2010
Peter Wright – Prison governor recognised for leadership and progress in the criminal justice system
Honorary Degree of Doctor of Social Science (HonDSoc Sci) in recognition of his outstanding contribution to progress and community engagement in the criminal justice system.
Peter Wright, Governor of HMP Nottingham, joined the Home Office as a politics graduate from Exeter University in 1974 and reached the grade of senior executive officer before moving across into the Prison Service in 1988. He is known for his enthusiastic and progressive approach to the housing, care and resettlement of offenders. He has held senior posts at several institutions, including governorships at Stafford and Whatton prisons. He has fostered links between the professional and academic sectors, for example, a partnership between NTU and the Sex Offender Treatment Programme at HMP Whatton, to develop innovations for wider application. HMP Nottingham is expanding to become a community prison for longer term inmates, and Peter Wright is keen to involve academic researchers, charities and other organisations from the area in its broader work. Collaboration helps both to increase public confidence in the criminal justice system and reduce the risk of people re-offending.