Whistleblowing

We take feedback and complaints seriously. 

PRI operates according to its Articles of Association, regulations and policies adopted by the Board, the Management Team or the Executive Director. They are available here.  

If you would like to get in touch with a member of staff you can contact info@penalreform.org. If you would like to share something or submit a complaint to PRI’s Executive Director, please send it to ORope@penalreform.org. 

If you feel your concern cannot be submitted to a member of our staff, or if you feel a response, you have received is inadequate, we have a whistleblowing mechanism in place. 

Whistleblowing 

We encourage you to consider the following, before submitting an alert through our whistleblowing mechanism: 

1. Our whistleblowing mechanism should be used: 

• As ultima ratio, after you have raised your concern with the appropriate member of staff or if you feel like you cannot raise it with a member of staff directly, and 

• To alert PRI on any illegal, improper or unethical practice you might feel that you have witnessed. 

1. We do not accept anonymous alerts. We however guarantee the protection and confidentiality surrounding the whistleblower’s identity: 

• Only the receiving authority (a member of PRI’s Board) will be aware of the whistleblower’s identity, and 

• The whistleblower’s identity will be disclosed internally only and exclusively if the whistleblower agrees this would facilitate solving the concern at hand. 

PRI’s Staff Handbook describes in detail how an alert will be treated, and the receiving authority will abide by the said regulations. If you wish to receive a copy of the regulations in full, please contact HeadOfSecretariat@penalreform.org. In short, the following steps will be taken upon the reception of a complaint: 

1. The alert will be reviewed by the receiving authority. 

1. The alert will be acknowledged in writing by the receiving authority, confirming that an investigation will be held, by whom and setting out the procedure and timescale. 

1. The receiving authority will share the complaint without disclosing the identity of the whistleblower (except if otherwise agreed upon with the whistleblower) to the appropriate body within PRI to undertake an investigation and act there upon:.. 

1. Once the investigation has been carried out, appropriate action will be taken if the concern is founded. This may involve disciplinary action or referral to law enforcement if it is believed that a criminal offence may have been committed. 

1. The whistleblower will be notified of the outcome. 

If it appears that the complaint has been made maliciously and in bad faith, knowing it to be untrue, disciplinary action may be taken against the whistleblower or he or she may be referred to law enforcement. 

PRI’s Deputy Chair, Dr Catherine Appleton has been appointed as the receiving authority for alerts.   Dr Appleton is Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Mental Health, Norwegian University of Science and Technology and at the Centre for Research and Education in Security, Prisons and Forensic Psychiatry at St Olavs University Hospital, Norway. She is also a Research Associate in Law at the Human Rights Law Centre, University of Nottingham, UK and Co-Director of prisonHEALTH. 

To submit an alert: please contact Dr Appleton directly. 

Please ensure your email contains the following information: 

• Object: ‘Whistleblowing: submission of an alert to PRI’; 

• Full name and contact details; 

• Description of the nature of your relationship to PRI; 

• Do you accept for your identity to be revealed internally; 

• Nature and description of the allegations of illegal, improper or unethical practice; 

• Description of how you have witnesses the alleged illegal, improper or unethical practice; 

• Potential evidence (attachments). 

Internal whistleblowing mechanism 

In addition to the whistleblowing mechanism described above, PRI has also put in place an internal whistleblowing mechanism exclusively reserved for members of staff – please refer to the Staff Handbook.