John Podmore worked in the Prison Service for 25 years and governed three prisons — Belmarsh, Swaleside and Brixton. A Trustee of the Pilgrim Trust, the Longford Trust and Change Up (a charity supporting social enterprise by ex-offenders), he is on the steering group of the PEN Readers and Writers programme. His first book, Out of Sight, Out of Mind, Why Britain’s Prisons Are Failing was published in January 2012 by Biteback.