BACKGROUND:

Mark was eight years old when his mother died and his father became an alcoholic. Mark was taken into 'Care', where he was sexually abused by a Housemaster; an experience that created a very angry young man with a deep distrust of authority.

At 13 he was in an approved school, by 15 he was in borstal and he spent much of the next twenty years in and out of prison. His prison career was characterised by assaults, riots and roof-top protests, resulting in long periods of solitary confinement. Mark used this time to read law with London University, whereupon he took his protests from the roof of the prison to the floor of the Court, successfully changing British prison law in the process. Mark successfully sued the prison authorities more than 40 times, in every legal arena from the County Court to the House of Lords. 

 

GRENDON PRISON:

In 1989 while serving a six year sentence for wounding Mark received an additional sentence for a hostage incident, after which he was sent to Grendon prison just outside Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire - it was a move that was to change his way of life. It was at Grendon, which operates on a pycho-therapeutic model, that Mark discovered a talent for writing and subsequently became the first prisons correspondent for The Guardian newspaper in 1990.

 

'A PRODUCT OF THE SYSTEM':

In June 1992, while still in prison, Cassell published "A Product of the System" Mark's autobiography; it garnered excellent reviews, and won first prize in the Chambers- Cox Literary Awards - it is to be made into a feature film.

 

THE PRISONS HANDBOOK:

In 1993 Mark submitted a proposal to Oxford University Press suggesting they should 'publish a prisons handbook' - and the rest, as they say, is history. Now in its 11th (2008) edition The Prisons Handbook has become to definitive 850 page annual guide to the penal system of England and Wales - Mark has been its editior since the first edition and, in 2003, he also became its publisher.

 

THE INSTITUTE OF PRISON LAW:

Following his release in 1995 Mark moved first to Bristol and two years later back to his home town of Manchester where he worked as the consultant on prisoners' rights for Liverpool based prison law solicitors AS Law.

In 1998 Mark and AS Law senior partner Elkan Abrahamson, concerned at the poor prison law advice many prisoners were being given by some solicitors, created what is today The Institute of Prison Law (IPL). Mark is the Director of IPL, which is accredited by both the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (formerly the Law Society) and the Bar Standards Board of England and Wales and today leads the field in accredited prison law training for solicitors, barristers and Prison Service staff.

 

UNLOCK:

In 1999, with fellow ex-offenders Stephen Fry, the actor, and Bob Turney a probation officer, Mark founded the national exoffenders charity UNLOCK - its aim is to use the experience of successful ex-offenders to help prisoners on release with accommodation, work, insurance, bank accounts and benefits for example. UNLOCK also uses its knowledge of crime and the causes of crime to influence penal policy, inform political debate, and argue for laws which promote successful reintegration of prisoners after their release. The current Chief Executive of UNLOCK is Bobby Cummines; a post which Mark held until May 2003.

As Editor of The Prisons Handbook Mark is frequently in the print and broadcast media as an expert commentator on the penal system. Today his work is split between editing and publishing The Prisons Handbook and managing the Institute of Prison Law, in addition to lecturing on prisons to colleges and universities.

Mark lives with his partner in Manchester and, outside of work, his interests are in aviation - Mark is a qualified helicopter pilot.

What People Say About.... Mark Leech
"Has just completed punishment for a roof top protest at Long Lartin; a thoroughly offensive, dangerous and disruptive man." Governor of HM Prison Dartmoor(1984)
"One of the most sensitive, resourceful, humane, energetic, intelligent, dynamic and tenacious prisoners I have ever met" Peter Withers, Deputy Chief Executive, Scottish Prison Service (1993)
"Frank, passionate and very illuminating" Lord Justice Laws
"One of the very best speakers on the penal system , his experience has given him answers to those questions other 'experts' can only guess at" Dr Deborah Cheney, IMB: HM Prison Canterbury
"I consider myself very fortunate as Director General to have had you around, I consider you not only as a colleague but also as a friend" Martin Narey (2005) [then] Director General HM Prison Service