Wendy Sinclair-Gieben – Chair
With a career spanning criminal justice, detention oversight, immigration detention and public health, Wendy has held senior leadership, inspection and advisory roles across the UK and internationally.
Focusing on rights‑based scrutiny and the safety, dignity and welfare of people in custody, Wendy led national inspection of prisons and court custody, during her six years as HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland. She also conducted the Independent Review of the Response to deaths in prison custody for the Scottish Government, producing recommendations on independent investigations, family engagement and strengthened oversight processes.
Working strategically across justice and scrutiny bodies, Wendy was a Chair of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) and contributed to the 2025 Independent Review of Fatal Accident Inquiries into deaths in police and prison custody, which examined options for a national oversight mechanism and strengthened advisory arrangements on deaths in custody.
Alongside her inspection and oversight work, Wendy has held senior operational roles including as a prison governor in England and Wales and later as a prison director with Serco, leading facilities in Scotland, England and Australia as well as working in Immigration and Court Escorts.
She has additionally served as a non‑executive director for the National Organisation for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (NOFASD), supporting families affected by FASD and is currently on the Board of families Outside, a charity that support families affected by imprisonment. In addition, she is a member of the Scottish Association for the Study of Offending.
Her contributions to rehabilitation and reintegration have been recognised with the Lord Justice Woolf Award for Resettlement and the Infrastructure Partnerships Australia Award for service provider excellence.
Dr Jake Hard
Jake is a GP with over 18 years’ experience of working in prison and is the Associate Clinical Director for the South West Prisons, Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust. He was the Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners Secure Environments Group from 2016 to 2022 and has published work with the IAPDC. He is also the Clinical Lead for the NHSE Health & Justice Information Service.
Kate Eves OBE
Kate was the Chair of the Brook House Inquiry until January 2024, investigating mistreatment at Brook House Immigration Removal Centre. Prior to this she was the Senior Advisor to the Prison Rape Elimination Act Resource Centre in the USA and has worked as an Assistant Ombudsman (Head of Suicide and Homicide Investigation Team) for the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman and as a Researcher for HM Chief Inspector of Prisons. She has also previously worked as First Secretary to the Forum for Preventing Deaths in Custody.
Professor Seena Fazel
Seena is the Professor of Forensic Psychiatry and Director of the Centre for Suicide Research at the University of Oxford. He is an honorary consultant forensic psychiatrist for Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust and works clinically in a local prison. His main research interests are in relation to suicidal behaviour in prisoners, the mental health of prisoners, and risk assessment in criminal justice and mental health.
Andrew Harris
Andrew recently retired after 13 years as Senior Coroner for London Inner South, where he sat on over 60 inquests into deaths in detention and is now a part-time Assistant Coroner in South London. He is an Honorary Professor in Coronial Law at William Harvey Research Institute, Queen Mary University of London. In 2016 he was called to give evidence to the Independent Review of Deaths in Police Custody (Angiolini Report). He is dually qualified in medicine and law, having practised as a public health consultant. He has published in various journals, recently on suicide inquests, and is author of four chapters of the standard law textbook “Jervis on Coroners”.
Ministerial Council on Deaths in Custody (MCDC) Secretariat
The IAPDC is supported by a small secretariat made up of civil servants based in the Ministry of Justice. The Secretariat exists to undertake research, draft documents, and liaise with departments and wider stakeholders on behalf of the IAPDC and champion its work. You can contact the Secretariat via email.