Mark Leech

Managing Editor: The Prisons Handbook

Mark Leech was eight years old when his mother died and his father became an alcoholic. Mark was taken into 'Care', where he was sexually abused by a Housemaster; an experience that created a very angry young man with a deep distrust of authority.

At 13 he was in an approved school, by 15 he was in borstal and he spent much of the next twenty years in and out of prisons. His prison career was characterised by assaults, riots and roof-top protests, resulting in long periods of solitary confinement.

Mark used this time to read law with London University, whereupon he took his protests from the roof of the prison to the floor of the Court, successfully changing British prison law in the process. Mark successfully sued the prison authorities more than 40 times, in every legal arena from the County Court to the House of Lords.

In June 1992 Cassell published "A Product of the System" Mark's autobiography; it garnered excellent reviews, and won first prize in the Chambers- Cox Literary Awards - it is to be made into a feature film

Praise for A Product of the System...

"A lucid heart-wrenching account, his story is one that needed to be told and has to be read"

(Jimmy Boyle in 'The Scotsman')

"A deeply impressive book: Mark Leech has spent most of his life in prison , he is an articulate spokesman on prison reform, has diplomas in law, and writes like an angel."

(Brian Masters in The Sunday Telegraph)

"Outstanding for its honesty and insight. It is a tribute to the resilience of his spirit and passion for life"

(Baroness Helena Kennedy QC)

Mark was released from prison in 1995. Today he is the Managing Editor of The Prisons Handbook (and Director of its publishing company) which has become the definitive annual 840 page annual guide to the penal system of England and Wales - now in its tenth edition (2007) and which is described by Martin Narey, former Chief Executive of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) - the fused Prison and Probation Services - as "Quite excellent, there could not be a better reference book; I have a copy in my top drawer and refer to it frequently."

Until 2002, Mark was the Chief Executive of the National Ex-Offenders Charity UNLOCK, a journey which has taken him from the strip cells and punishment blocks of prisons to the point where he met regularly with the Home Secretary and Director General of HM Prison Service to discuss policy. He is also a Consultant to Liverpool-based civil rights solicitors AS Law.

Mark is also the Director of The Institute of Prison Law, a Law Society and Bar Council accredited training body that trains barristers, solicitors and prison service staff in prison law and prisoners' rights. Mark also spends some of his time lecturing at schools, colleges, universities and associations around the country, and he is regularly called upon by BBC TV's Newsnight as a penal commentator.

In his lectures Mark shows how reform is generally impossible for habitual offenders, unless they go to prisons like Grendon Underwood, where he spent much of his last sentence. Here prisoners examine their criminality, and his time at Grendon changed his way of life.

Opened in 1962 HMP Grendon has an enviable record for taking some of the most difficult and dangerous prisoners our penal system has to offer, and turning them around. Research shows that Grendon prisoners have a reconviction rate as low as 7% - compared to 80% for the remainder of the penal system.

Mark discovered a talent for writing while at Grendon and in 1989 he wrote 'The Facts Speak For Themselves', a 90-minute court room drama for BBC Radio 4, which subsequently won the BBC Radio Drama Award.

In 1994 Mark won the Best non-specialist Feature Award for his coverage of AIDS/HIV in prison, and he is one of only a few ex-prisoners to hold membership of the National Union of Journalists.

Mark has recently addressed the International Conference on HIV and AIDS in Prisons held in Bonn; written and presented for BBC Radio 4 a one-hour programme on the History of Young Offenders; and he is currently commissioned as a Prisons Consultant for a major forthcoming drama series for BBC1 set inside a British prison.

Awards...

BBC Radio Drama Award for

"The Facts Speak For Themselves" (a 90 minute court room drama - Click here to purchase it on 2 CDs)

John Mortimer Playwriting For Radio Award for

"Without Fear or Favour"

BBC TV Script Unit Award & Koestler First Prize for Playwriting for Television for

"Blinded by Prejudice"

National Union of Journalists Awards: Best Feature 1994 for

"Positive Custody in an Environment of Hatred"

What People Have Said about Mark Leech...

"A thoroughly offensive, dangerous and disruptive man."

Governor of HM Prison Dartmoor(1984)

"One of the most sensitive, resourceful, humane, energetic, intelligent, dynamic and tenacious prisoners I have ever met"

Peter Withers, Deputy Chief Executive, Scottish Prison Service (1991)

"Frank, passionate and very illuminating"

Mr Justice Laws, High Court Judge of the Queens Bench (1995)

"One of the very best speakers on the penal system , his experience has given him answers to those questions other 'experts' can only guess at"

Dr Deborah Cheney, Kent University Law School (1996)

"I consider myself very fortunate as Director General to have had you around, I consider you not only as a colleague but also as a friend"

Martin Narey Chief Executive: NOMS

Mark lives in Manchester and outside of work hjis interests are in aviation - Mark is a qualified Helicopter pilot.