Nancy Loucks , OBE

  Prof. Nancy Loucks OBE is the Chief Executive of Families Outside, a Scottish voluntary organisation that works on behalf of families affected by imprisonment.  Prior to this she worked as an Independent Criminologist, specialising in research on prison policy and comparative criminology.  She received her M. Phil and Ph. D. from the Institute of Criminology at the University of Cambridge and in 2012 was appointed as Visiting Professor at the University of Strathclyde’s Centre for Law, Crime and Justice. Nancy was awarded an OBE in the 2016 New Year’s Honours List for services to Education and Human Rights. 

       Prof. Loucks has conducted extensive research into human rights issues in prison, female and young offenders, prison violence and protests, addiction, suicides and self-harm, violence risk assessment and management, the experience of offenders with learning difficulties and learning disabilities, homelessness amongst ex-prisoners, and the maintenance of prisoners' family ties.  Her work on family issues includes research into family participation in prisoner resettlement, studies of the role of Prison Visitors’ Centres and of the work of Family Contact Officers, research into young parents in prison, consultations with prisoners' families, and international reviews of the literature on needs and services for prisoners’ families and on private family visits.  She was a member by invitation of the Scottish Minister’s Early Years Task Force, the McClellan Commission on Safeguarding in the Scottish Catholic Church, the Scottish Government’s Reintegration and Transitions Champions Group, and the SPS National Steering Group for the Improvement of Service Delivery to Women in Custody. She co-chairs the Independent Review of the Handling of Deaths in Prison in Scotland; is Secretary General to the Board of Children of Prisoners Europe (COPE); and is on the inaugural Board of the International Coalition for Children of Incarcerated Parents (INCCIP).

 www.familiesoutside.org.uk