Lord David Ramsbotham

Former HM Chief Inspector of Prisons

Following National Service in the early 1950s, Lord Ramsbotham read history at the University of Cambridge, before joining the army in the late 1950s. He saw service in Borneo during the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation in the mid 1960s, gaining a Mention in Despatches.

From 1970-1973 Ramsbotham was Military Assistant to the Chief of the General Staff, and from 1974-1975 commanded a battalion of the Royal Green Jackets in Northern Ireland. He has also held a number of other positions in the armed forces, including commander of the 3rd Armoured Division, Commander: United Kingdom Field Army and Inspector General of the Territorial Army. On stepping down from the latter position, he became Aide de Camp General to HM the Queen. He was also Adjutant General during the First Gulf War, and eventually retired from the army in 1993.

From 1995-2001, he served as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales, and received a life peerage in 2005. He had previously received an OBE in 1974. Currently, he chairs the Koestler Awards scheme, and is Vice Chair of the All Party Penal Affairs Group and the All Party Parliamentary Group for Learning & Skills in the Criminal Justice System. He is also the author of a number of books, including Prisongate: The Shocking State of Britain’s Prisons and the Need for Visionary Change (2003).