National Preventive Mechanism Seventh Annual Report 2015–16 Introduction by John Wadham NPM Chair The UK has a very unusual NPM. Most of its 20 member bodies pre-dated the United Nations OPCAT treaty and already had established methodologies for inspecting and monitoring detention when the NPM was designated in 2009. In fact it is possible to trace the origins of inspections and monitoring back at least as far as John Howard who, in 1773 when High Sheriff of Bedfordshire, started inspecting prisons in his area. He was shocked by what he found and launched into a round of inspections of hundreds of prisons around England. Howard published the first edition of The State of the Prisons in 1777 and included very detailed accounts of the prisons he had visited. Today if you count the number of staff and volunteers involved in monitoring detention across the UK there is no doubt we have the biggest NPM anywhere in the world. The UK was one of the main drafters of OPCAT and is proud of its NPM’s reputation. The UK’s NPM has a unique tradition of professional inspectors and members of the community visiting places of detention, and their role is generally understood as an important check on what goes on behind bars. 6 But our work is not done. We have to make sure our monitoring fulfills international expectations of preventive monitoring. We have to work hard to build greater consistency in the way different members identify ill-treatment. And we have to make sure the role of the NPM is understood by the governments of the UK and the authorities responsible for detainees. In 2014, NPM members decided to appoint an independent chair from outside the membership of the NPM to strengthen its governance, particularly because of its unusual and complex structure. I was very pleased to be selected as NPM Chair, particularly because the decision was made by NPM members themselves. Often, decisions to appoint to posts such as this are taken by government ministers. As Chair I will work part-time (and pro-bono) and have been appointed for an initial fixed term of two years. My job is to advise and support the NPM and its members to fulfill its OPCAT mandate, to represent the UK NPM in meetings with members, government, and international bodies. My responsibilities are to chair the meetings of the members, support