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Ms Catherine Heard

Positions held:
  • Senior Research Fellow, School of Social Sciences
  • Director, World Prison Research Programme; Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research (ICPR)
Address

Room 101, 42 Store Street

  • Overview

    Overview

    Biography

    Catherine joined ICPR in April 2016 to head the World Prison Research Programme. This programme of international comparative research on prisons and imprisonment builds on the work of the World Prison Brief, ICPR's online database providing details of the prison systems of over 220 independent countries and dependent territories. Under the programme, ICPR conducts international comparative research projects on a wide range of subjects, with the overall aim of informing and promoting debate on prisons policy.

    Catherine qualified as a solicitor in 1992 and practised in commercial litigation before moving into the field of human rights protection in cross-border criminal justice in 2008. As head of policy at the NGO Fair Trials, Catherine led the law reform programme for four years. This encompassed policy-oriented research and advocacy on: extradition, procedural defence safeguards, pre-trial detention, EU mutual recognition instruments and Interpol 'red notices'. Catherine built an international network of criminal and cross-border defence lawyers to aid Fair Trials' advocacy by providing concrete evidence of rights infringements experienced by their own clients.

    In 2013 Catherine joined the criminal team of the Law Commission of England and Wales, where she led an 18 month project on hate crime, including publication of a consultation paper and report. The work involved legal and empirical research on the prosecution and sentencing of offences aggravated by hostility on grounds of race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity, and on the separate offences of incitement to hatred on grounds of race, religion or sexual orientation.

    Between 2014 and 2016 Catherine worked at the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, the UK partner of the European Prisons Observatory. Here she led an EU-funded research and policy project examining alternatives to custody in eight EU member states. The project followed a previous one conducted by the Observatory assessing prison conditions and national preventive mechanisms in the same group of EU countries.

    Qualifications

    • Solicitor, England & Wales, Solicitors Regulatory Authority, 1992
    • LLM, Birkbeck, Univ of London, 2009
    • BA Hons, Classics, University of Cambridge, 1986

    Web profiles

    Honours and awards

    • Winner, Public Engagement Awards , Birkbeck, July 2022

    ORCID

    0000-0002-1736-5730
  • Research

    Research

    Research interests

    • Prisons and the use of imprisonment; prison labour; detainees' human rights; procedural justice; criminal law; sentencing; restorative justice; hate crime; mental health; alternatives to custody; probation

    Research overview

    I am currently researching the criminalization of poverty and status and its implications for prison systems and penal reform in Africa, the Caribbean, South Asia and the Pacific.

    I am also researching prison labour and the provision of work and employment training for prisoners and prison leavers, with a specific focus on the jurisdictions of the UK, Brazil and the USA.

    I have recently conducted comparative research on the following themes: pre-trial detention; sentencing; prisoner health and healthcare; and the impacts of Covid-19 on prison populations worldwide. 

    For more information on the projects in which this research has been conducted please see under 'Research Projects' below.

    Research Centres and Institutes

    • Snr Research Fellow, Institute for Crime and Justice Policy Research (ICPR)

    Research projects

    Towards effective, sustainable and ethical provision of employment opportunities for incarcerated people

    Abstract

    In this international comparative three-year project, which commenced in early 2022, we are researching prisoner labour and the provision of work, employment and training for prisoners and prison leavers. The jurisdictions comprised in the study are the UK, Brazil and the USA. (Up to four states in Brazil and the USA will be selected for in-depth qualitative research.)

    Context: Reoffending rates among ex-prisoners worldwide have been high for decades, placing a heavy economic burden on societies. One of the main drivers of reoffending is unemployment, but ex-prisoners face many challenges finding a job on release. People with prior histories of disadvantage, social and educational exclusion and unemployment are over-represented in prison populations.

    Our recent research across a diverse selection of ten jurisdictions has revealed the value that prisoners in many countries place on work and training in custody. Yet prisons rarely receive the necessary resources to prioritise training and employment. Work in prisons is usually in short supply and is either low-paid or unpaid.

    This project will produce an evidence base to inform and promote better policy and practice and improved collaboration between public, private and voluntary sectors in the provision of effective, sustainable and ethical work in prisons. This will contribute to a reduction in reoffending, by virtue of greater numbers of prisoners gaining skills and working in paid jobs during their time in custody; and more ex-prisoners receiving support to gain skills and employment on release.

    Project team: 
    Ben Jarman (PI and project lead), Helen Fair, Catherine Heard and Jessica Jacobson

    Funded by
    Porticus Global

    The criminalization of poverty and status: its implications for prison systems and penal reform in Africa, the Caribbean, South Asia and the Pacific

    Abstract

    This two year project will conclude by end 2023. It aims to provide research data and advocacy support for current and future campaigns to decriminalize poverty, status and identity in countries across Africa, the Caribbean, South Asia and the Pacific.

    Laws, policies and practices relating to petty and nuisance offences and their enforcement disproportionately impact poorer or marginalized individuals and groups in much of Africa, the Caribbean, South Asia and the Pacific. We are examining the use and availability of imprisonment for a range of conduct under colonial-era laws and other outmoded or non-specific provisions such as those relating to vagrancy. 

    Project team: Professor Jessica Jacobson, Helen Fair, Catherine Heard (PI and project lead)

    Funded by
    Open Society Foundations

    Understanding and reducing the use of imprisonment in ten countries

    Abstract

    Research and policy project: commenced 2017, ended 2021. 

    Context: The world has seen unprecedented growth in prison populations in recent decades and today well over 11 million people are in prison, around a third of them in pre-trial detention or awaiting final sentence. While prisoner numbers have been rising, there has been little increase in the resourcing of prison systems. As a consequence, prisons around the world are in crisis. Most countries are running their prison systems well above their official capacity, causing overcrowded, cramped and dangerous conditions.  

    Project outline: To explore the causes and consequences of rising prisoner numbers, in 2017 we launched a project examining the use of imprisonment worldwide, focusing on a diverse group of ten jurisdictions across five continents: Kenya, South Africa, Brazil, the United States, India, Thailand, England & Wales, Hungary, the Netherlands and Australia.

    The aim of our 'Ten-country project' was to draw transferable lessons on how to reduce resort to imprisonment. Over the course of the project we carried out research on several themes including: changing patterns of imprisonment; pre-trial detention; sentencing; prisons and health; and COVID-19 and prisons. 

    Working with the NGO Prison Insider, we shared our findings with leading practitioners and reform advocates, and obtained their expert insights on the key priorities for change. A range of materials including videos, articles, blogs and reports incorporating these insights and our project findings can be found at: https://www.prisonstudies.org/ten-country-prisons-project 

    Project team: Professor Jessica Jacobson, Helen Fair, Catherine Heard (PI and project lead)

    Funded by
    Stiftung Auxilium
    Funding type
    Project grant

    Understanding and reducing the use of imprisonment in ten countries

    Abstract

    (See above description: project was co-funded by two separate donors.)

    Funded by
    Open Society Foundations
    Funding type
    Project grant
  • Supervision and teaching

    Supervision and teaching

    Supervision

    I regularly supervise masters dissertation projects relating to prisons, the use of imprisonment, alternatives to custody and related topics.

    Teaching

    Teaching modules

    • Contemporary Issues in Criminal Justice (LADD059S7)
  • Publications

    Publications

    Article

    Book Section

    Monograph

  • Business and community

    Business and community

    Media

    I am happy to receive enquiries from the media on the following topics:

    • Prisons and imprisonment; global prison trends