I am departing the YJB with a heavy heart

My departure has signalled the severance of the final link with the original board. I was the first replacement member after being appointed in September 2001. I've served under all five chairs (two of whom were temporarily in charge). I can't thank any of them enough for the learning I gained from serving under them, albeit in very different political times and, inevitably, at different stages in the YJB's evolution.

I'd not been on the board long when the then Prime Minister Tony Blair launched the street robbery initiative. This led to the incarceration of many young people who previously would have received community sentences. One of those sent to custody was Joseph Scholes, who hanged himself some days later. He was one of six boys who died in custody, all but one through self-harm, during my tenure. I can name every one of them and know the precise circumstances of their passing. Their deaths still haunt me. But despite various coroners' reports pointing to deficiencies in the system that we were legally responsible for monitoring, I still struggle to think of ways they could have been avoided.