Award Winners and Commendees

Our most recent cohort of Annual Award Winners and Commendees is detailed below. For details on previous year’s Winners, please use the browse / search functions on the right (or at the bottom of the page on mobile devices).

2022-23 Award Winners

In HMP Pentonville there’s Natalie Adams with her astonishing creation of a Drug Recovery Wing from scratch; HMP Elmley’s Governor calls Paige Seymour ‘the epitome of what a Prison Officer should be’; and in Northern Ireland’s HMP Hydebank Wood, Richard Graham takes gardening and animal husbandry to another level. HMP Wandsworth has two winners in Niyi Akinseye, with his ‘inspirational’ initiative ‘Together Against Racism’, and Mark Grogan, described as ‘what all Officers should aspire to – wise, firm, fair and a great listener.’ 

In HMYOI Aylesbury, Sean Corr’s Governor was inspired by Sean’s description as ‘the quiet backbone of Aylesbury’, while in HMP & YOI Drake Hall, Tracey Sargeant is transforming understanding of the menopause’s impact in her prison – and beyond. Working out of HMPPS HQ, Rupert Bailie played a central role in research-led responses to the coronavirus pandemic, while the National Probation Service is lucky to have John Holsey running the Approved Premises at Stonnall Road – his long list of achievements runs from rescued chickens’ eggs to a Zen Garden!

Natalie Adams (HMP & YOI Pentonville)
[keywords: substance misuse, safer custody]
Niyi Akinseye (HMP Wandsworth)
[keywords: equality & diversity]
Rupert Bailie (HMPPS HQ)
[keywords: healthcare, leadership, covid]
Sean Corr (HMYOI Aylesbury)
[keywords: personality disorder, jailcraft]
Richard Graham (HMP & YOC Hydebank Wood)
[keywords: learning & skills training, education]
Mark Grogan (HMP Wandsworth)
[keywords: staff/prisoner relationships, jailcraft]
John Holsey (Stonnall Road Approved Premises)
[keywords: resettlement, leadership]
Tracey Sargeant (HMP & YOI Drake Hall)
[keywords: healthcare, menopause]
Paige Seymour (HMP Elmley)
[keywords: complex needs, healthcare]

2022-23 Commendees

Julie Innes of HMP & YOI Grampian’s Chaplaincy Team calls it ‘an honour to be able to pour into people out of the overflow of what’s been poured into me’, Colin O’Flaherty has driven HMP Edinburgh’s Christmas Gift scheme for over two decades, while ‘force of nature’  Robert Taylor is ‘a fantastic Ambassador for HMP Addiewell’ in Scotland – where Jim Elder of the Highland Council Youth Justice Team always puts ‘his heart and soul’ into being a role model for his ‘bairns’. Over in Northern Ireland’s Youth Justice Agency, Andrew Bailie is helping ‘lads’ become ‘dads’ while leading Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme expeditions and Ian Coulter has spent two decades ‘looking at the bigger picture for the young person and their family.’ Abdi Hassan is ‘the Youth Justice ‘glue’ and ‘a fantastic Ambassador for Southwark YJS.’

Natalie Merenda deploys her talents as an outstanding Treatment Manager to a Military Corrective Training Centre on behalf of the East of England Probation Service, while Sharon Harambee is ‘a clever manager and a great leader’ of Peterborough PIPE Approved Premises. Dawn Bishop’s Governor at HMYOI Aylesbury says ‘if I had a prison full of Dawns, life for everyone would be better and easier’. And for over two decades now, two brothers at HMP Bullingdon – Henry and William Cormack – have been bringing pleasure and ‘a sense of pride’ to colleagues and prisoners alike. HMP & YOI East Sutton Park’s Governor says Chris Boakes is ‘always reaching higher, always pursuing excellence’, while HMP Bronzefield’s Director says Charlyann Dennehy ‘has undoubtably saved numerous lives.’

At HMP Buckley Hall, Stephen Duckworth is an extraordinary fusion of charity pioneer and Prison Officer, while HMP Grendon’s Keith McDonagh ‘does his best each and every day in everything that he does to do good and change the lives of those around him’. HMP Kirklevington Grange has Nigel Holmes, a ‘gentleman’ whose qualities impress all – veterans, prisoners and Governors. At HMP Hewell, Nicki Harris, Ann Hopkins and Helen Smith moved a prisoner to nominate them and say: ‘in the past 20 years no one has been able to get me to who I am now – that’s how they have helped me’. Evangeline Simpson is ‘an absolute asset and credit not only to HMP Chelmsford but also HMPPS’, while Keith Vickers at HMP Hatfield ‘represents all that is good about Prison Officers’. Ingeus HQ Health Trainer Zoe Gaywood says she ‘will always remember how and why my life changed with the support I received, and I believe I’m here to do the same for others’.

Andrew Bailie (Youth Justice Agency of Northern Ireland)
[keywords: young people, families]
Dawn Bishop (HMYOI Aylesbury)
[keywords: skills training, young offenders]
Chris Boakes (HMP & YOI East Sutton Park)
[keywords: female offenders, environment]
Henry Cormack & William Cormack (HMP Bullingdon)
[keywords: gardens, environment]
Ian Coulter (Youth Justice Agency of Northern Ireland)
[keywords: families, young people]
Charlyann Dennehy (HMP & YOI Bronzefield)
[keywords: complex needs, female offenders]
Stephen Duckworth (HMP Buckley Hall)
[keywords: jailcraft, staff/prisoner relationships, community]
Jim Elder (Highland Council)
[keywords: young people, families]
Zoe Gaywood (Ingeus Justice Services)
[keywords: healthcare, mental health, peer mentoring]
Sharon Harambee (Peterborough PIPE Approved Premises)
[keywords: leadership, resettlement]
Nicki Harris, Ann Hopkins & Helen Smith (HMP Hewell)
[keywords: children & families]
Abdi Hassan (Southwark Youth Justice Services)
[keywords: young people, wellbeing]
Nigel Holmes (HMP Kirklevington Grange)
[keywords: staff/prisoner relationships, jailcraft]
Julie Innes (HMP Grampian)
[keywords: chaplaincy, female offenders]
Keith McDonagh (HMP Grendon)
[keywords: jailcraft, therapeutic community]
Natalie Merenda (East of England Probation)
[keywords: resettlement, interventions]
Colin O’Flaherty (HMP Edinburgh)
[keywords: staff/prisoner relationships, community]
Evangeline Simpson (HMP & YOI Chelmsford)
[keywords: safer custody, staff welfare]
Robert Taylor (HMP Addiewell)
[keywords: skills training, employment]
Keith Vickers (HMP Hatfield)
[keywords: employment]