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Our Panel

Lynn Emslie – Chair

With a career covering acute healthcare, mental health, health in criminal justice and local authority social services, Lynn holds several non-executive director, advisor and trustee roles across the charitable, research and regulatory sector.

Focusing on mental health and people with complex needs, Lynn has championed the requirement to improve access to services, based on a person-centred approach, and reduce health inequalities.

Working strategically across the Department of Health and NHS, Lynn worked to inform policy by linking academic research into service development, including the voluntary and private sectors.

She has led NHS commissioning and quality monitoring within NHS England, supported the implementation of the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT), the care planning process for prisoners at risk of suicide and self-harm, and worked with the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman on Death in Custody clinical reviews.

Since 2017, Lynn has held the role of Trustee at Nacro, a social justice charity. She is Chair of Arc, a homeless charity local to Somerset.

Dr Jake Hard

Jake is a GP with over 16 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.

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.


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.