practical interest in people in prison and their families.
The Perrie Lectures are named in honour of Bill Perrie, who retired from the Prison Service in 1978. He worked as a prison governor for 32 years, latterly at HMPs Hull, Long Lartin, and Winson Green, Birmingham. A sound practitioner, Bill contributed much to the development of hostels, working out schemes, and regimes for long term prisoners. Bill attended the lectures every year until his death in 1997.
Since 1995, the Perrie Award has been presented annually during the day of the lectures. It has been given by the Perrie Lectures Committee to the person who has done most to promote an understanding of the work of the Prison Service, and pushed forward the development of penal policy.
Through the Perrie Lectures and the Perrie Award, it is hoped that the care of people in prison can be improved, and penal policy, in its broadest sense, advanced.
The text of the Perrie Lectures is produced in full as a special edition of the Prison Service Journal.
The Perrie Lectures Committee is independent and non-profit making and is currently made up of the following members:
The Perrie Lectures Committee
Rachel Bell (co-chair)
Ministry of Justice
Anita Dockley (co-chair)
Independent
Sarah Matheve
Koestler Trust
Mike Kirby
Independent
Femi Laryea-Adekimi
Prison Reform Trust
Pauline Austin
New Bridge Foundation
Carlene Dixon
HMPPS
Ralph Lubkowski
Sodexo Justice Services
Lili Bidwell
Ministry of Justice
Babafemi Dada
HMPPS
Martin Kettle
HM Inspectorate of Prisons
Sarah Tiffin
Mitie
Mary Haley
HMP Grendon
Kam Sarai
HMPPS
Colin Archer
Independent
Kate Gooch
University of Bath
Rosie Meek
Royal Holloway, University of London
Olivia Phelps
HMPPS
Kam Stevens
Grow Transform Belong
Paul Reeve
HMPPS
Delegate
£80
Third Sector
£40
Student
£40
Buy one get one half price for all ticket types
Contact
Perrie Lecture Award
