People

deputy director, HMP Five Wells

Jo is one of the two Deputy Directors at HMP Five Wells. She completed her BA Hons degree in English Literature/ Drama & Theatre Studies in Liverpool back in the late 1990s. Following directly on from university, her career in prisons began in 1999 as a PCO at HMP Forest Bank in Manchester. Since then, she has worked in a number of establishments and has significant experience at every operational grade. This includes undertaking the roles of Head of Security, Head of Residence and Head of Safety before becoming the Deputy Director at HMP Peterborough. Her career also includes a year as Mobilisation Lead and Transition Director for HMP Altcourse. Jo has been at HMP Five Wells for around 15 months and has operational oversight of Safety, Activities, Learning & Skills, Rehabilitation and FM.

Jo is a very passionate supporter of Liverpool Football Club and has a season ticket on The Kop at Anfield. 

head of operations, HMP Five Wells

Rick has had 38 years’ experience working within prisons with a diverse range of prisoners and has served in seven different establishments.

Having joined the Prison service in 1988 as an Officer at Wormwood Scrubs, Rick has seen the basic services for prisoners progress over the years and many of these are mandatory requirements today. These changes have improved living and working conditions for both staff and prisoners, and improved  safety within our jails, including the introduction of in-cell showers and general sanitation to replace ‘slopping out’, the introduction of the Cell Bell call system, prisoners being able to wear their own clothes as well as allowing TVs and kettles in prisoners’ cells.

co-founder, Inside Job

Jon is co-founder of Inside Job, an initiative supported by the Beating Time charity, which helps people survive, and then thrive after serving a sentence. Jointly run by people with lived experience of the criminal-justice system, Inside Job has proven highly effective in helping prison leavers back into work.

Parliamentary campaigner for trade unions in the criminal justice sector

Charley Allan administrates the Justice Unions Parliamentary Group, organising campaigns for better pay, terms and conditions for workers in prisons, probation, courts and the police, and for insourcing vital public services such as prison education and maintenance. He works closely with Lord Tony Woodley, Lady Claire Fox and other parliamentarians to end the shameful injustice of legacy IPP sentences and Joint Enterprise over-convictions. He was previously a staff journalist at the Morning Star, for which he still writes (sometimes under his own name) about criminal justice matters.

women and children’s campaigner, craftswoman and parliamentary assistant

Venice is a campaigner for women and children. In 2017 she organised a series of panel discussions called We Need To Talk UK and Ireland, with expert speakers on sex, gender and feminism. She was also part of the women’s collective that in 2020 started regular meet ups at Speakers’ Corner in London, which went on to become Let Women Speak. During last year’s General Election, Venice joined the What Is A Woman? campaign, asking prospective candidates their stance on these issues. She currently works as a research assistant in the House of Lords for Baroness Claire Fox.

Follow Venice on X
@roseveniceallan

North West chair for the SDP and co-host of the Take Me Home podcast

Sebastian has spent most of his adult life working in education having taught English abroad for many years. Originally from Dorset, he moved to Manchester in 2022 and fell in love with the city. He joined the SDP the following year, drawn by its alignment with his values and agreeing on the need for a new economic model. He is the North West Chair of the party and stood as the SDP candidate for Manchester Central in the General Election. Sebastian is focused on strengthening the party’s presence in the North West and co-hosts the SDP’s Take Me Home podcast. He’s passionate about geopolitics, languages, and reading. 

principal architect at Urbanization Architects

Mark Iddon is the principal architect at Urbanization Architects which he established in 2011.  The firm specialises in domestic architecture, in extending and / or altering homes to adapt to the family needs and the enjoyment of the property. Located in Eccles, Salford, Urbanization Architects works throughout the North West Region.

Prior to this, Mark was the housing team leader at Urban Vision in Salford, Pozzoni PLLP (prioritising new build housing developments) and Harrison Ince Architects in Manchester.

Mark graduated with a BA in architecture from Oxford Brookes University in 1993 before going on to obtain a post graduate qualification in architecture which he gained from the University of Brighton in 1997. He qualified as an architect in professional practice with the North West RIBA in 2006.

independent researcher; alumnus, Living Freedom

Tyler Robinson is an independent researcher based in North West England who writes on social theory, heterodox political economy and intellectual history. Tyler has a particular interest in exploring alternative frameworks in political economy and sociology, his work engages with debates on how ideas are shaped by broader social forces and attempts to make canonical works of political economy more accessible. An alumnus of Living Freedom, Tyler is committed to promoting intellectual diversity and engaging in thoughtful, open dialogue.