PRESS RELEASE : Appointment of 2 members to the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody [April 2023]

The Lord Chancellor has approved the appointments of Pauline McCabe and Jake Hard as members of the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody (IAPDC) for 3 years from 1 July 2023.

Established in 2009, the IAPDC forms part of the Ministerial Council on Deaths in Custody in England and Wales. The IAPDC provides expert advice and challenge to ministers, departments and agencies with the central aim of preventing deaths in custody.

These appointments are made by the Secretary of State for Justice in consultation with the Department of Health and Social Care and the Home Office, who co-sponsor and co-fund the IAPDC.

Appointments are regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments and recruitment processes comply with the Governance Code on Public Appointments.

Biographies

Dr Jake Hard

Dr Hard is a GP with over 16 years of experience working in prison and is the Clinical Director in HMP Cardiff. Dr Hard was the Chair of the RCGP 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.

Pauline McCabe

As an international criminal justice advisor, Ms McCabe delivers projects in policing and prison reform, oversight and monitoring mechanisms and death in custody investigation, on behalf of UNICEF, Penal Reform International (PRI), Department for International Development (DFID) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Europe and Central Asia. She has investigated deaths, complaints and serious incidents as the Prisoner Ombudsman for Northern Ireland (2008 to 2013). Ms McCabe is also a visiting Professor at the University of Ulster and was awarded an OBE for services to prisoners’ welfare.