Fionnuala Gordon

Fionnuala is an experienced criminal justice professional who has worked extensively in prison-related roles for over three decades. She is a former prison inspector and with His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons, attended over seventy inspections, where she assessed custodial settings against a range of indicators to provide independent scrutiny and report on findings. She has a comprehensive knowledge of human right’s-based inspection frameworks within the justice system.

In her current role, with the charity One Small Thing, she is responsible for trauma-informed programmes designed for secure justice settings. She regularly consults directly with senior civil servants, prison governors and practitioners who have oversight of prison and community-based justice provision. Prior to this, Fionnuala was an academic in Higher Education, teaching criminology to postgraduate level in England. Before this she was the Director of Services for the UK-based charity Pact, where she managed a national team delivering services in over thirty prisons across England and Wales.

Fionnuala sits on Victim Support’s Homicide Service Advisory panel and is a Trustee of the Charity Spark Inside. She has recently been appointed as an Advisory Board member of RESCALED FRAME, a European consortium advocating for the use and monitoring of small-scale detention houses instead of large prison establishments.